Falls into the same trap that the film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings does — namely, eliding the novel’s knottier thematic quandaries and hoping that any audience member familiar with the source material will subconsciously fill in the blanks.  (Unlike Lord of the Rings, though, Denis can’t direct large-scale action quite like Peter Jackson does.)

Not that this is intentional; a truly faithful adaptation of Herbert’s Dune, with its invocation of Jung and its fixation on perhaps-false prophets, would never be made.  *This* version, however, is all we have.  And by constantly shying away from interrogating Paul’s mission in favor of constant forward narrative motion, it does itself a disservice. I’m reminded of a line from Herbert’s novel:

“The real universe is always one step beyond logic.”

I wish Denis had kept that in mind. 

(There is, of course, plenty to recommend about it.  We have Movie Stars again, even if Butler is doing Skarsgard karaoke and Zendaya has her best beats loped off in adaptation.  Christopher Walken innocent, this is the best Ferguson has ever been, and that one shot of Lady Jessica in the headdress is an all-timer.)