and Anyone other than Jürgen Prochnow as Leto and Kyle MacLachlan as Paul/Muad'Dib... there's a sense in which this and the other Dune movies since 1984 just don't work for me.
But, in spite of that, this one was pretty good.
Alice Krige (one of my favorite actresses along with Helen Mirren and Naomi Watts) is absolutely perfect as Lady Jessica. She has that ethereal, almost UNreal mix of haunting beauty and savvy-strength: it's so incredibly unique. Her Lady Jessica is much more of a warrior-woman and a Mystery than Francesca Annis'. I like it.
I REALLY did not want to see Alia die -- especially the way she did -- though I know the story well enough from the books to know how things went with her. I know, too, when my heart-strings are being tugged hard, but, hey, it's alright.
"Monster", "Abomination": these things said of one who was essentially a child (despite all those voices in her head... how exquisitely ironic that the bene gesserit "witches" would do this to her. they would have done better to just call her the Ur-child or the Un-foreseen); a product not just of her parents' love, but also of their scheming. It's apparent, almost to the point of feeling painful, that she could have been SO much more if she'd not been imprisoned in the fact of her uniqueness. Watching that last scene of her, I found myself thinking of some of the things that the Atreides of Classical Mythology did, because of Ambition, to their children.
And, yea, I found myself thinking, too, of Helen Mirren's Morganna from the movie "Excalibur"; and of Krieg's Alma Mobley from "Ghost Story".
One of the things that the people who made "Children of Dune" did best was set up in it echoes between father-son, brother-sister, mother-daughter relationships. It's way true to some of the stuff that I took from Herbert's books. There's a strong sense that something in these families (and, perhaps, in all of us) will never die. And that something might not be entirely good.
But, in spite of that, this one was pretty good.
Alice Krige (one of my favorite actresses along with Helen Mirren and Naomi Watts) is absolutely perfect as Lady Jessica. She has that ethereal, almost UNreal mix of haunting beauty and savvy-strength: it's so incredibly unique. Her Lady Jessica is much more of a warrior-woman and a Mystery than Francesca Annis'. I like it.
I REALLY did not want to see Alia die -- especially the way she did -- though I know the story well enough from the books to know how things went with her. I know, too, when my heart-strings are being tugged hard, but, hey, it's alright.
"Monster", "Abomination": these things said of one who was essentially a child (despite all those voices in her head... how exquisitely ironic that the bene gesserit "witches" would do this to her. they would have done better to just call her the Ur-child or the Un-foreseen); a product not just of her parents' love, but also of their scheming. It's apparent, almost to the point of feeling painful, that she could have been SO much more if she'd not been imprisoned in the fact of her uniqueness. Watching that last scene of her, I found myself thinking of some of the things that the Atreides of Classical Mythology did, because of Ambition, to their children.
And, yea, I found myself thinking, too, of Helen Mirren's Morganna from the movie "Excalibur"; and of Krieg's Alma Mobley from "Ghost Story".
One of the things that the people who made "Children of Dune" did best was set up in it echoes between father-son, brother-sister, mother-daughter relationships. It's way true to some of the stuff that I took from Herbert's books. There's a strong sense that something in these families (and, perhaps, in all of us) will never die. And that something might not be entirely good.