Dune

Rating:
Summary: There is a reason no one liked this in 1984.
Review: This movie is just as bad as it always was. Dune is one of the best Sci-fi novels of all time. It was a 600 page novel telling an epic story of the human race 8000 years in the future. However, Dune presents a different view of the future than almost any other sci-fi would. There are two major differences. First off, there are no aliens in Dune, humans are alone in the Universe. Secondly, humans are not allowed to use computers or any sort of A.I.(probably to avoid a future similar to The Matrix) As a result, humans are extremely advanced in the area of mental development, but lacking in almost everything else. In order to make up for the lack of computers, very unique breeds of humans have developed. One is the guild navigators who are bred to be able to navigate through space-time folds and essentially allow humans to warp through hyperspace. There are also mentats, who are essentially trained at birth to think like a calculator(even simplistic calculators are forbidden in this universe). There are even warrior breeds, like the emperor's Sardaukar.

Probably the most important are the guild navigators, they are the ones who allow humans to break the speed of light. They are the ones who make intergalatic travel possible. However, they rely on a single resource to give them the ability to travel through hyperspace. This resource is found on only one planet in the universe, it is known as melange, or simply, spice. It is only found on Arrakis. Dune. Desert planet. A planet with winds and temperatures so harsh that it is only habitable near the polar regions. It's also filled with 400 foot worms that travel beneath the sand and will eat anything that moves. Without the spice, humans would be isolated to their own planets forever(or at least until they reinvented computers). Consequently, spice has become the most valuable resource in the universe. It's also an addictive drug which gives you telepathic abilities and makes you live to age of 130. Although why 8000 years have gone by without anyone ever finding a cure for aging is mystery. I mean, there was a classic X-files episode where this guy found a cure for aging by implanting a serial killer with the DNA of a salamander. You'd think 8000 years would be enough for them to try something like that, oh well, back to the review. Another thing worth mentioning is that people don't fight with laser guns as in most sci-fis, they fight with knives. The reason for this is because the only thing that pierces a force shield is a slow moving object. As a result, we also have humans who are trained as masters of knife-fighting.

So what does all this have to do with the movie? Absolutely nothing. In the first battle sequence the Sardaukar come in with robotic suites and automatic weapons, go figure. This movie makes no sense whatsoever. If computers are banned then why do you constantly see things that would require computers to build? There are so many inconsistencies with the book it's ridiculous. The shields still exist, even though everyone is fighting with hi-tech weapons, but they look like orange boxes, when they are supposed to be invisible. Nobody actually uses them except for one guy, and he gets killed by a stunner(a gun which if fired perfectly by a highly trained warrior can go through a shield). The Atreides are developing some sort of sonic weapon. Where the hell did Lynch ever come up with this idea? Now you got the Fremen, who are supposed to be fighting with sandworm teeth, fighting with guns that blow things up when you yell "Muad'Dib" into them. The ornithopters are gone and have been replaced by these hovercraft thingies. And why the heck does the Baron Harkonnen, who is the dictator of one of the most powerful houses in the universe, float around in this suit thingy that resembles long underwear? He is SUPPOSED to be wearing very elaborate clothing decorated with expensive gemstones, why does he look like a half-naked rotting fat man? Don't even get me started on the "heart plugs."

The casting is absolutely horrible. Paul Atreides looks like Eric from "That 70's Show." Duke Leto looks like he came straight out of a Barbara Streissand movie. Paul's mother goes bald(don't ask). Chani looks nothing like she was described in the book. And as for the Baron Harkonnen, what happened to him? Lynch ruins the Harkonnens by trying to make them seem really disgusting and evil. One of the interesting things about the book is that the Harkonnens weren't actually evil, they just thought and acted differently from the Atreides. They were cruel and savage, they were based on the Romans, but they were nothing like how they are portrayed in the movie. The book actually gives the internal monologues of the Harkonenns several times, and they don't seem all that unusual. There is ONE character who is well cast and that is Sting as Feyd-Ratha. He's also the only person in this movie I've ever heard of. Unfortunately Lynch removed practically every scene with him in it, and he is reduced to a couple of lines. Why did Lynch have to take out the gladiator scene with Feyd-Ratha? That was one of the best scenes in the book, why did he feel the need to remove it? In fact the only knife fight left is the most important one, and it's hardly impressive.

Bottom line, this movie stinks, and is nothing like the book. The 2000 version, on the other hand, is superb, despite the lack of a budget. It follows the book almost exactly and it's six hours long, so it doesn't feel rushed. I don't know why Lynch felt he was qualified to mess with the genius of a writer like Frank Herbert, but he completely butchers the book.

Rating:
Summary: DVD disappointing for digital TV
Review: While this DVD works fine on analog (4:3) sets, you will likely be disappointed if you play it back on a progressive scan DVD to 16:9 digital HDTV monitor. It will not be proportioned correctly as the video IS NOT anamorphic. It is a shame, this would be a fun movie to watch in true 480P widescreen.

Rating:
Summary: ACK! Thpppt! What the was Lynch thinking?!!!!!
Review: Don't get me wrong, I happen to like the work of David Lynch.....but taking one of SF's biggest epics short of Lord of the Rings is a daunting task.....and Lynch got daunted *real* bad!
Firstly, key pivotal scenes were completly left out, totally pissing off fans of the Book (I've read it at least 10 times)
Secondly, the addition of stuph not in the book (Weirding Devices & Heart Plugs) totally irked the hell out of me.
Thirdly, completely changing the whole reason why Emperor Shaddam IV moves against House Atreides is beyone totally inexcusable!
The TV version I switched off as soon as I saw Lynch's name replaced with 'Alan Smithee'.....how can you make something this bad, even worse by adding footage and the cheesey pastel drawings? It only served to further muddy the waters for those who haven't read the book.
IMHO, get the Sci-Fi Channel's mini-series adaption.....the acting's a bit stiff and it's not really much more than a Costume Drama, but at least the scenes us fans wanted are in this one!
I did get ONE good use out of this piece of tripe.....When I was working in a video store we woulod have a huge number of kids come in near the end of the school year and rent movies that were originally books.....We had one particulary obnoxious kid who came in *real* late and demanded we rent him a movie made from a novel
Well, I rented him this gobbler
Would you believe that the kid and his father had the CHUTZPAH to confront me about the 'F' he got on his book report?
I told the father that there's absolutely no excuse for not reading the book and because his son came in so late in the game it was one of the only movies made from a book that I could think of.

Rating:
Summary: You may have to read the book to really follow
Review: This movie is weird, thats true but the Sci-Fi Mini Series is just plain BAD.

Dune in my opinion is the greatest book written since Lord of the Rings. The mini-series is so bad though that it might turn people who have never read the book off from ever reading it.

At lest this movie is interesting enough that it makes you want to read the book if you haven't.

Please though, don't buy the mini-series.

Rating:
Summary: The View form De Laurentiis
Review: As a viewer, I have a major character defect. I am a sucker for splendor and the kind of heroic melodrama that brings a tear to some eyes and a wince to others. Usually I can keep a tight rein on this insidious bad habit, but Dino de Laurentiis definitely knows how to push my buttons. So, while others gnash their teeth about everything that is not quite right about this version of 'Dune,' I just sit there eating popcorn and being awestruck.

Well, there really is a lot wrong. Despite similarities to the book, it's hard to decide whether the film invents more than it leaves out, or vice versa. After a relatively orderly beginning, the film suddenly switches into helter skelter mode, shifting from scene to scene with very little continuity. If you have read the book, it isn't too bad, but if you have not, it is quite confusing. It's like a Reader's Digest abridgement of a 600 page book.

The film does manage to get the idea across that this is the story of galactic politics between House Atreides and House Harkonnen, with the Emperor (Jose Ferrer) on the side of the Harkonnens and no one on the side of Leto Atreides (Jurgen Prochnow) and his son Paul (Kyle Maclachlan). But it barely touches on the machinations of the Bene Gesserit, Navigator's Guild, and Mentat castes. And we see very little of the rich Fremen culture that lives on the planet Arrakis, where the life giving Spice is mined.

What the film does extremely well though is provide one eye filling spectacle after another. 'Dune' is a big book, and De Laurentiis and David Lynch have manages to capture its immense sense of scale. The sets and photography are lush with imagery, and the worms that haunt Arrakis' desert (and have by far the largest acting part) are great special effects. Of course, all the players are visually perfect, and many are very competent actors.

I have become convinced that the De Laurentiis formula avoids putting pressure on acting skills. Unlike 'Conan,' where only the villains had decent speaking parts, 'Dune' allows Paul Atreides to actually speak in whole sentences. However, Kyle Maclachlan is much better at looking good and making strange noises than he is at speaking naturally. But you have to like Patrick Steward as Gurney Halleck and Kenneth Macmillan's maniacal Baron Harkonnen.

It is unfortunate that this film turn out to be irritating to many fans of the book and equally for newcomers to approach. Deep down inside it is likeable in the same fashion as a good comic book. For some reason it continues to tickle my fancy after all of these years.

Rating:
Summary: If you thought it was weird, you missed the point.
Review: For all those who love the epic novel, and the following books, this movie is well done and to the point. But for those who LOVE the book, it is underdone.... Don't get me wrong, what we can see and hear is undeniably great cinematography and true to the heart of Herberts masterpiece. But there are many gaps and lapses that a release of the full film could fill. As i understand it the original production would run near 3 hours and that would suit me just fine. Paul and his Fremen are the center of the book, with the Harkonnens running a close second. Paul Atreidies is played aptly by Kyle and almost all the other characters are pretty close matches to the actors... Kudos to the understated role of Duke Leto played by Jurgen Prochnow. This film is great for a companion to the book, but it just left me wanting to see more of Lynch's stunning interpretation.

Rating:
Summary: Good sets and costumes, poor novel tracking
Review: There have been 2 movies made from the novel Dune. I think Dune is a cornerstone science fiction work, along with I, Robot, The Stars My Destination, Stranger in a Strange Land, and Ringworld. This movie follows the "flavor" of the novel well in costumes, sets, and special effects, but fails to capture the spirit and theme of the story well. I think they missed the idea of a predestined leader, and the conflict between duty and personal desire. They substituted a love story and a new ending (it didn't rain in the book). The other Dune movie follows the story line a lot closer, but fails miserably in the appearance of Arrakis and the Freemen. A blend of the two strong point might have produced a masterpiece instead of two lukewarm flicks.

Rating:
Summary: Why?
Review: It's (ticked) me off for a long time that Dune has not seen a "proper" release in the states. Every single (cruddy), worthless movie that gets released on DVD these days has all sorts of bonus footage, but not Dune. This is my favorite movie of all time, probably because I love the book and David Lynch so much. I have never seen the short version and don't plan on it. Why can't There be like a Criterion Collection release of dune. Why?

Rating:
Summary: A Victim of Studio Control
Review: First off, I have not read any of Frank Herbert's books, so I am unable make comparisons of the book and the movie. I will say, however, that, had Lynch wanted to simply take the book exactly as it is and transfer it to the medium of film (like The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and the SciFi Channel production of Dune), it would have been a completely meaningless achievement. The book has already been written, so why would we want the exact same thing again? A book is a book; a movie is a movie; if a movie interprets a book verbatim onto the screen, it must fill in certain gaps and create new facets to compensate for the inherent errors of the transformation process. Another alternative--the one Lynch took--is to focus on a narrow story within the book (in this case, Paul Atreides' destiny without the clutter of the socio-political plot) and to simply use that as a guideline, from which to create a "new" story.

Being a cinephile, who generally abhors the mere concept of special effects and stylish and lavish production design, I was shocked by the quality of the 1984 technology and sense of the future. This is one of only two or three films to ever have a realistic (meaning scientifically and technologically feasible) concept of the distant future. There were not excessively outrageous alien species or means of transportation. The sets, though grand, maintained a subtlety and a sense of reality that is absent in most science fiction films. With the exception of the shield suits, the graphics and effects were completely believable.

The first hour and a half of the film is magnificent in every way. Paul is explored on many levels and in many situations, allowing us to know him without letting us become sick of him. The suspense of Paul's mysterious visions and encounter with the Bene Gesserit (sp?) woman keep us on the edge of our seat. The themes of duty, loyalty, fate, Good, et cetera, intrigue the viewer as to what moral message the film will ultimately convey.

Then . . . we wish that studio executives would realize that people do not mind going to see long movies! At some point, around 1:45 into the film, it just takes off at lightning speed, covering 2 or 3 hours worth of material in less than 35 minutes. That is the only thing wrong with this film: it's forced to wrap up when it doesn't have enough time to. In that last period, we can't figure out what's going on with the worms, what the political situation is, who some of the newly introduced characters are, or what happened to the characters we already knew. Then suddenly, the film is over. If you can just imagine what might have happened in scenes that were obviously cut, then you can still maintain an appreciation for the film's final act.

It is my firm belief that Dune is one of the best films ever made, but very few people have ever seen it in its entirety. But with so much right in the film that we see, it can only get better with additional footage.

Rating:
Summary: Imperfect but still unforgettable adaptation
Review: Set in the distant future in which mankind is spread across space and interstellar trade and travel depends upon huge spaceships navigated by mutated humans called navigators. Computers and other thinking machines are outlawed - a consequence of an earlier age of cybernetic oppression over mankind that came to an end with the "Butlerian Jihad". Instead, computerized men called "mentats" do the heavy thinking. Underlying every aspect of civilization is the spice "melange". Melange extends human life-spans and is also the base for the mentats' sappho juice. In larger quantities, melange alters the consciousness, allowing its users to read minds and see through walls of time and space. For the navigators, constant spice consumption is essential. The inhospitable desert world of Dune is the only source of the stuff. Monster worms swallow whole huge harvesters that pick the spice off the sand, while storms powerful enough to strip a man to the bone keep much of the planet veiled in mystery. Fremen natives of the planet are hostile to outsiders, but keep to themselves and their "zensunni" ways. The economy, tied to spice harvesting, keeps anybody from wielding complete power whether openly or in secret. The emperor's power is eroded by his dependence on the spacing guild but also by the constant plotting of both the Bene Gesserit and between the warring houses of the Landsraad. The BG are an order of women addicted to spice but also devoted to eugenics. While others seek to rule the universe by plotting over spice, the BG have spent centuries breeding a super-being called the "Kwisatz Haderach" through whom they will rule the universe. Unsurprisingly, the navigators will have none of this, and plot with Emperor to kill the likely candidate for BG's purposes. Luckily for them both, the candidate is Paul Atreides, the heir to the noble House Atreides, and already a target. Politics has forced the Emperor to secretly plot intervening on behalf of the Atreides's hated enemy, House Harkonnen. Knowing of the plotting, but not its details, the Atreides obey the Emperor and move their Duchy to Dune. The headstrong Duke believes that the best way to defeat a trap is to stick your head into it. With his wise and BG-trained concubine, Jessica, his preternaturally brilliant son Paul, the age-old mentat-assassin Thufir, the fighting minstrel Gurney Halleck, the chief Administrator Duncan Idaho and his army, The Duke feels himself besieged but invulnerable. The Duke is especially confident because of his philosophy of unlocking the hidden power of planets - sea-power on Caladan, and for Dune - desert power. He seeks the fremen, convinced that they are the key. Jessica, using her BG training, finds the Fremen religion rooted on hopes of a messianic warrior who will lead them in a holy war. However, not even the Duke is prepared for the treachery that delivers him into the hands of the hated Baron Harkonnen. When the Duke falls, Jessica and Paul flee to the Fremen, now desperate to exploit the Fremen fanaticism for their survival. Thought dead by the Imperium, and through the Fremen chief, Stilgar, Jessica becomes their chief BG, while Paul becomes their general, adopting the name "Muadib". Under his command, Harkonnen forces are annihilated and the emperor is forced to come to Dune himself with all of his legions of Sardaukar troops, where he will discover the secret identity of Muadib, and all will reap the disastrous consequences of their plotting.

This movie was reviled when released, looking like a cross between "The Ten Commandments" and "Eraserhead". Given the more coherent but also more uninspired version produced for the Sci-Fi channel, this version is due for a fresh take. The casting is excellent, but the script just seems hokey, like some nightmare biblical epic. Lynch wavers between following his source material closely and venturing beyond it. (The Emperor's plot against the Duke was a plot idea cooked up for the film that doesn't make sense - the Emperor has little true power for which the Atreides would contend, and anyway, Atreides are too busy warring with Harkonnen. The Emperor mostly laments the forces that have forced him to turn against the Duke; the Fremen would never have discarded their prized "crysknives" for weirding modules) The visuals are also frustrating - with harvesters and carry-alls looking only like elaborate models, and some settings looking little more than concept drawings. The battle scenes are weak - mobs of soldiers running across the sand with guns - but then battles never occur in the books, all being described after the fact. The greatest challenge is dealing with the subtext - which Lynch presents by having his actors recite their deep thoughts in whispering voice overs. Adapting Dune is something of a Catch-22 - the more coherent it is, the less it is the Dune that Herbert fans have loved for decades. The guys who wrote the Dune prequel books had no problem choosing which course they favored, which made "House Atreides" both a cogent story and correspondingly trite. The result is a messy compromise for the director who wasn't sure whether he should follow of simply write his own epic (my vote: he should have tried going his own way - his opening scene, one not occurring in the book, where the emperor faces a navigator - is priceless). Look for Lynch in a cameo as a spice harvester, and also Lynch fixture, the late Jack Nance ("Eraserhead" and the guy who first found Laura Palmer wrapped in plastic) as Nefud, the Baron's closest guard. But pay special attention to Brad Dourif as Piter, the baddest of mentats - his litany of mind over matter is the catchiest thing in this flick.