It sounds good enough for me at the moment, but isn't this foreseeable given the Part 1 thing? In the book that's certainly right when things get "woozy and amorphous" in the words of the critic.

This is exactly the point. Much like Destiny, you don’t get to do a ton of world building while neglecting the story, with the promise that it’ll all make sense or be satisfying later.

I think you can do whatever you want if people want what you are selling them, but this seems different than Destiny given the fact that it's an adaptation and we kinda know how it goes.

It sounds good enough for me at the moment, but isn't this foreseeable given the Part 1 thing? In the book that's certainly right when things get "woozy and amorphous" in the words of the critic.

This is exactly the point. Much like Destiny, you don’t get to do a ton of world building while neglecting the story, with the promise that it’ll all make sense or be satisfying later.

Given the popularity of both Dune and Destiny, I’d say the exact opposite of what you’re saying is true.

Still annoyed they'll first wait for the first movie's (which apparently covers about half of the book) success before committing to a sequel, though...

Yeah, I'm worried about that--especially with Covid and all. It would be a great shame if the rest of it did not get made. I'm re-reading Dune now. It's a marvel of world-building, and that's a big part of what makes it so great. But it also casts a spell that keeps you reading to see what happens. The movie, if it works, should do the same. If the novel doesn't work its magic, you put it down, but people will sit through a movie regardless, especially if they're paid to write about it. If you're focusing on the illogic of the 'thopters like that reviewer did, I'd say definitively that the magic isn't working.