You nailed it Andy!AndyDursin wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2024 10:59 am You don't need to read the book to understand the dynamic in their relationship isn't balanced. They love each other for a couple of minutes but are at one another the rest of it. I don't want to blame Zendaya entirely but I got awfully tired of her ticked-off expression in nearly every scene of this film (so did my friend so I saw the movie with). Again, some of that is direction and writing -- Villeneuve and Jon Spaiths' script doesn't convey, other than basic terms, the feelings the couple has for one another. And Chani's role seems too combative, too argumentative, to the degree she's not very likeable.
The whole conversation as to whether Paul is a hero, whether he's a Messiah or a false prophet is obviously the entire point of Frank Herbert's book -- but I didn't feel it was satisfyingly conveyed in this film, especially from an emotional angle. You need more than a group of conversations and lines of dialogue that constantly shift as the movie progresses. Is he or isn't he? Why should I care? I lost count at some point where we were at. I am certain the book does a far better and nuanced job of capturing these sentiments especially from an internal point of view.
The great thing about the book is it shows you though its characters that every decision has outcomes (good and bad); everyone makes decisions that benefit themselves or their tribe/clan/house even if the character has others in mind - and those decisions often have negative outcomes for others. No one is wholly unselfish - and even if they were, there is a still a cost to a decision that is made (i.e. Paul sees the Golden Path, but to get there [and to "peace"] it will cost many lives). As I read through the books (and continue to do so), I am stuck by how many times, based on this event or that event, I will be 'for' someone only later to be critical of another choice they made and lean toward being 'against' them. Hard to explain, but the bottom line is people exist in the gray - they are complex, imperfect, and self-serving in desiring self-preservation and power (to various degrees) even when trying to do the right thing...though every now and then a character can be labeled 'good' or 'evil' on the whole. That is just one of the overarching themes of the book series.