Horror master Stephen King gave his thoughts on Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. The entire Internet has been talking about the adaptation this weekend after the big debut. Clearly, audiences are enjoying the director’s take on Frank Herbert’s landmark Science Fiction novel. The writer was very impressed with how the story was captured on-screen. However, King did note that the movie ran a little bit longer. (Even more interesting when you take into account that this is just one part of Herbert’s overall book being adapted. Surely, the Horror novelist can identify with that.) Another point of emphasis in the IT creator’s analysis was the staggering special effects on display. There’s no question that fans of the property believed that the book was basically unadaptable for a long time. A cult classic film by David Lynch aside, most of the conversations around Dune have spiraled around trying to capture the scope and feel of Herbert’s prose without sacrificing anything. Villeneuve might have found an acceptable way to thread the needle.
“I watched it with my wife this afternoon. Really long but really good. Hard to believe we can do all these amazing special effects and still not achieve world peace,” King wrote.
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The star of that previous adaptation, Kyle MacLachlan actually spoke to Comicbook.com about the new Dune last year. He was very excited to see what the director could accomplish with this material. It seems like that potential has been reached if you take the audience’s reaction into account. People are clamoring for Part 2 after seeing the first one.
“I am looking forward to seeing it. I think Denis is such a wonderful filmmaker,” MacLachlan revealed. “He’s put together a really cool cast. I’ve [loved the books since] I first read them back in, I think I was 15, so like 1972-73. And I remain a fan, particularly of the first book. I think it’s one of my favorites, if not my favorite book ever. I would read it every year. So I come at it from a different perspective than David, of course, and I think that the book is so rich and the relationships are so interesting and there are so many ways to interpret it. I’m looking forward to seeing what he does.”
Do you agree with King’s review here? Let us know down in the comments!
