Dune

Rating:
Summary: It's Great, Ignore the Whining Critics
Review: Remember that the overwhelming majority of critics are self-appointed and have never produced ANYthing. Now buy this film and watch it. Read Frank Herbert's DUNE series and you'll understand and love David Lynch's cinematic masterpiece. True, the story deserved 8 hours to tell, but the average moviegoer doesn't have that kind of patience. The effects are great, the characterization perfect, and the music appropriate. DUNE should be enjoyed, and its critics dismissed.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing.
Review: A horrible movie and a discredit to a classic and awesome book. I finished watching it and wondered for an hour why the DVD was so bad. I still can't tell you why. I can tell you that others warned me not to watch it, but I didn't listen. If you read the "Dune" books, you too will probably watch this DVD, no matter what I say. All I can say is that the Dune books had too much in it to be transfered to a two hour movie. Dune, the movie has the all of the outward action of the book, but none of its subtleties.

If you haven't read the "Dune" books, I don't think you will enjoy this movie either. The acting was bad, the story seems shallow, and you don't spend enough time with anyone in the movie to develop a bond or affinity with them. If you don't care about anyone in the film, you won't care about the film itself. Personally, I would recommend that you skip this one and read the book instead, or rent a different movie. This DVD will only disappoint you.

Rating:
Summary: A valiant effort, but Dune in 2-hours? IMPOSSIBLE...
Review: I had my copy of Dune sitting on my bookshelf for I can't remember HOW long before I heard that someone was attempting to turn it into a movie. I figured it was high time I actually read it...but about 50 pages into, I gave up. It was another year or so before the movie actually came out, and I once again tried to read this incredibly acclaimed novel...this time I got to I believe page 75 before giving up entirely.

I decided to see the movie, and the thing that really struck me as I walked into the theater (yes, I saw it when it first came out in the 80's...) was they gave me a piece of paper containing definition of words and phrases that the movie had that was sure to confuse the watcher IF they had never read the book. I found that it didn't really help the movie all that much (if at all) and went on to actually enjoy the movie, so much so that I decided once and for all to read ALL of Dune...WOW! Suddenly this movie which was pretty decent to me, went down a few notches. To those who have read the absolutely amazingly fantastic novel, NOTHING will EVER do it justice. Just go and TRY to take 'Gone With The Wind' and reduce it to a 20 minute movie--WITHOUT losing any of the plot...sound impossible? It IS. The same goes with a valiant attempt on David Lynch's part to turn a sci-fi masterpiece into 2-hours.

The one MAJOR plus to this movie is the masterful way they portrayed the magnificent Sandworms. I was wondering how you could possibly do justice to such an incredible vision as described within the pages of Frank Herberts Dune, but in all honesty, they hit a homerun with this particular part of the movie. Now with that said, what went wrong with the special effects in the rest of the movie??? Now sure it was made before computer graphics could do a LOT...however remember how well the effects were in OTHER sci-fi movies done even BEFORE Dune, some are LIGHT YEARS ahead of the bulk of the effects seen in this movie. And you will also remember that at the time this came out it ranked as one of the most expensive movies ever made? You will wonder in a BIG way what they spent all that money on when you see this. I was impressed with many aspects of this movie, however, it is 100% impossible to be objective after having read the book. If you see this movie and like it, either do NOT read the book, or just be prepared to eventually be a bit upset at it when you finish reading. Now if someone was willing to devote say 12 hours and a half-a-billion dollars to a decent movie version of Dune, I think we might be ONTO something...

Rating:
Summary: Still the best by far!
Review: I Fancy myself a bit of a Dune Fanatic. I've read the entire series of books quite a few times, And feel that I am familiar with the Universe that Frank Herbert Created in his Writings. Dune is a story that had a long road to make it to the theaters. Almost from it's writing, It was being sold as a great movie to make. And this, I feel is the movie that it was meant to be. While it does suffer from some omissions in plot, And from a 21st Century prospective, does lack in the Special Effects Department, This movie still infuses you with the feeling and tone of Frank Herbert's writings. Having recently seen the new Mini-series on TV, This movie still stays in my mind as the best version made. While some complain of the voice over thoughts and such in this movie, and how cryptic some scenes and statements may be, This story is one that takes place more in the minds, attitudes, and actions of it's characters, and just how their past, present, and future selves have affected the galaxy around them. I personally missed the thoughts in voice-over from the movie while watching the new Mini series, and actually found myself thinking of the dialouge set into my mind from this film. Also, Considering that this movie was made with the Author along for most of the ride, I feel that this is the best representaion commited to celluloid, of Frank Herbert's Masterpiece work. That said, I want Sequels! Kyle McLachlan is perfectly aged to reprise the role!!

Rating:
Summary: Too brief a masterpiece
Review: Having seen all three "interpretations" of the book (Theatre release, TV-version, and Mini-Series), I have to say that I liked the TV version the best (though minus the cartoon intro). The added scenes gives some depth into the trials and experiences of Paul Atreides, which was revived in the Mini-Series. My criticism of the movie in general is that it seriously does not do the book justice in the whole epic scale of the story. The characters were not well developed, and although it is good to place the focus on Paul, it made all the other characters too simple an accessory. The Mini-Series was visually enriching and I can appreciate the different direction the story took in defining the legend-side of Muad'Dib and the Fremen. But then again, as a movie-goer, I'd like the wierding way to be more superior mind-over-matter firepower than a knife fighting, Matrix like skill that dodges bullets. I mean, COME ON! You don't take on Sardukar by running at them with a dagger! After 8,000 years, do people really fight for the known universe and control billions of lives by getting into a massive streetfight with knives? Be more imaginative!

If they ever do a remake, improve the special effects, give the characters more dialogue to explain the story, and throw in a few more Great Houses!

Rating:
Summary: Unwatchable
Review: I found this movie to be an Abomination (with apologies to St. Alia-of-the-Knife), from its Weirding modules which remove the significance of the Fremen fighting abilites to Paul's apparent god-like ability to cause rain. The whole point (or rather one of them) of the novel and its sequels is the danger and resulting evil in a mortal human assuming a religious mantle; that is what destroys Paul and his family. Here it appears he actually is a god, which makes him a much simpler and less interesting character.

The dialogue is clumsy, the voice-over thoughts of the characters are annoying. I almost walked out of this movie in the theater it was so unwatchable. Save your money and wait for the Sci-Fi version on DVD!

The Sci-Fi attempt is much more faithful to the tone of the novel. The most glaring deviation is the extended involvement of the Princess Irulan, but I found this to not distract from the overall story and an interesting replacement for her writing excerpts which introduce most of the novel's chapters.

Another reviewer complained about the Sci-Fi movie having Sardaukar killing Paul's son Leto as a deviation from the novel. This is not true, it _is_ in the novel. Paul and Chani's first son Leto is killed in the novel, the twins Leto and Ghanima are born later in "Dune Messiah".

Rating:
Summary: Mini-Series v. Theatrical Release v. "Smithee" version
Review: Since I just finished watching the SciFi mini-series, I thought I'd go back and review the David Lynch movie.

There are 2 known versions of Dune, the movie. One was released in theaters and is the version they sell on video. This is shorter than the other version, but well-crafted despite the studio's insistence on a ~2 hour time limit (the rough draft was some four hours long).

Then there is the "Smithee" version, sometimes EXTREMELY erroneously referred to as the "Director's Cut". Kids, this is what is known as an Anti-Director's Cut. When it came time to do a release for TV, the studio took the extra footage and added only some of it in (and not for added effect), replaced the introduction with a ridiculous drawing w/ voiceover, and did lots of other nasty things that resulted in Lynch demanding his name removed from the film, hence "Directed by Alan Smithee", the Hollywood pseudonym for directors who don't want to be associated with bad product.

You can still see the TV release, which is tamer than the wild Lynch original on the DISNEY channel among others (an indication of how much it was tamed).

As for the mini-series, I'll be interested to see it all of one piece, but I felt that the acting was poor, the costuming unimaginative, the soundtrack inappropriate (was that Celtic music?) and the script played fast and loose with Herbert's masterpiece, but then was hampered by its sometime strict adherence to the book!

Best of all possible worlds: Lynch and the studio reconcile, put out a TRUE Director's Cut, and enhance it with modern special effects much the way Lucas enhanced and re-released the Star Wars trilogy before putting out Episode 1.

The theatrical release stands the test of time. But it is most accessible to those who have read the book, because the proscribed length doesn't allow for much explanation to those unfamiliar with Herbert's work. The TV version is an example of why a film is born three times: in the script, in the filming and in the editing. The editing here ruins the film. Watch it as an appendix to the theatrical release for the extra footage. Despise the studio for meddling, and worse than that, meddling to adverse result.

Rating:
Summary: The unexplained...
Review: I've always been a fan of this movie. Unfortunately the DVD and VHS versions omit quite a bit of what is fully necessary to understand it. The television broadcast of this movie in the previous years included a narrated and illustrated introductory sequence which would have enlighted viewers otherwise.

It's rather unfortunate they did not include this as an option on the DVD.

I will say that the movie is cinematically lush and nothing beats the Bene Jesurit witches and their lulling voices.

In comparison to the current SCI-FI channels version, I would prefer the original. I hope the studios reconsider reissuing this as a more complete volume.

Rating:
Summary: A heck of a lot better than the sci fi attempt
Review: Having just finished watching Sci fi's ATTEMPT to capture the essence of Dune in a miniseries, I long to see the real movie once more. The inaccuracies as compared to the 1984 movie are gross and widespread (Leto II is killed by Saurdaukar? What happens in Children of Dune and God Emporer of Dune?) I found the movie entertaining, despite the poor space effects. Many people could say that the book was boring and emotionless.

Rating:
Summary: Confused? Maybe... Dazzled? YES!
Review: The plot may be hard to follow at times but this has been my favorite movie since the day a saw it... I'm 14 years old now and I was 13 when I first saw it. I understood just about everything. Maybe it's one of my many quirks that made me like this movie... After all, I'm a big fan of the corny 80's movie "Tron." Considering the year in which this was made, the special effects are pretty good. The Sci-Fi channel recently put out a mini-series of a revamped version of this "classic" and I must say that this version was much better. The date in which this takes place is just about enough to catch your interest. 10,991. There are so many ways Frank Herbert could've seen the future. I think the movie director interpreted it very nicely. I don't have a lot of free time to read but what I read of the original book was not that different from how the director interpreted it. I tried to read the book first but despite all my interest in the plot, my lack of time interfered with my reading. So, if you're at all like me, this movie will satisfy you no matter how creepy the little girl is at the end. (Tiny pale kid with a bad adult voice-over)