I’m not defending Tim. He may be what you say. However, the film also didn’t give him a fighting chance. One of my friends, one who’s no slouch when it comes to attention span and being a literary thinker, said he had to sit with a notepad for the first hour to try and keep track of what everybody was talking about because the film was excessively expositional. Lots of names dropped and “explanations” given without decent context or visual cues to assist. With cinema being a medium for broader consumption, and in the case of scifi epics, one targeted more at entertainment, there is a requirement for brevity and “cutting to the chase.” Five minutes to tell the whole story of the film was hyperbolic, but I won’t say the sentiment was wrong. By comparison, a film that was heavily inspired by Dune, Star Wars, even without the opening crawl, conveys key essentials of the story’s universe in the first 30 seconds as a tiny spaceship scrambles away from the massive Star Destroyer. By contrast, Dune talked about the dangers of Arrakis and showed off some costume design work, when it could have just as easily demonstrated the nature of the planet through actual perils experienced by extras or side characters. They talked about how influential yet loyal Leto was, but I never saw him really wield influence or his loyalty in a meaningful way. When these things happen, audience members like Tim end up frustrated and confused, when they should be enthralled and excited by this massive universe full of intrigue and wonder.