#but just remember that the Harkonnens are supposed to be brutal.....

[icedb1ackcoffee]

Omg hiiiii do you mind if I ask if there will be smut in this next chapter

yes 😇 it will hopefully be worthy of those whack ass, depraved tags i gave this fic lol

[anoray]

Dune and Eternals

Just sharing my thoughts after seeing Dune last weekend and Eternals yesterday.

Spoiler space 

Dune: It’s been a very long time since I read all the Frank Herbert novels, but I remember being very fascinated by the story’s complicated plot, the wheels within wheels thought processes of the characters, and the sheer sinister feel of the vast Dune universe. A labyrinth of political intrigue in which every character’s next words or actions were like an intricate and never ending chess game. It was exhausting and wonderful all at the same time. And what lethal brutality on all sides!

I believe it is unlikely that anyone who read the books would have expected or wanted a lighthearted action movie. I loved the film’s look, ambience, the music, costumes, and the casting was well done. The design and use of the ships, especially the dragonfly helicopters, and the sandworms were stunning. The film was very true to the somber and ponderous tone of the books. I do rather wonder how audience members who went in with no knowledge from reading the books could truly understand what was going on because I certainly struggled at times with my faded memory of the source material. 

Did they even advertise this is “Part 1″ until you see it o the screen? If not, that seems misleading because my biggest criticism of this film is that it ends feeling barely begun. And yet, considering the running time and how this is supposed to be the buildup of how Paul starts his path on Arrakis, I found the story rushed and it barely touched on some important aspects from the first book. From what I recall, the Atreides family spent quite a bit more time as the rulers of Dune before the Harkonnen attack, so the characters of Doctor Yueh and the Fremen housekeeper had more development and greater significance. To me, the duel at the end seemed rather like an anticlimactic place to end the story for now, more like the end of a Netflix episode in a series. That said, I did enjoy the film and it never felt like it was dragging. I look forward to the next installment.

Eternals: This movie was a mixed bag for me. I liked several of the characters (especially Gilgamesh and the human cameraman on the team), the visuals were fun, I found the story engaging enough for the most part, but it all wound up feeling like a giant puzzle in which the individual pieces didn’t really fit together very well. 

For example, the twist in which Arishem and the Celestials use the sentient life on planets to nourish a seedling Celestial in the planet’s core, which then emerges and destroys the planet makes ZERO sense to me. If sentient life is needed to “birth” a Celestial, how in the heck did the first Celestials get started? Also, it made even less sense to me that Celestials destroy planets to create stars (if I am recalling correctly what they said in the movie). Ummm...no? How could a planet create the amount of gas and dust necessary for a star to form out of it? Doesn’t physics tells us it works the other way around? Planets and all elements for life are born of star stuff? All I can say is my suspension of disbelief went bye bye at that point. 

Also, I’m not sure I cared for the implication that the Eternals were responsible for being the source of humanity’s most creative stories and inventions. In other words, when Thor and his Asgardian people visited Earth, human regarded them as gods and so created myths and stories about them. Thor didn’t do this for them. However, by showing Sprite telling stories to the humans with her illusions and Faustus creating technology to bestow upon humans, rather than simply being the inspiration behind humans creating these things on their own, it made humans come across as mere empty heads without the Eternals to guide them. 

Maybe I misunderstood this, but if I’m right, I find it rather insulting and odd to imply that humans were incapable of coming up with creations on their own, especially as this ability could have been what set humans apart from other planets’ intelligent life. If so, it could have been the reason the Eternals wanted to save them over the budding Celestial, plus also provide the Eternals a source of despair and angst over the increasingly horrible words and weapons humanity created to hurt and kill each other over time. Humans would have stood out as both as wonderous as the Eternals and as twisted as the Deviants, yet able to evolve for the better over time, hence worth saving.

Speaking of, why on earth did they build up the interesting plot point about the Deviants evolving and being able to suck up the powers of the Eternals and then just drop it like a hot potato at the end? I found the allegory of Arishem creating “angels” aka the Eternals and “demons” aka the Deviants one of the most interesting parts of the story and it just didn’t really go anywhere. It was kind of how I felt about everything by the end and so it dampens my curiosity about what might happen next to this new set of characters in the Marvel universe. 

All and all, both films were worth seeing on a big screen and I’m glad I got to enjoy them with friends. Overall, I found Dune more cohesive and engaging for my tastes, but Eternals did have its moments.