Dune 2 was fun. But I didn’t like to enjoy it.
There’s something brutal about watching Hollywood blockbusters in 2024. It’s like eavesdropping on a dying man’s tinnitus.
Like many people I know, I stopped going to the movies after Avengers: Endgame. Perhaps we check in from time to time out of morbid curiosity, but it’s hard to justify paying the usual exorbitant ticket price for something we abandon after 20 minutes.
Sitting in that dark movie theater, I realized that that’s not the case. want I don’t want to be entertained by these people anymore. They have nothing but cynical contempt for us.
I no longer expect modern movies to entertain me. These days, I win if what I’m looking at doesn’t actively spit in my face. So when a movie evokes an emotional response in me, like Dune 2, it’s a disturbing and sad reminder of a time when American filmmaking was powerful.
Don’t get me wrong. Hollywood is clearly still in power.it’s not powerful. Anyone with eyes can clearly see that the emperor is not wearing any clothes. It is now an entertainment industry, a media conglomerate dedicated to producing garbage. Its only reason for existence is to spew left-wing propaganda and fund left-wing causes. And someday, even that will not be enough to stave off the inevitable end.
“Dune 2” was a movie that made me nervous because I wanted to be so passionate about it. I wanted to be entranced, have fun, and enter a liminal space where only visceral moments exist.
But I couldn’t.
Instead, a part of me remained in 2024, vaguely disgusted by the cynical scene. If Dune 2 proved that Hollywood still has the ability to prioritize entertainment over ideology, it also shows that Hollywood generally chooses not to do so. So what if this movie turns Chani into a secular feminist? We need to thank all the characters they have forgiven.
Dune 2 is a nostalgic look at old-fashioned craftsmanship from a time when the American film industry was the envy of the world.But sitting in that dark movie theater, I realized that wasn’t the case. want I don’t want to be entertained by these people anymore. They have nothing but cynical contempt for us. They take everything we love and burn it down to make us suffer. And yet, we keep coming back, held hostage to the emotions that movies once gave us.
No more. I can’t take away their money, influence, or platform, but I can take away my attention. “Dune 2” was my last Kamishibai.
What I want people in the right to understand is that we need an all-out war against the old system. Every half-baked franchise is a net loss to us because it keeps Hollywood on life support. Dune 2 isn’t a return to form or a call for better filmmaking; it’s a reluctant compromise to the public in exchange for more money and power.
“Madame Web,” on the other hand, is a triumph. All failures and box office successes are failures. The more we gain, the sooner we won’t have to put up with humiliating rituals and woke garbage. Entertainment will be made for entertainment’s sake again, and we can get back to the business of making art.
In short, Dune 2 is a great movie, but I wish it wasn’t.
