Dune

Rating:
Summary: An Utter Waste of a Talented Cast
Review: Each time I try to watch this movie (and I have never been able to make it all the way through, despite my enjoyment of the book), I am simply stunned at how many talented and seemingly well-cast actors are utterly wasted in this bloated, boring, ineptly written and directed pseudo-epic. I recently tried, one more time, to get through enough of it to at least savor Juergen Prochnow as Duke Leto (whose scenes should have been greatly enhanced), but was too repulsed by the scenes surrounding his to stick it out. Why is it that so much of modern science fiction allots so much screen time playing up the gross and repulsive, and so little to the beautiful and wonderful? ("Contact" being the rare exception.) I'm not talking about some bland, sanitized vision of other worlds, but how many people really enjoy long close-ups of pustules? Apparently the filmmakers, and the people who love this movie. And even if the film weren't so repulsive, it is just plain boring.... Long, awkward scenes of exposition, horrible art, voice-overs and a general inability to construct a coherent cinematic narrative.... (Every filmmaker should be forced to study at the feet of Peter Jackson and his team to learn that complex book-to-cinema CAN be done brilliantly!) For an ambitious movie, I think "Dune" is the worst I have ever seen - proving that even a dream cast cannot overcome a disastrous script, direction and editing.

Rating:
Summary: Obviously, I'm not a fan.
Review: To date, I can only think of one movie of David Lynch's that I like, and that would be his most recent, Mulholland Drive, and even I thought that was a bit overrated. Then there's Dune, a monstrously budgeted sci-fi epic based off of Frank Herbert's enormously popular novel, and well, let's just say it's beyond your typical disappointment.

Dune has its fans, but all I see is a cheesy sci-fi film that is admittedly visually impressive, but suffers from a lack of dramatic power or sense of fun, two elements that are crucial to a movie of such proportions. Take the recent The Lord of the Rings, which ranks among the best novel-to-movie adaptations I've seen. That was a spirited fantasy/adventure, and represents all that this film is not.

Actually, I would really just recommend you check out the recent sci-fi channel mini-series instead, which turned out to be a very enjoyable and surprisingly well-made film. I found it better on almost every level, as it featured even more impressive sets and special effects, better battle scenes and duels, and most importantly, much more coherent storytelling.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best SF movies ever made!
Review: I started reading the DUNE series when I was eleven and have read the prequels to the first book. After reading all the books, I went to Blockbuster to rent the movie. When I watched the movie, I thought it was great. I kept watching it over and over.
The effects were great! The acting to me was great! But I was dissappointed at the end. It left the end wide open for a sequel.
I went to the internet after seeing the movie to read the reviews... I was shocked!
I think that people didn't like because they didn't under stand it. You probably need to read the book before you see the movie. But for those who liked the movie, an ongoing cult has been going on. I've seen the remake of film on the sci-fi channel, and thought it was ok. Not as great as the oringinal.
The 3hour version has recently been on T.V. The newer seens were good, but that old guy talking was too much. With every new thing that we know about, he gives a 5 min history lesson.
The movie was over-all great. One of the best movies I have seen. If there is a sci-fi movie you need to see, watch DUNE.

Rating:
Summary: This could be better
Review: the problem with this version is that it is too short...you need to watch the longer version to truely enjoy and understand the movie. i have been watching Dune since i was a little girl and when i watched the short version I was confused!! you lose alot of the story and charcters in the shorter version...but for some reason they don't release the longer version...damn you! so i recomend you go and rent or find someone who has the longer version and not worry about this DVD...but hey thats just me.

Rating:
Summary: DUNE - This is one of the greatest movies of all time.......
Review: This is by far one of the best movies ever made. Dont waste your time on that horrible TV movie... Take the time to see this movie. It has a great story, excellent characters and is an all around fantastic movie.

Rating:
Summary: Misunderstood masterpiece
Review: I read the Dune novels a long time ago and have been a moderate fan of Frank Herbert since. However I never watched the movie cause I kept hearing and reading it was awful. On a whim I bought it on DVD last year and was very surprised to find a genuinely brilliant movie. It has a sweeping epic feel reminiscent of Lawrence of Arabia but with a lynchian character of its own. If watched with an open mind (and preferably with a projector an a large screen) this movie will reward you. Having watched the recent awfully childish, stupid and very boring TV series adapted from Dune makes me appreciate this movie even more.

Rating:
Summary: One of My All Time Favorites
Review: I just LOVE this movie! It is in my personal top 10. Great score! Great cast! Memorable lines! Beautiful themes! Do not confuse this Dune with the scifi channel miniseries Dune. The latter is not worth more than ten minutes of your time.

I would also suggest reading the Frank Herbert books if you like this movie.

Rating:
Summary: AWESOME
Review: If you liked the origional star wars over the new jack crahpola this is the film you've been waiting for! Think old star trek, think 80s, think science fiction as literature put on film with power. Think of the scene in star wars when Vader and governor Tarkin enter the war council aboard the death star. Forget new jack films and thier jean-claude van damme mentality. This film tracks a problem between 3 great feudal houses, a guild of space navigators, an ancient prophecy and a religious order entrusted to guard the prophesy by manipulating blood lines in royal houses in an empire 10,000 years old.
Personally on of my top 5 all time.
buy it.
borrow it and dont return it.
If only lynch had created a sequel.
The TV version is utter trash. I laughed at it for 45 minutes and turned it off.
Its the equivalent of star wars with jar jar compared to Luke Skywalker.
This film wlll also appeal to readers who appreciate science fiction without the environmentalist [junk] and uppity attitudes and endless personal problems and allusions to tolerance and [stuff] like that on enterprise etc that now litter the sci fi genre.
definatly not democrat scifi like next generation or x files.
good hard feudalism with psionic weaponry and "slow-blades" distortion shields, and monsters.
could have been a michael moorock novel or something a gary gygax game invented!
AWESOME

Rating:
Summary: Long book, Short movie, Bad Idea
Review: Trying to squeeze the entire book into a mere two hours was a mistake from the beginning. The subtelties and intricacies that make up the story are largely absent in this rushed collection of events. Many of the main characters have only a few quick lines and are then quickly shoved aside by the action.

David Lynch's portrayal of the Dune universe is a pseudo-psychedelic vision tinged with acid green. Since when is Thufir Hawat's anti-venom produced by a very skinny white cat? Why are the Sardakaur portrayed as big monsters wearing baggy silver space suits? They swat at people with their big arms, have green gas swirling behind their faceplates, and run about like claymation technozombies. What a disgrace! The emperor's elite troops are supposed to be rugged veteran swordfighters, NOT funked up astronauts from the fourth planet of the Braxomeel system. The mentats look awful. They have munchkinland hair and wear bright red lipstick. Feyd Rautha should not have been played by Sting with his greased up cherry-orange koolaid hair and silly adolescent sneer. Why does pulling tubes out of a still suit cause someone to bleed to death? Ridiculous!
To cap it all off, the Fremen get rid of their knives in the final battle and start using wierd boxes that shoot mysterious cosmic rays. In the book, it was all sword fighting! The battle between the two toughest armies in the known universe was spoiled. The silver suited Sardakaur morons run around in circles as they are all blasted away by magical beams of quasi-protons.

What an insult to a great and sophisticated work of literature! Half of the important scenes are edited out or cut to a sliver and yet the script includes a scene where a navigator visits the emperor in its spice fish tank. David Lynch's Dune is an attempt to compress too much into too little and it fails to capture the enigmatic spirit of Arrakis despite a dazzling array of special effects.

Rating:
Summary: Read the books then see the movie!
Review: Though the book does not develop all the threads in this epic (as others have pointed out), the movie is faithful to Paul and as a whole did a great job of describing the characters and the universe of Arrakis.

Many found the movie confusing. My only answer to that is to read and re-read the books until you find yourself in the Dune universe. The movie makes perfect sense to one thus familiar.

Imagine trying to understand the "Ten Commandments" without ever having grown up with the myths and legends of the 'Bible'. The movie would have been just as confusing.

Great book, great movie!...