[GreenLantern2814]

I feel like this movie has something to say, or it had something to say, buried deep within the spectacle and grimness.

For a movie built around a famous book, the characters themselves feel quite underwritten.

Never getting to see the emperor, we don’t know why he has beef with House Atreides - seems like an awful lot of rigmarole to go through just to immediately try and knock them off.

Paul and his mom can command people to do whatever they want, which seems like one of the most useful superpowers you could possibly have - they just don’t use it, except for the one time they really need to. Seems like you want at least try it before you engage in that knife fight, or at least before you’re forced to kill the dude.

I think that’s my fundamental issue with the movie - two and half hours, and all Paul learns to do is kill someone with a knife.

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but from a character perspective, does he learn anything else?