Dune (Widescreen)
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Movie Reviews of Dune (Widescreen)
Movie Review: Lynch was true to the Herbert Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
In defense of Lynch's muddled masterpiece, I argue that it is ultimately faithful to Herbert's vision. For one thing, no less than the author, Frank Herbert himself, acted as consultant to the film, and Lynch took the trouble to actually film out in a real desert. The visual images are definitive and supportive of many of the concepts of Herbert's novel. For example, Lynch's Geidi Prime is a gritty industrial facility, visually conveying how the Harkonnens ruthlessly wring all economic value out of both the planets and people they control, just as they have tried to wrench as much spice as possible, legally and illegally, out of Arrakis. Lynch prefaces our first view of Baron Harkonnen, by showing us the twisted mentat, DeVries,(the real brains behind behind the baron's plans to become emperor) commuting in, nervously (he's as disposable as any Harkonnen minion, and knows it) taking a quick slug of his sapho juice brain booster (an explanation of the "red stained lips"), before presenting the baron with the message tube we earlier saw Leto seal with the ducal signet ring back on Caladan, during a foreboding storm. The volatile baron is in the middle of getting his repulsive pustules treated by a fawning doctor (accurate, as I recall, to the book), while surgically mutilated workers stand mutely by. The obscene heart plugs and mutilated flunkies convey graphically, the technically loathsome and unconstrained exploitation exercised by the Harkonnens. The shocking image of the "heart plug" is a metaphor for the dehumanizing way the Harkonnens, as ABSOLUTE rulers view and use their people: people exist merely to suit their (not necessarily rational) whims which are unrestrained by any compassion, let alone moral law. When it suits the baron, he pulls the plug on any slave....literally, and the anti-gravity suit he wears is not only accurate to the book, but also visually conveys the no limits, out of control power lust of the character.
The Bene Gesserit sisterhood has been meddling in human affairs and manipulating bloodlines of the various houses, behind the scenes, for centuries, but it is ambiguous as to whether they are good or evil, progressive or reactionary, in Herbert's novel. The somber, nun-like, bald, women mystics of Lynch's film, who double as `impartial' "truth-sayers," as Reverend Mother Mohaim is for the emperor in one of the earliest scenes of the Lynch film, exemplify the religious adage, that `you cannot serve two masters,' and suggests the byzantine maneuverings they exercise behind all the events to come, which will eventually careen out of their control.
I felt that Kyle MacLachlan's young Paul was problematic, but that he improved during the course of the film. Jurgan Prochow was regal as the doomed charismatic Duke Leto, and we can sense the coming tragedy, as he and Jessica leave Caladan visually looking much like the Tsar Nicolas and Tsarina Alexandra of Russia, going off to be shot by the Bolsheviks. In the Lynch film, you also see the Suk doctor Yueh's mark of imperial conditioning, and the tragedy of his pitiable position as pawn of the Harkonnens, forced to betray the duke he serves. The royal planetologist Keynes, played by Max Von Sydow, perfectly conveys the scholarly recluse who has gone native as portrayed in Herbert's novel. The still suits of the Lynch movie have an authentic crafted look. The baroque look of the huge galactic transports and throne room on Kaitain, had a decadent and futuristic feel unlike anything I have ever seen, and I felt that they perfectly suggested an advanced society that once fought a war over "thinking machines," and now is uneasy with its technology. The zombie like guild members who must use a translating speaker to communicate because they are in one of the lesser stages of drug induced mutation, was also feels very true to Herbert's navigator's guild. The ornithopters where great on the inside, put poorly realized on the outside. It's too bad Lynch was not allowed to expand his movie. Herbert's book is full of intriguing and unsettling concepts and opposites, begging for explanation: "zen-suni" and "orange-catholic" religions; the political troika between 3 uneasy and very different groups with very different goals, not to mention a whole society totally dependant on and obsessed with, a mysterious drug, melange, that oddly, no one really knows much about; the mixture of mysticism, industrial technology and a ludite like fear of "thinking machines"; ruthless economical exploitation vs. a harsh ecology; planetary rulers running the gamut between patriarchical monarchy (Atreides) and ruthless, utterly selfish despotism (Haarkonens)-- with no trace of our much glorified democracy anywhere in sight; and complex personalities we want to know more about. In some ways, it may be futile to attempt to film such a complex novel, but Lynch made a decidedly powerful effort, hampered by lack of time to really develop the story.
Movie Review: Favorite Movie Of All Time
Summary: 5 Stars
That is right, you read that correctly: This is my favorite movie of ALL TIME! I am really only reviewing this movie so that I can raise its score .01 stars by giving it all five. What follows is a really lame justification for my score, but you may find it interesting, so read on.Here is why it gets 5 stars:
Star #1: The creator(s) of this film did an amazing job of realizing the planets, costumes, characters, creatures and buildings from Frank Herbert's novel. Everything is right on the money. The worms look amazing, the still-suits are perfect, the Fremen are exactly as they should be, the navigators are totally believable, etc. If you subtracted the plot from this movie, everything would be perfect.
Star #2: This movie proves a concept, which is that a movie's plot can be so hacked up and the movie can be made under such terrible circumstances and still be really enjoyable to a group of people. It is kind of the concept behind all movies that have developed a cult following - a movie can be so screwed up that it seems better than if it were just pretty good.
Star #3: Dune - The Movie begat Dune - The Computer Game. Dune - The Computer Game begat Dune 2 - The Much-Improved Computer Game. Dune 2 begat a whole genre of computer games called Real Time Strategy games that have included some of the best computer games ever. If you have liked any of the Warcraft, Starcraft, Command & Conquer games (or clones), you owe thanks to Dune 2 - The Computer Game and Dune - The Movie.
Star #4: This movie has the quality where it gets better each time you watch it. The first time I watched it, it made no sense to me (although I was intrigued enough to watch it again). The second time, I watched it made more sense, but made me want more. Then I read the book, then I watched it again - everything made a lot more sense. Finally, I watched the long version and by that time everything made A LOT of sense. Any movie that rewards repeated viewings and makes you want to read the book, study the source material, etc. is a GOOD MOVIE. A good movie SHOULD leave you hungry for more, and should not have ALL of the answers.
Star #5: Hmmm... I have run out of things. I will have to think. Well, after watching this movie hundreds of times, I have naturally memorized many of the lines. When I suddenly spout off a line or two at times that seem appropriate to me (but random to everyone else), it helps me with my wierd-but-cool mystique. How about that?
Okay so I have proven (beyond a reasonable doubt) that the movie DESERVES 5 stars. Now I just want to say a few words about the mysterious long version: I now have 3 videotaped copies of the long version (NO, I will not send anyone any copies under any circumstances) and here is the main point - if you haven't seen it, you are NOT missing much. So what is in the much talked about long version? First of all, it is definately longer than the VHS version or DVD version but it is not 4 hours. The movie was made into a mini-series for TV and probably had 4 1-hour episodes or 2 2-hour episodes. Figuring in time for commercials, that is way less than 4 hours. Second, it has VERY little new material. The main new part is a new introduction. It replaces the introduction given by Princess Irulan ("...know then that it is the year 10,191..."). Instead, a man's voice gives the introduction and explains a little bit of the history of man's fight with machines and the rise of the navigating guild. While he is talking, you see very badly drawn pictures of the described events. These are most likely taken from storyboards of scenes that were never shot. The new introduction was probably added with the intention of making the plot make more sense, but fails miserably.
There are also some scenes in the "long version" that are shown several times, like one where a Harkonnen ship is landing or taking off comes to mind.
Finally, there ARE deleted scenes. It has been too long since I watched a long version to tell you what they all are. Here are a few that I can remember: Gurney Halleck (Patrick Stewart) playing his Sitar-looking instrument and singing(!). The drowning of a baby worm in water to create the Water of Life. The removal of the water from a Fremen man that Paul defeats in battle. The extra scenes were shot with the real actors, but no effects were added so, for example, in scenes with Fremen their eyes are not blue.
If you are still dying to see the long version, the best way that I can recommend is to get cable and get the Sci-Fi channel. They show it every few months.
After watching the movie many times and reading the book, it now makes perfect sense to me and has become my ALL TIME favorite movie. If you are willing to put in a similar effort, you will be rewarded with much more enjoyment of this movie.
-Jeremy A. Ellis
Movie Review: If Vorian And Xavier Could See Their Families Now...
Summary: 5 Stars
TO SAY I LOVE ' DUNE ' WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT. Quite simply, the " Dune " series of books has captured my heart, mind and soul like no other series of books I have ever read in my life. Eune blends together science fiction, future history, religion, politics, psychology, family struggles, and personal human development and drama like no other series in history. It has been said before but I'll say it again, DUNE IS THE GREATEST SERIES IN SCIENCE FICTION HISTORY. I was 7 YEARS OLD when this movie came out, a smart little immigrant kid from Nicaragua who wasn't White, was learning to speak English and loved music. I had a boy crush on Sting back then because I loved his music and thought he was a great musician ( and still is ). So when I saw this movie for the first... I honestly can't remember the first time I saw because I HAVE LITERALLY SEEN IT OVER 100 TIMES, WHEN I SAY I HAVE SEEN IT OVER 100 TIMES I HAVE SEEN EVERY VERSION OF THIS MOVIE THAT EXISTS OVER 100 TIMES. I don't watch it for the fine piece of movie-making that it is, because it DEFINITELY IS NOT A GREAT FILM AND DEFINITELY THE LOW POINT OF DAVID LYNCH'S CAREER, even though Mr. Lynch is a certifiable genius and for the life of me I cannot fathom why he couldn't make this work, but everybody I speak to who knows " Dune " and knows david Lynch always agree: To bring a masterpiece like " Dune " to the silver screen, a special kind of director was needed, and that director could have only been DAVID LYNCH.
Quuite honestly, the things I hate the most about this movie deal with the pace and constant repetitiveness that takes place throughout this movie. While the book itself flowed like a well-played song played on Gurney Halleck's basilet, the movie was plodding and slow, at times shoddily shot, dark and full of ceaseless babble, pyscho-drivel and messianic visions of a future that some '60's hippie from San Francisco on LSD could have only come up with. Paul Atreides ( played by Kyle Maclachlan ) was always having strange visions about his future, and although these visions were central to the movie because Paul was " The Kwisatz Haderach ", the Universe's Super-Being the audience doesn't know that, and NOBODY who has never read the books will even know the F is going on, they'll probably turn it off within the first 15 minutes. It's not everybody's type of movie, it's not a movie you take a date to, it's not a movie where you stand up and cheer, or laugh, or cry, quite simply you sit there and take it all in. It's a story plain and simple, a narrative account of how a priveledged young man who seems to just be a normal person has a special destiny in him that he neither chose nor wanted but ultimately has to accept ( like Jesus of Nazareth, and the allusions and similarities to Jesus Christ couldn't be more obvious ). The names in the movie are alternative spellings of various Islamic, Hebrew and Christan names, and in the other Dune books, particularly the " Butlerian Jihad " series of books the Islamic references are very apparent, like the progenitor of the Fremen, whose name was ISMAEL. Many times I have seen this movie only for the BREAT SOUNDTRACK BY THE 80'S BAND TOTO, OF " Africa " and " Rosanna " fame, and more than once I have sat through the movie to hear the final, memorable, haunting piece of music at the end, the masterpiece of instrumental music known as " Take My Hand ".
THIS MOVIE IS FROEZN IN TIME FOR ME. THIS IS A PIECE OF MY CHILDHOOD THAT I WILL ALWAYS CARRY WITH ME THROUGH MY LIFE AND HAS BEEN LIKE A VERY DEAR FRIEND TO ME. EVEN TO THIS DAY I COME TO AMAZON OR TO THE LIBRARY TO PICK UP THE NEWEST ' DUNE ' BOOKS BY BRIAN HERBERT AND KEVIN J. ANDERSON, AND ALTHOUGH I'M ANGRY THAT BRIAN HERBERT WANTS TO MILK ' DUNE ' FOR ALL IT'S WORTH HE HAS SOME GOOD IDEAS AND MANAGES TO FLESH IT OUT MORE AND MORE. Sadly, like everything in life " Dune " can't live forever, and one day the series will finally end but I STILL REMEMBER EVERYTHING ABOUT IT, FROM ' DUNE " to Messiah, Children, God Emperor, Heretics, Chapterhouse, House Atreides, House Harkonnen, House Corrino, Bulerian Jihad, Machine Crusade, Battle of Corrin... YES, I HAVE READ ALL THOSE BOOKS, OVER 100,000 PAGES OF DUNE!!! I haven't read " Hunters " or " Sandworms " but I know what they're about, and the new ones are just the last drops of milk from Mr. Herbert's cash cow, but I'll always be a fan and I will always love " DUNE ". LONG LIVE THE FIGTHERS!!!!!!!!!
Movie Review: Great movie an director's vision!
Summary: 5 Stars
I watched the movie at the theaters when I was barely 14, it still amazes me how inspired was David Lynch when he commited to this film project. I have read the book many times, and the first time it only took me one day to finish it, I just couldn't put it down!! I have also seen the Dune TV Series, which left me with mixed feelings. Lynch's film succeeded absolutely in portraying us the rise of the messiah, the awakening of the sleeper, the chosen one, something that even the book did not accomplish. The quality of the film and the special effects are great by 80's standard, but today it may seem a little outdated. The casting was great, every leading role was portrayed perfectly, Duke Leto, Gurney Halleck, the Baron, the emperor, Paul's mother Sarah, chani (played by Sean Young), unlike the TV Series, here you see a Paul Atreides that changes into the man he is destined to be and more (played by Kyle McLachlan), his sister Lia who shows her extraordinary powers in such an excellent way that is it almost disturbing watching her. Also the music score is of such an excellent quality (played by Toto) that can be compared to the best music scores ever written for a movie.Lynch's film version of Dune is not as close to the book as the TV Series, but then, how could it possibly be in a 2,5 hour film, this is as close as it can get, and again, being close to what it is written in the book doesn't guarantee an innovative and inspiring vision, take for instance the TV Series, which is very close to the book and the political intrigues that were depicted in the book, but at the same time so far away to the spirit of the book that one can sense after reading it.
There is an scene that I completely love and that is when Paul goes to the desert to drink the water of life in order to become something more or perish in the attempt, the worms then appear and seem to be feeling Paul's journey, as well as the Bene Gesserit witches. Paul then understands the role of the spice and his role among the Fremen and then awakens to his true power. There is so much mysticism in this scene that you could almost relate the Sufi's tradition of the awakening of men. What we have here is an scene that was completely made up and had nothing to do what it is written in the book, but adds so much to the rising mysticism that you start feeling from the half of the movie and into the end.
To my opinion both versions of the Book (Lynch's movie and Harrison TV Series) were a good effort, and they are worth watching. What happened to me was that I saw the TV Series and never watched it again, didn't want to, better off reading the book again, but I still enjoy watching Lynch's Dune.
For the uninformed: this is a movie that it is hard to watch, you will have to see it a couple of times in order to understand it, and then a couple more times to really enjoy it. But then if you really sense the spirit behind it you will always be coming back for more. For me this is a definitive must-buy, a movie that you have to keep in your personal collection of the best all time movies!!! Enjoy!!!
Movie Review: An Underrated Science Fiction Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
People who complain that this much maligned film version of Frank Herbert's classic novel left out too much elements completely miss the point. David Lynch had to dramatically simplify the story and add scenes not in the book to fit it into a feature film length format, yet he managed to retain enough elements to still tell an interesting, epic tale. But that's not this film's main acomplishment.
What made this film survive it's disastrous box office run and eventually become a cult classic was Lynch's vision, which effectivelly translated the feel and look of a dark and medieval future civilization where religion and mind altering drugs are more important than machinery.
The production design on this film is visually stunning, and I doubt it will be ever duplicated. Each planet has it's unique look and feel, both on sets and props, and the desert scenes on Arrakis are simply breathtaking. The costumes are incredible, they make the Atreides look strong and noble, the Harkonnen's evil and amoral, the Corrinos regal and decadent, the Fremen tough and weathered, the Bene Geserit manipulative and intimidating and finally, the Spacing Guild mysterious and menacing. Some of the photo compose effects might seem a tad dated today, but they still hold up pretty well, and ultimately look much more real and believable than the CGI overload on most Science Fiction today.
The casting on this movie is impeccable, and the acting is top notch, something really uncommon for the genre. I could go on forever raving on this particular points, but I'll just focus on Francesca Annis: not only she looks ravishingly beautiful, her portrayal of Jessica as a strong an intelligent woman is flawless. Some people criticize Kenneth Mc Millan, Paul L. Smith and Sting for their over the top Harkonnen portrayals, but I think they were a necessity, considering the short screen time they had to effectively establish them as the ultimate evil doers.
In hindsight, I think the main reason this movie failed commerciallly is that it was marketed as a Star Wars like epic, and didn't really deliver on that promise. Lynch's narration may be flawed, but at the same time it focused on some of the more interesting aspects of the novel, such as the strangeness of this particular civilization, and the spice expanding consciousness, conveyed through surrealist dream sequences. This movie will be ultimately remembered because of it's powerful visual portrayal of one of Science Fictions most beloved novels, and that's all that really matters.