The acting started to waver and fall flat a bit, especially regarding Timothee.
The film actually is quite good and compelling through most of its runtime up, I think until, the final segments in the desert. I get that a film has to make these tough choices. They don't get to really carry any of the depth their characters exhibit in the book. This kind of extends to the entire cast though. Considering the entire Jessica framing subplot was removed I suppose they thought cutting Piter out made sense as well.
That said he has long ass dialogue strings in the books that probably wouldn't translate well to a movie but I would have at least given him one of the scenes with Piter. His portrayal in the movie does so little justice to him as a villain. is a talkative, sinister, clever plotting machine. What doesn't sit well with me was how badly the Baron was sidelined. Thufir Hawat, and Mentats in general, I suppose was a logical thing to sideline though as the roles of both Hawat/Piter are somewhat closed loops anyways. is puzzling given their roles in the story. SO many key characters aren't fleshed out to their full potential which. The movie plays like a cliff notes summary and damn did it move fast. And all the concessions that being a movie provides just snaps me back to reality and brings to mind all the comments about how Dune is basically unfilmable. Outside of that I think I was struck in the face quickly that this is a MOVIE and not the book. I really hope they give him the screentime he desperately deserves I think the guy they picked for him absolutely NAILED it. I think Thufir Hawat was the only charter that didn't match my internal vision. I like the majority of the cast and thought it matched well with what I had inside my head. Shield effects and thopters brought me joy. everything that went into bringing Dune to life was fantastic. I loved the sights and sounds, the effects, the set pieces. the visual recreation of the world is fabulous.