Dune (1984) [HD DVD]
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Movie Reviews of Dune (1984) [HD DVD]
Movie Review: I know there is more out there!
Summary: 4 Stars
If you can find a copy of the old lazerdisc cover of this movie there was a photo of Chani in a see through gown on the back. The image has never been in any version of the movie I've seen (including the lazerdisc) but it stands as a reminder that there is more to be seen!Movie Review: SPICE
Summary: 4 Stars
Good old space classic to enjoy, a nice one to enjoy for something different.Movie Review: Buy it if you LOVE this movie
Summary: 3 Stars
I really wanted to like this in HD. Really. The story of Dune is complex, futuristic and totally fit for an awesome HD experience. Unfortunately sci-fi movies from the 80's not named "Star Wars" are not typically fit for HD wihtout some major remastering. It is hard to recommend an HD DVD where blue screen clipping is present. Regardless, David Lynch did a great job telling this story. So much so that I can say this is the weirdest big budget sci-fi movie I have ever seen. the HD DVD contains the 2 and a half hour version - unfortunately, no 4-hour version exists.
The picture is less than exceptional - even 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen could not save Dune. The movie is set in the year 10-thousand-someting-or-other. Its really far into the future. There is space travel which is really controlled by "the spice",mined on the desert planet Arrakis. Giant sandworms exist on Arrakis that threaten the humans (Fremen) and spice miners. These sandworms are essential to the film so selling the effect is crucial to the film. HD DVD exposes every weakness of 1980's miniaturues and blue-screen effects. The scenes with the worms were laughable. Similarly, the ships the characters travel in looked like colorforms placed on a starfield background. I loved this movie when I saw it in the theatres. My friends and I would run around yelling "Muad'Dib" and pretend to use the futuristitic weapons as portrayed in the movie. I want this movie to work becasue it would help HD DVD sales. Unfortunately the HD DVD video transfer weas horrible and is in need of major post-production effects rework (how about a 5-disc offering like with Blade Runner?).
The audio was a sufficient 5.1 mix. Little things that needed to sound pronounced and powerful did - namely, the thumpers used to distract or attract sandworms provided a nice bass tone. Other than that, there was nothing exceptional about the audio track, and that's just too bad.
The extras were comprehensive, but nothing extraordinary, just the typical run of the mill info featurettes. While I am on this topic, the menu was generic.
Lack of attention to the HD DVD transfer and a lack of features geared towards the cult followign Dune attracts makes it tough to advocate buying this movie. If you can get it as part of a promotion, and you are familar with the story, do it; but you won't convince any friends to go to HD movies with this.
Movie Review: Not done right for HD
Summary: 3 Stars
OK the title pretty much says it all. I have always been a fan of this movie but I expected a lot more out of it for a HD-DVD release. The video quality was pretty much the same as the original, none of the graphics were enhanced, and it was other than being made to fit in HD resolutions without issue nothing else was done to the film.
All the blotches that were present on the original film were left and show excessively in the opening credits. The graphics looked entirely untouched. There was, in some scenes, strong evidence of grain present in the film.
The only reason I give this movie 3 stars is because it's DUNE, if it were any other title I would have received much less. I would have thought they would have taken a little more care in releasing this movie for HD but apparently I was wrong. You might as well just pick up the original DVD as with a HD player or up scaling DVD player you will pretty much have about the same quality as this HD-DVD. Yes this movie was up scaled on the HD-DVD to have HD resolution of 1080p but the film went untouched. All the original blemishes and dirt are visible throughout the entire movie. I was rather disappointed that they did not clean the film up in any way. I was ok with the fact that the computer generated graphics were untouched as that wasn't all that big of a deal to me, as that is what made the movie what it was, but I could have really done without the large amount of dust, dirt, and general bad spots on the original film that really do not effect the film in a good way at High Definition levels.
Why would you re-release a film, which was revered as one of the founding science fiction movies (IMO), with such poor quality for the new generation of video equipment? I don't think I will understand this one any time soon. I hope some one takes the hint and starts working on fixing this film so it can be revived the way it should have been.
Movie Review: Video Quality Review Only
Summary: 3 Stars
First I'd like to say that "Dune" never looked this good on any home video medium before. Even if you saw this as a film print theatrically now it probably wouldn't match this presentation.
The amount of image detail in some scenes is truly amazing. Sadly, the quality of the source material is quite inconsistent. Some scenes are very grainy and offer poor contrast. Some dirt could have been cleaned up as well.
Compared to other "reference" titles such as "King Kong" I 'd call this transfer "above average" (3/5)