Dune 2...I have some thoughts...

Huge fan of the book. Really liked Part One. But Part Two just didn't quite do it for me.

There's a complexity missing here that Part One was more effective at conveying. This feels much more straightforward, much more of just Paul's struggle with avoiding the Jihad than anything else, relegating all the other characters to being supporting, except Chani, of course, which has a much more expanded (and quite unfaithful?) role in this movie.

I would have preferred they didn't make up new scenes, didn't expand on Paul and Chani's relationship so much, and instead focused on bringing to life the subplots that are what give the novel so much "oomph" in terms of tangibility. The three that I missed most were Thufir on Giedi Prime, Alia as a toddler and her killing the Baron, and Leto II being born and killed. While none of these ultimately serve the greater story, I believe the addition of them could have conveyed the same story while also being truly faithful to the novel and expanding the world of Dune in a more literary sense.

Also, why are people comparing this to the Two Towers in terms of battle? Dune 2 mostly glosses over its battles, whereas with Towers we had a huge, lengthy siege of Helm's Deep.

Also, Zimmer's music is effective, but weak (I felt this about Part One too).

So many little memorable moments just not there. Alia killing the Baron with the Gom Jabbar, Paul knifing Feyd through the head, etc... sigh.

As an adaptation, it gets a 7/10 from me. As a movie, an 8/10. I'm still excited for Messiah.

Just my thoughts.