regarding Dune Part 2: i am obsessed with its consistent visual theme of self-destruction. the shot of paul surrounded by his new followers seems triumphant - until the viewer remembers that each crysknife is made from a tooth of shai-hulud, and paul is standing in a circle of them, in the allegorical mouth of the worm. he orders a missile strike, and the viewer sees them fly directly through his head. every victory for the prophecy is a blow to paul himself; he's killing himself with every step he takes towards his destiny, and we know that already, and the film is screaming it, but it's a hell of a thing to watch it happen, isn't it?..
I'm rereading Dune in honour of the movie, and I had genuinely forgotten how absolutely vicious Leto's wit can be. Two examples:
Halleck stirred, said: "I think what rankles, Sire, is that we've had no volunteers from the other Great Houses. They address you as "Leto the Just" and promise eternal friendship, but only as long as it doesn't cost them anything."
"They don't yet know who's going to win this exchange," the Duke said. "Most of the Houses have grown fat by taking few risks. One cannot truly blame them for this; one can only despise them."
Pretty sure some of the heads of other houses just woke up several planetary systems away in a cold sweat, with the vague feeling of just having been verbally flayed.
"This is a carryall," Hawat said. "It's essentially a large 'thopter, whose sole function is to deliver a factory to spice-rich sands, then to rescue the factory when a sand-worm appears. They always appear. Harvesting the spice is a process of getting in and getting out with as much as possible."
"Admirably suited to Harkonnen morality," the Duke said.
I think the Baron is beyond feeling someone else roasting him from a system away, as it happens far too often, but still.
Finally, a gentler example:
"Gurney, take care of that smuggler situation first."
" 'I shall go unto the rebellious that dwell in the dry land,' " Halleck intoned.
"Someday I'll catch that man without a quotation and he'll look undressed," the Duke said.
I wish we'd had time to see this in the movie, because even though a fair amount of this is him putting on a bit of a show for his men, it's still hilarious.
“Your habits always come hunting after you. The self you construct will haunt you. A ghost wandering around in search of your body, eager to possess you. We are addicted to the self we construct. Slaves to what we have done.”
— Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse: Dune
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