Dune

Rating:
Summary: A Condensed Epic
Review: This is an epic movie, deep, complex, thrilling, and enjoyable. I watched the whole thing from beginning to end in one sitting, and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment.

Based on the reputation of the book as a very complex tale of intrigue and struggle, I knew a four-hour movie just wasn't going to do the book justice. But the trade off is that most of the scenes are rich with story info just asking for analysis and synthesis.

As would be expected of an epic saga about a pan-galactic human civilization, there is an abundance of cultures. The nuances that you encounter in the movie fit in perfectly -- details are important. Also, many of the personalities have strange accents and place emphasis on odd syllables. Not only do they do this well and believably, but it adds a lot of realism to the whole production.

The special effects are sometimes lacking. What can you expect from a four hour movie that is supposed to look like it was all shot in a desert? But for the scenes that count, the special effects are breathtaking, and well worth the movie alone.

Towards the end of the series the story kind of breaks down. Too much is going on, and much of it is mystical, having to do with the effects of "the Spice" on certain individuals. But overall it is still an excellent movie.

Rating:
Summary: This movie is TERRIBLE!
Review: This movie is terrible on so many levels it is hard to do it justice here. The acting is terrible. The story is terrible. The special effects are terrible. Fans of the book will hate it because it completely departs from the book. People who do not know the book will hate it because only someone who has read the book can even fathom watching it in the first place.

Anyone who sees depth and meaning in this movie is intellectually masturbating. Save your money. Do not buy this DVD. Buy the Sci-Fi Mini-Series Version. I can only hope this review saves at least one person the pain of seeing this rendition of Dune.

Rating:
Summary: An weird interpretation of Dune; yet it has "something"
Review: This is NOT a faithful reproduction of Dune the novel. As with all blockbuster books, a film interpretation that is literal to the plot is almost impossible. Editing the plot down to a manageable 2 or 3 hours means plenty of "expository lumps" as Ursula Le Guin calls them. These are the over-voice narrations or worse, scrolling text, to let a viewer figure out what the script writer left out of the film.

Having said all that, Lynch's film is not a bad one. The choice of ornatic, Victorian gothic costuming gives the flavor of future feudal-Imperial Caladan and Arrakis, a universe with dukes, barons and Emperors. Jurgen Prochnow (of Das Boot fame), Francesca Annis, Kyle MacLachlan, Patrick Stewart and Sian Philips are a magnificent, capable cast.

The over-the-top Baron and Feyd (played by Sting) are evocative of the obsessive, perverse duo in the book if not faithful to the actual portrayal. The heart-plugs, sewn into the Baron's slave flunkies, is a chilling visual interpretation of the Baron's sadistic pleasures.

My only quarrel is really with the screenplay adaptation. The voice-activated weapon (a merging of Voice, the commanding use of voice by Bene Gesserit and the duke's superb training.) It seems a feeble idea to me. The Bene Gesserit are really not well explained. However, the director's cut version is a reasonably good film in itself and worth watching.

Rating:
Summary: Stolen at Gunpoint
Review: ALEJANDRO JODOWORSKY AND GIGER WERE ROBBED!!

Rating:
Summary: a must see.... again and again......
Review: I saw this movie while I was reading the book, and I enjoyed it emensely. It was awesome with all the cool fight scenes, and when Alia kills Baron Harkonnen! My favorite part tho, was when Sting and Paul Maud'dib were fighting, it was awesome.

This was so much better then the new tv miniseries, the mini series added more scenes then were in the book, and I couldn't tell Thufir from Gurney! Sheesh!

Rating:
Summary: Still the Best
Review: A lot of fans of the book have derided the original Dune movie - for example, the addition of the "weirding modules" was totally out of line with the original novel. However, in retrospect, Lynch did a masterful job. The universe of Dune looks precisely as it should - the tough, hard, sandblasted Fremen - the noble Atreides, the grim industrial nightmare of Giedi Prime. The holes in the movie and its plotline are easily ignored when it is remembered how close to the mark the movie comes to being an accurate representation of how the Dune universe should appear.

The cast is brilliant - all the way from Francesca Annis, who presents herself with a royal, yet vulnerable air. Sian Phillips as the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohaim is perfect. Kyle MacLachlan is splendid as Paul Muad'dib, and Jurgen Prochnow is perfect as Duke Leto. Special mention must go to Max von Sydow as Liet Kynes.

It is the standard by which all other attempts at Dune (pay attention John Harrison) will be judged. So far, it has withstood the test of time.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most spectacularly awful sci-fi movies ever made
Review: Did this movie make any sense whatsoever to anybody who had not already read the books?

Did this movie fail to disappoint anybody who HAD read the books?

Rating:
Summary: Great Sci-Fi which may strain the brain
Review: This is not for the weak stomached or for those people who think a movie should have feeling in it. I am a Sci-Fi fan, and when I saw this movie for the first time I instantly knew it was great. Sci-Fi has gone almost completely Fiction with no real science anymore. When someone today creates a movie about a world they don't look at the consequences of the characters being in that world (except for Pitch Black). Dune is one of those movies which went down to the last detail to bring you Frank Herbert's book in the best adaptation I could get from it. The reason for the 4 stars is that the DVD doesn't have many options.

Rating:
Summary: TOO SHORT...
Review: Although the first 90 minutes are great,the last part of the movie is too short and confuse for the profane.Paul is accepted too fast by the fremen, we barely don't see what it's like to live in the deep desert and the guerilla fought against the sardaukars.Beside that it's too short it lacks of good sfx (some scenes look grotesk like the battle of arrakeen). Of course the cast,costums and settings are great. with 60 minutes and 20 million dollars more this movie would have been a great achievement.

Rating:
Summary: Doomed from the start
Review: It seems like any sane person could look at Dune, realize there is really no way it could be condensed into a 2 hour format, and wisely shift to another project...of course, another option is to hire some stars, dump millions of dollars into it, and then cover for the lack of content with a lot of bizzare imagery and suppurating facial boils. Sorry, but I prefer a little content with my special effects (which are dated now, leaving no further reason to view this stinkburger)...how do I know the Baron is evil? Not because of characterization or plot development, I can tell he's evil because he floats around killing his minions randomly, he forces his staff to walk around with their ears and eyes sewn shut (or perhaps this is a fashion statement on his planet?) he screams, yells, and sprays spittle every time he delivers a line, and plus his face is sliding off (man, that cat must be EVIL!). In case this imagery wasn't subtle enough, his entire planet is jet black, betraying only a few little angry red cracks (er, people live here?), and when hankering for a snack, its inhabitants suck the fluids out of little alien fetuses and yank tongues out of cows to eat them raw (which honestly you shouldn't do because those things lick their noses, I've seen them). They do this because they're SO DANG EVIL and these kinds of ploys are a lot easier than actually doing any exposition/character development. This movie wouldn't draw so much criticism I think if it just hadn't been based on Dune because in general the people who liked the book like their material a little smarter than this. Really, best thing for it would have been to dumb it down even more, remove any remaining traces of the political/religeous aspects, replace Kyle Maclaughlin with Jet Li, rename the movie 'Sand Pirates' then take it out back and set fire to it. Watch the Sci Fi channel's mini series version (which is not quite dead on but by God it's closer than this), or read the book again.