I just watched the first two Dune movies. I really like the world building in this universe. After watching the first two movies, I think Dune is like a space opera. But, despite the fact that I really enjoy Legend of the Galactic Heroes, I didn’t enjoy this one as much. I think it’s because Dune focuses too much on the character Paul Atreides and how they become “the one” as part of a prophecy. I typically don’t like hero stories, but to its credit the movie does take a significant amount of time examining it which I like. Characters doubt his claim as the one talked about in prophecy and Paul himself talks about how the prophecy is just propaganda.

Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024) are both science fiction films about the empire Imperium and the most valuable resource in the universe called spice that is being mined on a desert planet named Arrakis. The story reminds me a lot of the war in Afganistan and America’s thirst for oil. The houses which constitute the empire also remind me of how corporations in America operate.

In the first film, the House of Atreides meets its demise after it is put in control of Arrakis. This leaves Paul Atreides and his mom in exile with the Fremen. In the second, Paul and his mom assimilate into Fremen culture and eventually revolt against the empire as a part of Paul’s attempt to take the throne.

During the film, it is also revealed that the planet was originally to be terraformed into a planet that had water and plants but that this was cancelled after spice was discovered. I’m not sure if this could be read as social commentary for anything in particular, but I found it to be an interesting detail as it leaves Arrakis’s residents in an ecologically difficult place. Though, the Fremen certainly seem to have adapted to it.