Rating: 
Summary: Is there a way to give negative stars?
Review: An instructor of mine once said that any Sci-Fi with anything less than total efffort in all fronts of a project should be classified as "Digital Masturbation." The TV-mini series of Dune lives up to that axiom. William Hurt, if you don't like acting, retire and let someone who does enjoy the craft get some work for a change. The Paul was even less convincing, in the scene where he realizes that his child has been murdered I thought he might have just been chilled as the blanket had come off his bed. Costumes, well I don't think that I'm qualified to speak of things that lived in Frank Herbert's imagination, but I don't think the costume designer does either. The visuals were great, between opticals, SFX, and CG they did a great job. The only things lacking were adequate acting skills from the ensemble and adequate directing. When all is said and done the praise or blame falls on the director. John Harrison has not quite mastered the art of balance and this piece falls short of what it could be. Anyone who wants to make another version of Dune should remember the short commings of the prior two attempts and leave bad enough alone!
Rating: 
Summary: YAFDA...
Review: Yet Another Failed Dune Adaptation (YAFDA). Harrison's adaptation lacks the power of the book. I suspect part of the problem is that Frank Herbert's characters and dialog are bigger than life -- and it must be difficult for actors to make that fine balance between overplaying the part to point of sounding silly and grandiose (e.g. Ian McNeice), or underplaying the part and sounding wooden (e.g. William Hurt and Alec Newman). Harrison and Co. made a valiant effort all the same. They deserve 4 stars for the scenery, the costumes, and the special effects -- except they get a big goose egg in my book for giving all the spice addicted people GLOWING blue eyes! And what is that thing that Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam is wearing on her head?
Rating: 
Summary: Just bought the DVD of Dune TV series...better than I expect
Review: Dear Reviewer, I just purchased ... the DVD version of the Dune TV series. It is pretty good? Must less "gory" than the 1984 movie version and much longer in total hours (6 hours for the TV show vs 2.5 hour for the movie version). The longer time allows one to bond better to the characters and special effects are pretty good (all CGI). The only down side is that the eyes of Freemen are sometimes blue, then white again. The other is some minor plots lines left out and there is no effort to decribe the very complicated world of the Empire (ya just hav' ta read the bloody book). As a 38 year old who read the book in highschool and saw the 1984 movie, I liked the Sci-Fi effort greatly. Highly recommonded! AWH
Rating:
Summary: Yawwwwwn...
Review: First, I must mention that I simply love Dune - as it was originally written. Though many have scoffed at the David Lynch film, after seing this TV version - I must now say that the Lynch version is brilliant and superior. This newest attempt is so bad, and so boring. The casting is terrible. I cannot imagine worse casting. Paul is a whiney, immature, wanna be Mark Hamill from the original Star Wars... The viewer cannot avoid developing a hatred for him. In fact, one cannot even develop any interest for any character in the film. William Hurt, although a fine actor, is terribly cast as Duke Leto. Weak. Paul's mother is a Hillary CLinton look alike. Avoid this waste..
Rating: 
Summary: Better Than The Movie
Review: I saw this on VHS, so will comment only on the drama and not the DVD-related technical features. Compared to the movie, the TV mini-series captured the DUNE universe better. The movie was too short and very disjointed--very hard to follow, plus a lot of oddness and gratuitous grossness that wasn't in the book (heart plugs!) Some of the acting in the mini-series was a bit weak (esp. William Hurt--half asleep? still in the Accidental Tourist role?) Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreities lacked a convincing messianic character. One reviewer found him "too fragile." I found him to be a sort of Luke Skywalker without a cause, despite the murder of his father by the Dune evil force, Baron Harkonnen. A number of reviewers were put off by the foreign accents--I think it created a real cosmopolitan feel. Overall, a very enjoyable movie to watch at one sitting on a long Saturday afternoon, especially when it's raining outdoors.
Rating:
Summary: Some reviewers here need to reread the book
Review: This version of Dune while not perfect is far closer an adaption then the 1984 Lynch version. While Lynch did create sort of a cult hit with his often fascinating sureal imagery it was not the Dune that I read. However that imagery was so strong that it is stuck in many peoples heads and they can't help but compare it to this version. There are so many things that Lynch got wrong that Harrison got right but I won't go into them here. Just read the book again and you will see what a great adaption this was. True some of it is not of movie quality but I thought it was pretty good for a TV miniseries. Overall if you are a true fan of the novels you should appreciate this attempt.
Rating:
Summary: A Faithful Rendition
Review: The primary goal of the producers was to be as faithful to the book as possible. They achieved that goal. The result is an extremely entertaining adaptation. There are some flaws, but nothing that will leave you frustrated.
Rating:
Summary: Good Effects, Bad acting.
Review: While this movie has good effects, the acting is *terrible*. In the beginning the series follows the book closely, but towards the middle-end it starts to rush through the storyline. And some of the characters are not well represented. That said, if you haven't read the book, or books, you might enjoy the movie. But if you're a die hard sci-fi fan, I stronly recommend you read the book, which is philosophically superior.
Rating: 
Summary: Compliments the book well, but couldn't stand on it's own.
Review: I couldn't recommend John Harrison's adaptation of Dune to anyone that has not read the book. While David Lynch's movie lacked much of the story of Herbert's book, and made some rather liberal changes, it did stand on it's own. Harrison's Dune is an excellent addition to the book, but without knowledge of the book, it's a confusing mess. The main flaw of Harrison's work can be summed up in one word: characterization. Who were all these people? Dr. Yueh seemed to be a walk on cameo. The same for Thufir. Idaho showed up a little more, but we still have no idea who he is. Even the lead characters--Paul, Leto, Jessica, the Baron--are all just thrown into the story, with no information given on why they are what they are. John Harrison should have fought for one more episode (taking the runtime to 6 hours), and given us more insight into the characters. As much as some of the backdrops were jarring, I can't really complain. I know the budget was lacking, and the other effects (especially interior shots and the worms) were just amazing. This is probably the one flaw of the DVD, though--the transfer quality is so good, the cloth backdrops on the desert scenes do look like, well, cloth... I do applaud Harrison for sticking to the original story quite a bit, though. Where Lynch's Dune was a Messianic story, Harrison's Dune gave us a little insight into the "Manufactured Messiah" of the original book. I'm looking forward to his interpretation of the next two books...
Rating:
Summary: Cultural Landscape of Dune is Lost in Harrison's Epic
Review:  It's too bad, you can't take a scissors and cut and paste parts of John Harrison's 4 hour miniseries of Dune, onto the earlier David Lynch version. Harrison's version was able to take the time to put the story together, but Lynch's troubling and often brilliant visual images were truer to the cultural landscape of Dune. Don't get me wrong, the Harrison epic did some things quite well.... The characters of Princess Irulan, Duncan Idaho, Gurney, and Paul are better drawn than in Lynch's version. Alia is less grotesque and bizzarre. And, it is nice to get glimpses of the freemen's life. But while Harrison's series is richly presented, when it really comes down to it, Lynch's muddled masterpiece is far more faithful to Herbert's vision. For example, the Harkonnen "heart plug" is a metaphor for the dehumanizing way the Harkonnens use their people: you are there to satisfy their whims, and when it suits them, they pull the plug on you....literally. The scene on Lynch's Geidi Prime shows a gritty industrial facility, as the twisted mentat, DeVries, commutes in. Pieter is nervously taking a quick slug of his sapho juice brain booster, before presenting the baron with the message tube we earlier saw Leto seal with his 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, while surgically mutilated workers stand mutely by. In Harrison's version, the gladitorial games and red gowns provide a sense of decadent wealth and cruelty, but without the heart plugs, the images don't convey the particular hi-tech loathsomeness of Herbert's Harkonnens, as so memorably drawn in the Lynch movie. Saskia Reeves (Harrison series), is attractive, but not nearly as stunning a Jessica, as Franchesca Annis. Harrison's Reverend Mother Helen Gaius Mohaium, comes off as a semi-demented fairy. The Bene Gesserit of the Harrison epic are lush and prissy, but this sisterhood has been meddling in human affairs for centuries, and the somber, nun-like, semi-bald, sharp eyed elder women mystics in the movie seem more true to Herbert's novel. William Hurt as Leto, is too laid back. Jurgan Prochow had the same thoughfulness, and was far more regal. In the Lynch version, we can feel the coming tragedy, as Leto and Jessica leave Caladan looking much like the Tsar Nicolas and Tsarina Alexandra of Russia, going off to be shot by the Reds (the little pet pug dog pet was a nice touch). And in the Lynch film, you see 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. Harrison's mentats look like overdressed archbishops, rather than human computers, and there is no trace of the trademark "red stained lips." The royal planetologist Keynes, played by Max Von Sydow in the Lynch movie, is far more like 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, while those of the Harrison Dune look like hi-tech camouflage leotards. In the Lynch film, the baroque look of the huge galactic transports and throne room on Kaitain, had a decadent and futuristic feel that suggests an advanced society that once fought a war over "thinking machines," and now is uneasy with its technology. And in the Lynch film, the visual of 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 truer to Herbert's navigator's guild. It's too bad Lynch was not able to expand his movie. It's images are far more definitive than those of the Harrison offering. Both DVDs are worthwhile, but the Lynch DVD is Truer to Herbert's vision.
|
