Dune Part Two review

Dune

The team behind Dune are back with Part Two, completing the adaptation of the first book of the same name by Warner Brothers.

Paul Atreides is back and this time is no longer fighting for his place among the Fremen in Dune Part Two from Warner Brothers. Playing into the hands of his mother and the prophecy she is trying to force into reality, he begins to leads guerrilla style attacks on the Harkonnen forces stationed on the planet. The end goal is to eliminate the threat entirely and retake his place at the head of his Great House and of the planet.

Prior to this version of the story we had multiple attempts at adapting the book, first a movie that included Sting in the cast and a series produced for the Syfy network. Each adaptation more accurate than the last and the two most recent films are not an exception to that. Where these adaptations consistently miss is on the same point, the story is more than just the first book of Frank Herbert’s series. So far only time will tell if the current vision will include the rest of the films but I sincerely hope that they do. Chapterhouse Dune and Heretics of Dune were by far my favorite installments in the main series.

Visually, these two films are an absolute treat, capturing the world of Dune better than any medium outside the books have done. Sufficient time was given to developing the myths within the story that it didn’t rely on the knowledge of the books before watching and the cast did a brilliant job of bringing these characters to life. My only complaint is that the film was made as two films instead of one long epic viewing. I would have gladly sat for the 5-ish hours needed to watch in its entirety as that is the only way this story should be viewed. Would just need an intermission to hit the restroom. Doing this would have allowed the impact of the film to be better felt where coming into the second half of the story means it feels a little disjointed.

Dune Roleplaying Game from Modiphius Entertainment

Dune

On the heels of the cinematic masterpiece that is the first volume of Dune from Warner Brothers, Modiphius has released a new Roleplaying Game within that world.

Modiphius Entertainment are most known for their creation and mastery of the 2D20 system where EVERY action requires rolling two twenty side die. They have taken that system and applied it to the world of Dune and Arrakis. Do you ride the sandworm? Roll 2D20. Are you wearing your moisture suit properly? Roll another 2D20. The system makes for a more cost effective experience while simple mechanics make it easier to learn. My favorite aspect of the 2D20 system is that it makes the focus more the story you are telling together instead of how you complete a task.

The world of Dune is one created with so much depth that jumping into it can be overwhelming. The roleplaying game is just as rich, pulling from all of the books to develop the world. The sheer amount of information contained within the core rulebook was enough for even me to look at it and say, “whoa, that’s a lot to read”. Seriously, I said that.

The thickness of the tome isn’t daunting, not like a Game of Thrones novel would be. The words aren’t even tiny themselves, there’s just a lot per page. That being said though, there needs to be metric ton of information contained to build the world right. It’s unreasonable to expect every player to have read every book in the franchise like I have. This is how you convey what’s important without forcing players to read more than a dozen novels. Add all of the sourcebooks and campaign books and at a glance it’s a bit much.

In Summary-

The mountain of information simply makes sense when you take a simple rules set and combine it the vast lore of Frank Herbert’s most famous world. The production quality is some of the best I’ve seen from a roleplaying game. Between hand drawn/painted images, highly detailed maps and a plethora of lore there is enough here to make a diehard fan of the franchise excited, even if they don’t play it. The game system is designed for easier play which in turn makes for a more cinematic experience. Add to that the fact that you can play this game using any point in the timeline, you have a game that is a must for replaying and Dune fans alike!

I can’t wait to see what other sourcebooks get released. Specifically I hope we see some centered around individual great houses so that we can have more dedicated details for some of them. The top houses and groups I’d like to see more from would be IX, Atreides and Harkonnen of course, but also the Tleilaxu. However the sourcebook I want to see the most would be centered around the Jihad era. I want to specifically engage with or play as the Cymek. I’d even kill for an army based tabletop game like A Song of Ice and Fire or The Lord of the Rings that puts the Cymek against the Butlerian Jihad. Please make this happen Modiphius. The time is right for this to finally work too! What forces would you like to play?

CATCHING UP WITH WARNER BROS PART 11

Warner Bros

IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO WARNER BROS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON THOSE I MISSED!

Recently the fine folks at Warner Bros (their home page is here) had sent me codes to some of their movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. For the first part of this series we talked about Scoob, Birds of Prey, The Way Back, Goonies 4K, Beetlejuice 4K, Full Metal Jacket, Sherlock Holmes 4K and Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows 4K. Part 2 ‘twas massive and discussed V for Vendetta 4K, 300 4K, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy 4K, The Hobbit Trilogy 4K, Blade 4K, Bill and Ted Face the Music, Tenet and The Wolf of Snow Hollow. Part 3 talked about Wonder Woman 1984, The Little Things and Judas and the Black Messiah. Part 4 discussed Tom and Jerry the Movie and Godzilla Vs Kong. Part 5 was all about Wrath of Man, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Space Jam. Part 6 had discussed Mortal Kombat and Those Who Wish Me Dead. Part 7 discussed In the Heights, The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It, Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 20 Years of Movie Magic edition. Part 8 discussed A Clockwork Orange, Space Jam: A New Legacy and Shawshank Redemption. Part 9 talked about The Suicide Squad and Reminiscence. Part 10 discussed The Outsiders, Cry Macho, Malignant, the Many Saints of Newark and the Mad Max film collection. We have returned for Part 11 to talk about Dune, Matrix: Resurrections, The Batman, Dog and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

Warner Bros

Dune

This film is the first half of the latest adaptation of the novel but by far the most faithful we have yet to receive. This was always one of my favorite series and I only had one complaint- that we didn’t receive the full adaptation in a single release. I would have gladly sat through the full 4-6 hours it would have taken to watch it in it’s entirety.

Matrix: Resurrections

In the previous Matrix film Neo and Trinity sacrificed themselves to save the day. The film picks up with a video game designer who looks like Neo with flashes of events from the previous films and it seems like these are all part of a video game he designed. Things get crazier as we dive deeper into this meta rabbit hole and it was a fantastic ride all the way until the end.

The Batman

All heroes have to start somewhere and this is the Batman’s start. His first “super villain” and his first major case, all before the gadgets and masking of his voice. Sure it is yet another retelling of his origin but in the end this film was a fantastic story and was told wonderfully. I hope this same creative team gets the chance to do more.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

This is the first film since we had Depp replaced and yet Ezra Miller still kept his role. The film follows Dumbledore as he brings together a team to fight Grindelwald and along the way clash with his follows and encounter new and old beasts. I continue to love the films in this universe but wish that we could have done so with maintaining the original cast.

Dog

Army Ranger Briggs and a dog named Lulu travel towards a funeral and along the way have to survive each other. The film does something that has been ignored for too long, focus on the psychological damage and necessity for healing after experiencing war. For this alone it is worth a watch but it is an amusing buddy comedy otherwise.

Which of these films from Warner Bros have you seen and which did you enjoy? Let us know on our Twitter page!