Ten Thoughts on the Dune Trailer

The second Dune trailer dropped today. I realize I've talked about how I hate the way trailers have become Events...yeah but I was still happy. I could say a lot of things here. I'll limit it to ten.

1. I love the music. I read somewhere that music is a big deal for this movie. They even invented new instruments for some cultures to get the music to sound a certain way.

2. I don't know how this will play out in the movie, but it seems from the trailer that Chani is actively connecting with Paul through dreams, instead of it just being all on his side. 

3. The trailer also gives the impression that Duncan is the traitor. That's actually a pretty good red herring, given that Duncan is sent to the planet before everyone else. If someone was going to get to a member of Leto's household, Duncan is a logical choice.

4. There are moments of humor in the trailer. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It makes the characters feel more human, of course, but this isn't the kind of story where a lot of humor would work.

5. So far, all of the ships we've seen have been unique and stunning. This is important. Dune has so many separations in it, in terms of cultures and philosophies and social structures. The idea that everyone would have vastly different ideas about ship aesthetics seems right to me. 

6. There is a flash in the bits around the Harkonnens where you see a lot of almost naked people upside down and splayed in some kind of metal wall or a ship. I'm wondering if that is a sacrifice of some kind or a punishment. It's a disturbing sight, but well within the Harkonnen mentality.

7. Speaking of which, I got to see my first visuals of the Baron moving around. His propulsion through the air is a sticking point to a lot of people. In the last movie, it was basically comical and clownish. In this scene, he looms up like some wicked snake. I liked it.

8. We don't see a lot of Jessica, but I'm okay with that. We see fashion bits from her and one instance hinting at how dangerous she really is. I think it's best to kind of work people into the idea how the formidable nature of the Bene Gesserit.  

9. The trailer makes it quite clear we're headed into a tragedy. I'm not sure how much of the desert scenes are Paul's visions and how much will actually be happening in this movie, as the book is split into two movies, but my hope is that most of the desert part happens in the second one. This movie will work better if we have more time to get to know these characters before the majority of them die.   

10. Dune is an exploration of how far humanity can go in evolving on philosophical and physical principles. The clashes and conflicts behind those various positions come together on the planet known as Dune because Dune supplies them with the drug needed to make their paths possible. It's important to explain this or the movie is just going to be confusing to people not familiar with the material.