Well, allow me to preface by saying I am not a Frank Herbert fan boy. I read the first book like 30 years ago, enjoyed it mildly and saw no reason to continue down that fiction path.
That being said, I did and still do very much enjoy the David Lynch film. I did enjoy this new version, however the primary benefit of this new version is that it has modern special effects that the film from 40 years ago didn't have. Visually in that way, it is much more impressive.
That seems to be the greatest advantage. The acting seemed to me to be passable.
Jason Moamoa's Duncan Idaho is an upgrade over the dude from the Lynch film, whose name I can't even remember, and is the most enjoyasble performance in the film, but quite frankly, it is just Jason Moamoa being Jason Momoa.
Josh Brolin's Gurney is an improvement over Patrick Stewart's which to me is a more significant performance showing.
Jurgen Procnow's Duke Atreides was wildly better than this one.
The kid playing Paul Atreides just lacks the physical and screen presence for me to think I will ever buy him as the Kwisatz Haderach. Like Kyle Maclachan wasn't a show stopping presence, but at least he was 6', so when he stood up in a stillsuit, he actually looked imposing against those other actors. The kid they have playing him now looks young, scrawny, and small. He does not posses the Tom Cruise intensity a pretty little thing like that needs to play The Boss Hoss.
The largest disappointment has to be Stellan Skarsgard as Baron Harkonen, for whom Ken McMillan gave one of the most fascinating and horrifying performances as a villain to grace the screens of any 80's film, which is a pretty impressive ensemble. I 100% blame the director for this as I had every confidence in his ability to take on the role and shine.
My curently hope is that the plan is to build up the horror of Baron Harkonen based on the story arc where we were left in this first picture and that he will be given more opportunity to shine in the 2nd picture.
Similarly, I really liked the casting of Dave Bautista as Raban, but he also seemed horridly underutilized. I also hope as we get into the next phase, he will be given an opportunity to show his talents.
From a witting perspective, the only real improvement I saw was the portrayal of the Sardaukar, which I felt didn't really get any playing time in the Lynch film and in this version was both visually impressive and an interesting piece of the story to watch.
All in all, I enjoyed it and would recommend fans of the scifi genre all see it, but it very, very much does not live up to the hype I have been hearing for over a year.
This is without a question, not a stand alone film, and as far as I can tell, really the whole trilogy or whatever they are planning will have to unfold before a proper judgement can be made on this portrayal of the fiction.
