I knew what I used to be stepping into once I sat down for a press screening of Dune Half 2: A towering sci-fi epic greatest considered on an infinite theater display screen, identical to . What I did not notice was that it might additionally give me a severe again therapeutic massage — it actually does kick butt. That was my expertise at an Atlanta-area AMC, the place the movie whipped the Dolby Cinema seats into such a frenzy that, for one thrilling sequence, I felt like I used to be really driving a sandworm plowing via the spice-filled desert of Arrakis.
Now, I am unable to assure you may have the identical experience at a standard theater (except the subwoofer is cranked up obscenely excessive). What makes AMC’s Dolby Cinema areas distinctive is that they characteristic rumbling transducers in each recliner seat, along with highly effective dual-laser Dolby Imaginative and prescient projectors and enveloping Atmos sound. I’ve seen tons of movies in AMC Dolby Cinemas since these screens started rolling out in 2017, however Dune Half 2 is the primary time the haptic seats really felt like they enhanced my moviegoing expertise. After I rushed out to the toilet in the course of the movie, I seen that my physique was nonetheless vibrating, the best way you form of really feel after a deep therapeutic massage by skilled fingers.
Technically, you are still higher off watching Dune Half 2 in IMAX theaters — it was really filmed for that big format, and true IMAX theaters additionally ship sufficient walloping low-end sound to shake your core with out the necessity for rumbling seats. However it’s onerous to search out full-sized IMAX screens, and for many US viewers it will doubtless be simpler to discover a close by AMC Dolby Cinema.
Let’s be clear: I am , just like the transferring seats and varied climate results in 4DX cinemas. So I am genuinely stunned how a lot I appreciated a heavy dose of recliner rumbling in Dune Half 2. Maybe it is as a result of the movie can be fanbtastic — not that I anticipated any much less from Villeneuve, a director who turned the primary Dune right into a cinematic feast and was additionally miraculously in a position to ship .
Dune Half 2 picks up the place the primary movie abruptly ended, with Paul Atreides and his mom making their method via the desert with its native inhabitants, the Fremen. It is instantly clear that this is not really a sequel to the primary movie, it is genuinely a second half, with the entire motion and extra spectacle that many felt have been missing earlier than.
Personally, although, I simply beloved being again in Villeneuve’s imaginative and prescient of Frank Herbert’s universe. As a lot as I recognize the bombastic costumes and environments from David Lynch’s Dune adaptation, I discover this iteration much more immersive: Each room appears genuinely lived in, each customized seems like an natural outgrowth of a society that is existed for 1000’s of years. It is the form of consideration to element we do not usually see in movies and TV right now, when it is simpler to shoot fake desert scenes on ILM’s StageCraft set (aka “The Quantity,” the know-how that was ).
Even in the event you don’t find yourself seeing Dune Half 2 in a Dolby Cinema (I swear, this isn’t an advert), it’s a movie price seeing on the massive display screen. Its huge scale and ambition can’t be contained on a TV, and its elaborate soundscape (together with Hans Zimmer going additional onerous for the rating) deserves greater than tinny flatscreen audio system or a mere soundbar.
Dune has at all times appeared like an unadaptable work, one thing so large that it may solely really exist in Frank Herbert’s shroom-filled goals. However as soon as once more, Villeneuve and his artistic workforce have seemingly executed the not possible: They’ve turned the fantasy of Dune right into a cinematic actuality. You owe it to your self to pay tribute.
