Reviews

Dune received a very mixed reaction upon its release, as you can read for yourself from some of the reviews below.

Reviewed by Dennis Fischer

Copyright © 1985 by Randall D. Larson.
Reprinted without permission. Originally published in CineFan 3, Winter/Spring 1984/1985 issue, published every so often by Fandom Unlimited Enterprises, P.O. Box 70868, Sunnyvale, California 94086 U.S.A. ISSN: 0277-5891.

DUNE is not an easy film to review. What's right about it it very right, but that makes its weaknesses all the more annoying. The film is unadulterated science fiction. The ass audience, unused to s.f., is going to have hard time with this film because it plunges the viewer immediately into the world (or worlds) of Dune and one is immediately assaulted by a mass of information, terminology, new settings and new technology which will leave the inattentive viewer in a bewildered haze. However, that would not be the movie's fault. In fact, it's a pleasure to find a film that not only expects intelligence of its audience, but demands it.

David Lynch has done, by and large, an excellent job of condensing Frank Herbert's monumental novel while remaining true to it. The main problem the film has is that it should have been at least another half hour longer. It manages to tell the story of Dune in detail, each scene containing all the necessary information required and then springing to the next scene. Unfortunately, the story's characters suffer because of this. We do not get to spend enough time with them to get to know them and develop any strong feeling for them. Some characters, like Duncan Idaho, seem to be dropped like hot potatoes as soon as they are introduced.

Lynch presents DUNE as a story that Princess Irulan (Virginia Madsen) is telling, yet strangely enough omits Irulan's most important part in the story--that she is the one who marries the hero Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan) so that he can become the new Emperor of the Galaxy. Ironically, she is wife in name only, for the love of Paul's life is Chani (Sean Young), his concubine, and their relationship echoes that of Paul's mother and father, Lady Jessica (Francesca Ann is) and Duke Leto Atreides (Jurgen Prochnow).

The current Emperor Shad dam IV (Jose Ferrer) fears the growing strength of the Atreides family, and so has conspired with their arch-enemies, the Harkonnens, to give them the planet of Arrakis (or Dune, as it is commonly known), and then attack them with the Emperor's elite soldiers, the Sardaukar, known far and wide as the greatest fighters in the universe. Lynch also adds a bit where the Guild Navigators (who have the monopoly on space travel) demand that Paul Atreides be killed.

And so the Atreides family must leave their home world of Caladan for the barren and parched world of Arrakis, the desert planet. The scene of the Guild Navigators 'folding space' is a bit too reminiscent of Lynch's wonders of the theater scene in THE ELEPHANT MAN, his most accessible and highly acclaimed film to date. Once on Arrakis, certain important details have been excised. The Shad out Mapes (Linda Hunt) has her most important scene taken away from her, that in which she gives Jessica a crysknife (made from the teeth of Dune's giant sand worms) and indicates her part in a prophecy which is to be fulfilled. The Fremen, of which Mapes is one, are the secret masters of Dune. Because of the harsh environment they live in and their subsequent discipline in adapting to it, the Fremen are actually superior to the Sardaukar as warriors, a point that the film neglects entirely. Instead, Lynch simplifies the matter by having the Atreides bring a new sonic weapon which will allow the Fremen to triumph after they have benefited from the knowledge of Paul's own rigorous training.

Lynch also mysteriously changes the meaning of Paul's Fremen name, Muad'Dib, from meaning "Mouse" (which the Fremen regard highly both as an example of desert living and as a constellation that helps guide their way) to meaning the shadow of the second moon", a poetic but meaningless explanation. He also ventures into the potentially ridiculous by making "Muad'Dib" a deadly name when shouted into Atreides sonic weapons. "His name kills," says one of the characters.

We never get a chance to understand Dr. Kynes, Imperial planetary ecologist and secret leader of the Fremen at the start of the film, or his dream to change Dune from a desert planet to a rich, water-laden paradise. The value and importance of water on Dune is not stressed the way it is in the book. Nor is the connection between spice--the drug that extends life has most of the Arrakis nobility addicted to ;t, and makes hyperspacial travel possible for the space guild--and the Giant Sand worms of Arrakis who manufacture the spice in their bodies.

In fact, the movie develops a particularly rushed, "we're running out of time so let's summarize and get to the climax" feel after Paul and his mother have been stranded out in the desert. This is unfortunate, as much of the most interesting portions of Herbert's novel occur during these parts of the story.

Yet, there is an area where Lynch's fidelity to the novel hurts the movie. In the book, much is made out of how Jessica and Paul are trained to read people's body language and gauge their inner thoughts. Examples of this are done by counter pointing speech with voice over dialog. The technique works very well in Herbert's novel, but is clumsy in the film and should have been re-thought. Still Herbert is very pleased with the translation of his novel into film, and well he should be, for the film does have the basic plot and retains much of the original book's dialog. However, one of the most effective characters in the film is the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, played by Kenneth McMillan who appears to have insisted on some changes in his dialog. McMillan retains the basic aspects of the book's Baron, a perverse, mono-maniacal despot with a weakness for sexually abusing young boys, but adds original touches of looneyness.

In the book, the Beast Rabban is Simply an overly oppressive ruler and he is not given much characterization. Paul Smith expands him into a sadist who greatly enjoys his work. Rock musician Sting has a small part as the Baron's favorite nephew, Feyd, who has an unexplained fondness for wanting to kill Atreides. Sting performs well, but it s not the major role his fans have been led to expect by the money hungry promotional department who saw the rock star as a big potential draw. In the book, Feyd is shown to be very clever and devious, aspects which make his bloodline very important to the gene Gesserit who were hoping that Jessica would bear a daughter to the Duke instead of the son he wished for. The film dispenses with his plots against the Baron.

The film lacks the kind of awe, admittedly very hard to achieve, that a film like 2001 generated. Its special effects are occasionally flawed and often appear rushed, particularly in a scene of an ornithopter landing which clearly has a different grain than the other elements in the same shot. Tony Masters' wonderful designs, though, are worthy of the highest praise and ought to win him a much deserved Academy Award. Freddie Francis is one of the world's best cinematographers, but while his work is good here, he's not at the top of his form, though the film is quite finely photographed. The cast is very well chosen, except that Everett McGill lacks the forcefulness and charisma required as Stilgar and Sean Young looks her worst in the scene where Paul calls her the most beautiful woman he's ever met.

Undoubtedly, while not entirely successful, DUNE is one of the most ambitious films recently created and I suspect that the film will develop a small but hard-core group of admirers who will make it a science fiction perennial for many years to come.

Reviewed by Chris Kivlehan at CineScape
http://www.cinescape.com/links/mvduneframes.html

With a large budget for its time, a strong cast and a story drawn from one of the greatest science-fiction masterpieces ever written, David Lynch's Dune may have seemed destine for success. Unfortunately, it turned out to be both a box-office flop and a critical failure.

Set in a distant future, the story follows Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan), the gifted young adult son of the powerful and influential Duke Leto Atreides (Jürgen Prochnow). When sinister political mechinations cause the coveted spice melange-producing desert world Arrakis to fall into House Atreides' domain, Paul goes with his father to the barren but uniquely valuable planet. Unfortunately, on Arrakis lies a lethal trap for Duke Leto set by his rival, the vile and gluttonous Baron Harkonnen (Kenneth McMillan). With his mystic mother Lady Jessica (Francesca Annis), the younger Atreides flees into the harshest depths of the desert world where he comes upon an indigenous blue-eyed race that holds the spark to ignite the massive dormant mystical power within him, revealing a destiny far greater than his freshly inherited dukedom.

Perhaps the most effective aspect of the Dune film is the mood created by Lynch. The futuristic worlds and noble houses that act as the backbone of the tale are well-drawn, and the production design gives the picture a distinct atmosphere. Unfortunately, little else works in the movie. The special effects are shoddy in many places; the spaceship designs do not stand the test of time and the boxy pink energy shield used in Paul's hand-to-hand combat practice sequence looks like something out of a primative Atari game. An additional nail in the dramatic coffin comes in the form of jarring voice-overs used to express characters' thoughts apparently in lieu of subtle acting.

Ultimately it seems that the sheer ambition of the 1984 production factored in its downfall. How much of Herbert's classic can you actually bring to the screen? What do you leave out in order to tell the story at a pace that won't put filmgoers to sleep? The appropriate answer to those important questions seems to have evaded Lynch entirely since even the "short" version of the film drags.

Can a better Dune movie be made or is Hebert's classic novel unfilmable? We'll see what the Sci-Fi Channel comes up with in its six-hour mini-series version of the tale. In the mean time, here's a piece of advice for science fiction film fans who've never experienced Herbert's story: Instead of waiting for Hollywood to come around and make a version of Dune that does the classic justice, go read the book.

2/5 Stars.

http://members.xoom.com/scifimovies/dune.html

Frank Herbert's epic sci-fi novel as film palimpsest. Readers of the series will be disappointed (the book is always better...) and so will fans of director David Lynch's oddball style (the film is way too straightforward).

While the truly original sets and costumes are worthy of the novel, the producers seem to have made a decision halfway through that the movie is going to become too long to keep the attention of movie audiences and decided to cut away at the storyline. The result is that the latter half of the film is too episodic to build any real tension as the two warring factions on the planet Arrakis battle it out for supremacy.

Disappointing - if only the producers decided to stick to their material and let the story progress more naturally. Instead it's like watching a Reader's Digest synopsis of the novel.

3/5 Stars.

Reviewed by Aylmer
http://www.alaska.net/~ammo/dune.htm

Most everybody tragically underrates the translation of Frank Herbert’s brilliant but convoluted novel to screen. Dune is actually a well-crafted, stylish change of pace in the realm of sci-fi.

The year is 10191, and the universe has been split among several factions or “Houses”. Above all these houses is the Emperor Shadam IV (Jose Ferrer) who pretty much runs the universe through A) his elite group of bald ladies called the Bene Gesserit that can read minds and foretell the future etc. B) his legions of Saardukar terror troops, and C) the Space Guild which controls interplanetary travel/trade. All of these things rely on one key substance, the Spice, which is only available on one lonely desert planet called, “Arakis” (also known as “Dune”). The Spice in turn, is guarded by giant worms which devour most people who try to harvest it. Hence there is a special system of harvesting spice …which I will not go into.

The Space Guild sends its head honcho over to meet with the emperor and the two discuss Arakis and concoct a convoluted plan to eliminate a powerful House called Atreides. We then are introduced to our good house Atreides where Paul (Kyle MacLachlan) is prophesized to be some sort of powerful being sometime in his future. His father, Duke Leto (Jurgen Prochnow), has been offered by the emperor to control Dune and mine the Spice. Hence, House Atreides moves there where they set up base and are rudely double-crossed, attacked, and obliterated by an enemy House Harkonnen. Paul and his mother escape to meet up with the native people of Dune, the Fremen, and make it their business to make life miserable for the evil Harkonnens. Of course behind this all is The Spice and those giant cuddly worms I was speaking of.

Now this plot has to be one of the hardest to follow to come along in years. Loyalties change, characters are introduced and killed off all too rapidly, plot twists and entire plot points go by in a matter of minutes. It is very easy to get completely lost watching this movie. I had to see it three times before I got what the hell was going on. Other than the slight instance of plot and pace, the movie is pretty damn good. The musical score was one of the best ever in a sci-fi movie, comparable to John Williams’s Star Wars score. The battle scenes are reasonable well done and very cool looking. Carlo Rambaldi’s excellent special effects, the imaginitive prop/set/costume design, and Giannetto De Rossi’s suberb make-up effects make it very worthwhile (He had earlier done the superior make-up for Zombie and The Beyond and definitely should have worked with Lynch more often.). David Lych, (the director of Eraserhead and The Lost Highway) was here able to capture some of the coolest scenes ever. Who can forget the awesome scene of a giant sand worm devouring a spice-mining installation with and single bite? …The great shots of the millions of extras charging out of the buildings only to be destroyed in a giant wall of explosions?? …The awesome shots of Spice Factories blowing up???

Overall they did an excellent job of fleshing out the novel, completely vivid realizations as well. If you are in a good mood, are wide awake and alert, go ahead and watch this movie. Introduce yourself to the Dune world. If you care way too much about a movie making sense, then this is definitely not your thing. Worth the 2 1/2 hours just to see Sting (lead singer of the group “The Police” if you didn’t know) getting stabbed in the neck. Did I mention Brad Dourif was great as a (way too literal) back-stabber??

3/4 Stars.

Reviewed by Dragan Antulov
http://reviews.imdb.com/Reviews/148/14878

When Frank Herbert's DUNE becomes a topic, the author of this review tends to get a little bit sentimental. There are two reasons for that. First, the Frank Herbert's masterpiece, although not the first science fiction novel I have read in my life, happened to be the first one which blew me away. And, second, the movie based on a novel happened to be the subject of the very first article I wrote for a local fanzine. When I decided to write the review of the film, I was contemplating a simple adaptation of the original fanzine article. However, the reason prevailed over sentimentality and I decided to write completely new piece.

As I said before, Frank Herbert's DUNE was the first piece of science fiction that blew me away. But even then, when I was engrossed in a beautiful, mystical and fantastic world of planet Arrakis, I was imagining how would all those pages translate into major motion picture. I didn't have as much insight into film-making business as I have today, yet I saw two great problems. The first one was the fact that the detailed yet very alien Herbert's vision of distant futures and worlds beyond our imagination required a huge, perhaps even unthinkably high budget for film-makers. And, even if some brave producer and director would somehow acquire such great sums of money, they would be faced with another problem. The hundreds and hundreds of pages of text, full of detailed and elaborated scenes, numerous sub-plots and interesting characters were, to say the least, very unlikely to be squeezed into the regular feature film format.

When I began thinking about it, little did I know that someone in the world was really faced with such problems. That person was Dino de Laurentiis, respected Italian producer who had a relatively good record with science-fiction and fantasy genre, thanks to his previous commercial and critical successes like FLASH GORDON and CONAN THE BARBARIAN. For almost two decades, many people were contemplating the cinematic adaptation of DUNE, yet de Laurentiis was the first with the will and resources for such endeavour. His choice for a director was, though, somewhat risky; David Lynch was director who brought attention with unusual visual styles and strictly personal tendencies towards bizarre in THE ELEPHANT MAN, his first mainstream picture, as well as with his experimental movie debut and future cult classic, ERASERHEAD. Choice of Lynch was a mix blessing for de Laurentiis; on the other hand, Lynch would deliver science fiction spectacle very different than usual genre products of those times, like STAR WARS or BATTLESTAR GALACTICA; on the other hand, his unconventional cinematic style was liability in terms of box-office success.

Unlike many other adaptations of popular fiction, and despite the fact that the Herbert himself had his own script version rejected, the movie plot was unusually faithful to the novel. It was set in a very distant future, some 25,000 years from now, when the humanity managed to conquer vast distances between the stars and settle on numerous worlds. The entire known universe is ruled by Padisha Emperor Shadam IV (Jose Ferrer) whose Empire contains areas controlled by different, and often feuding noble Houses. One of them is House of Atreides, led by Duke Leto (Juergen Pruchnow), whose charisma and popularity could be threat to the Emperor's supremacy. So the Emperor plots a complicated scheme, using the mortal feud between the Duke and rival House of Harkonnen, led by evil and sadistic Baron Vladimir (Kenneth MacMillan). He orders the Duke to occupy Arrakis, desolate and desert planet also known as Dune, previously controlled by Harkonnens. The planet is also rich with spice melange, substance essential for the interstellar travel, and of extreme importance for the powerful Guild of Space Navigators. Soon after the arrival, Duke's 15-year old son Paul (Kyle MacLachlan) begins discovering the planet's mysteries. One of them is an existence of Fremen, local people whose legends and prophesies speak of the Messiah that would lead them to freedom.

Both those who like and who don't like the movie can agree that David Lynch's DUNE stands out as a very original piece of science fiction cinema. Lynch, together with the cast and crew, took a lot of effort in order to make this movie as different from other science fiction spectacles as possible. First there was a production design by Terry Masters and costumes by Bob Ringwood that gave the movie certain pseudohistorical, yet very recognisable atmosphere. Than there was music by pop group Toto, whose ambientalist sound, together with new age theme by Brian Eno, made the soundtrack very different from conventional themes by John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith. And, finally, Lynch himself was less interested in making spectacular scenes or special effects attractions than to use Herbert's script for his own visual obsessions. So, the scenes of space travel or prophetic visions are more surreal than spectacular; the characters, especially the bad guys like Harkonnens, are repulsive, both by their image and by their actions. Nice example is character of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen; he is hideously fat man with gruesome swellings on his face, and the senseless and brutal violence is the only thing that could provide him orgasmic pleasure. The character of Baron, brilliantly played by late veteran actor Kenneth MacMillan, is one of trademarks of the entire picture.

Under the shadow of MacMillan is a small army of other, very respected and capable actors. Main lead, Kyle MacLachlan, was a great fan of the novel, and the role of Paul Atreides, his great movie debut, was a task he had hoped and prepared for throughout his entire adult life. Lynch's choice in casting was perfect, and both artists would later continue their co-operation in other, somewhat more successful projects. Francesca Annis also left strong impact as Paul's mother Jessica, with her stunning combination of mature sexuality and commanding presence. Sadly, almost nobody else had a real opportunity to shine, because their characters were underdeveloped or underused.

The reason for that lies in the problem I noted above. Originally, Lynch envisioned DUNE as four hours long epic and tried very hard to follow novel, using only minor changes to the story or characters. Unfortunately, the producers were too afraid to follow suit, considering any movie over two hours long unprofitable at the box office. Results is a movie sliced into two distinctive halfs. First half is very good because the plot is followed very meticulously, with very few omissions from the original material. Lynch worked very hard to stay loyal to the novel; even the inner thoughts of the characters, one of the novel's most valuable elements, are delivered to the viewer through voice-over, although some of them happen to be slightly annoying as the time passes by. However, that annoyance is nothing compared to the second half of DUNE, when the plot gets sacrificed for the sake of smaller length. Many events from the novel, some of them very important, are omitted, and the rest is simply narrated instead of being portrayed according to novel. Character of Chani and Fremen in general don't get the attention they deserved. The rhythm of events finally slows down at the end, but the timing is again wrong; the ending doesn't follow the novel, and the anti-climactic duel between Paul and Feyd-Rauta is there only to please Sting fans, who were expecting some more screen time for the character played by their idol.

Such flaws became evident at the movie's initial release, when it flopped at the box-office. Reasons were simple: the audience, who had expected conventional science-fiction entertainment, was confused both by complicated plot and Lynch's original style. Despite that, David Lynch's DUNE managed to developed its own cult following, mostly thanks to Frank Herbert fans, hungry to see their favourite novel on the screen, even in such less than perfect condition. The movie became almost obligatory for all those who enjoyed Herbert's fiction; and such audience was the only one able to understand the picture. The cult continued to grow, later inspired entire new sub-genre of computer games (real time strategies), and to this very day DUNE remains a strong impulse for many people to start reading Herbert's books.

7/10 Stars.

Reviewed by Thomas Monter at MovieFan DVD
http://www.moviefanonline.com/dvd_reviews/dune/dune.htm

Dune is one of the greatest Sci-Fi movies ever adapted from a novel. Although this movie doesn’t follow the book through the whole movie, they kept enough key elements to make the plot work. I think what I found most appealing about this movie was that the filmmakers really brought out the feel of the universe the characters were from. It becomes very easy to imagine what it would have been like to be on the planet Arakis. The special effects for this movie are still good even by today’s standards and the sets are very well put together. Dune definitely sets the standard for epic scale, even more so than Star Wars.

The acting in Dune is excellent with appearances from well know actors such as, Patrick Stewart and Max von Sydow. There is even an appearance from rock star Sting, as one of the evil Harkonens.

As far as the plot goes it’s an old theme with some new ideas and plot twists involved. The noble House Atredies people from the Planet Caladin are warring with the evil House Harkonen from the Planet Gidi Prime. The battle is fought over control of a small planet that controls the production of the most precious substance in the universe: The Spice Melange. Paul Atredies (Kyle MacLachlan), the son of Duke Leto Atredies, becomes caught up into the middle of the fight between the two houses. Paul must find a way to stop the Harkonen and expose the plot behind the war. Some things from the movie aren’t explained very well, so I suggest you read the books as well if you want to learn more.

3.5/4 Stars.

Reviewed by Magus
http://reviews.imdb.com/Reviews/57/5709

Dune was first a book written in the early 1960's. It did so well that its author, Frank Herbert, continued to write two more books and another trilogy after that. A total of 6 Dune books. A movie based on the first book, called Dune, was released in 1984. I saw the movie after reading the book. So let's get down to the point here- How is the movie?

First of all, Dune makes a lot more sense if you had read the book. If you had not read the book, the movie is much more confusing and boring. But anyway...

The plot of the movie Dune is fairly faithful to the original book. It leaves out a few characters, but the basic point is made: Dune is a desert planet that has Spice. Spice is used to fold space- travel without moving. Therefore Spice is valuable. Spice is only on Dune.

Emperor Shaddam the IV is sending the Atreides to Dune and is moving out the Harkonnens at the same time. The reason for this is that both "clans" are feuding. The Atreides are supposed to go and live on Dune for a short bit, while the Emperor gives the Harkonnens extra troops to destroy the Atreides so there is no more feuding and fighting between the two. The Atreides do not know this however...

That is basically the beginning of the plot of Dune. I don't want to spoil any of the surprises, but other parts of the plot involve a traitor and the local people of Dune called the Fremen.

The actors they picked for this movie are ho-hum. They have Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: Generations) as Gurney Halleck, the man who trained Duke Leto Atreides' son. They have Sting as the son of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. They have a lot of no-name actors as well. Some do a good job, but the majority of the script focuses on Paul Atreides and his mother Jessica. They do an OK job.

The special effects for this movie are definitely dated. The sets are very good. The music score mainly by Toto is also excellent.

But the movie itself drags on at 2 hours and 20 something minutes. Even at that length, Dune fails to describe the characters and flesh them out as well as the book does.

So what is my reccomendation? Watch this movie if you wanna see a slightly technical sci-fi movie or if you have read the book.

2.5/4 Stars.

Reviewed by Films on Disc
http://www.filmsondisc.com/LaserReview/LaserPage5.htm

Presented in a hansom new widescreen version from Universal, Dune is still as muddled a screenplay as ever. The complex, epic nature of Frank Herbert's novel, at least in David Lynch's adaptation, proves impossible to bring to life in 2 1/2 hours of movie time. Lynch's choice to have characters expressing their thoughts throughout the film is difficult to bring off and the result is stiff characters bound by their inward observations. All of the actors seem like they are making pronouncements rather than interacting.

Reviewed by James Kendrick at Q
http://www.q.com/movie/Dune.html

After reading the novel, it should have been immediately apparent to writer/director David Lynch that Frank Herbert's epic "Dune" could not make a successful move from page to screen in anything less than four or five hours. At the least.

Instead, Lynch tried to condense the novel, keeping the main plot intact, but leaving out certain characters and squeezing events together. For those who have read the book, "Dune" the movie will be more or less comprehensible. For those who have not read it, "Dune" will be an exasperating experience because it rarely if ever feels cohesive and intelligible. I have seen the movie in its entirety three times, and I still do not understand all of it, and those parts that I do understand feel woefully under-developed.

The story is ancient in origin, revolving around two rival houses (each occupying its own planet): the Atreides(good) and the Harkonnens (bad). Each is vying for power over the universe, which can only be gained by controlling production of the Spice, a special substance found only on the desert plant Arrakis, also known as Dune (not a drop of rain has ever fallen there). Spice allows the folding of space -- traveling light years without ever moving.

Ruling over the two feuding houses is Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV(José Ferrer). Shaddam decides to end the feud by allowing the Atreides to take over Spice production on Arrakis, while also secretly helping the Harkonnens in a sneak attack to destroy them. The Atreides are led by Duke Leto (Jürgen Prochnow), his concubine Jessica (Francesca Annis), and their son Paul (Kyle MacLachlan). Against them is the utterly vile Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Kenneth McMillian) and his two nephews, Raban (Paul Smith) and Feyd (Sting). Watching the Harkonnens in action is one of the more unpleasant aspects of the movie, especially the Baron, whose diseased face is covered with purplish cysts and oozing sores. We first meet him in a particularly repulsive scene where a perverted doctor is using a needle-like device to suck blood and pus from his face.

There are several other aspects of the movie, including the Fremen, a reclusive and mysterious tribe of people with "blue-in-blue" eyes who live in the deep desert of Arrakis, and their prophecy of a powerful messiah to come. The movie also makes much of the huge sandworms that live under the desert floor and are constantly threaten Spice mining because they are attracted to rythmic vibrations.

All of this seems like a lot, and it is. "Dune" yearns to be a stunning epic, yet it falls short in too many areas. It has heavy handed religious and political overtones, and Lynch twists the visuals with his trademark eccentricities, as if he's trying to combine "Star Wars" with his "Eraserhead." It is also a deeply serious film, so there is no escapism or popcorn mentality. Lynch is very serious about the subject matter, and he pushes this point home most dourly when using the characters' heavily-whispered thoughts as a kind of voice-over narration. A typical passage is like this: "The worms . . .the spice . . . is there a connection?" He also punctuates the action with a multitude of graphic dream sequences, only some of which make sense and seem to be relevant to the plot.

The movie's cast is an incredibly diverse group, including such distinguished actors as Max von Sydow (one of Ingmar Bergman's favorites), as well as eclectic and odd performers like Brad Dourif ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) and Lynch-regular Jack Nance ("Eraserhead"). Despite the grand cast, most of the performance seem crimped by the movie's grim tone. No one is ever allowed to smile, even in victory. The only ones who have any fun are McMillian as the Baron, and rock star Sting, who has the most wicked eyes and sinister smirk in recent film history.

The special effects in "Dune" are perhaps its worst inconsistency, varying widely from stunning to pathetic. Some of the scenes depicting the Emperor's mansion, or the industrial steel framework structures of the Harkonnen house are reminiscent of the striking visuals in "Blade Runner." And Carlo Rambaldi's ("E.T.") creature effects are mostly solid, and his make-up effects are so well-done they're disgusting.

But any of the scenes involving ships in outer space are among the worst I have ever seen. Roger Corman did a better job with his schlock sci-fi junk of the 50's and 60's. The spaceships in "Dune" have no depth or dimension -- they literally look like drawings pasted onto a black sheet of paper. Although the sandworms look good at first, certain scenes betray their puppet origins. I think Lynch realized his special effects were going to be compromised, so he chose to film much of the desert scenes underlit with hazy filters, obscuring the action and making everything look muddy.

"Dune" is a movie that has the right components, but none of them ever come together. Lynch was reaching for something great, but somewhere along the way he got set off course. There are many rumors about what the real version of the movie would be if Lynch had his way. I've heard that he had to cut it drastically in order to bring it in under two-and-a-half hours, but when network TV showed a 190-minute re-edited version, Lynch disowned it and inserted "Alan Smithee" as the director. Some rumors have said that Lynch intends to release a five or six hour version, but I'll believe it when I see it.

And even then, I wonder if that will be enough to make sense of it all.

2/4 Stars.

Reviewed by Kevin Patterson
http://reviews.imdb.com/Reviews/90/9024

Whatever you want to say about Dune, you can't say that the story didn't have potential. At first glance, it might seem like the typical science-fiction epic: the population of a desert planet known as Arrakis, or Dune, rises up to fight the exploitation of their most valuable resource, a certain type of spice, by a dictatorial emperor and his evil allies. Like Luke Skywalker of the Star Wars trilogy, the hero Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan) possesses supernatural powers that enable him to lead this revolution.

Unlike in Star Wars, however, the mythology behind this character and his role in fulfilling an ancient prophecy are developed in considerable detail. In fact, one might say that the primary plotline of Dune is Atreides's gradual realization that he is the long-awaited messiah and his difficulties and trials in living up to these expectations rather than the good-vs.-evil political conflict, although the film certainly does not shy away from showing the evil-doers in all their revolting ugliness. Dune thus takes on a much darker and more mysterious tone, and gives us a more sophisticated story, than most sci-fi epic adventures.

Now for the bad news. First of all, the original cut of the film was sliced up by the production company, who feared it would be too long. Instead, they give us a film that just has too many loose ends; one of the story's strengths-its attention to detail-also becomes a weakness as too many plot points and characters are introduced but never fully explained. I can't speak for everyone, but I personally would rather watch a long movie and come away from it understanding these points than watch a shorter movie and leave thinking that I was supposed to get more out of it than I did.

David Lynch puts his directing skills to good use, especially when the material allows him to exercise his talent for dark, surreal imagery. Paul Atreides's mysterious visions can stand alongside any Lynch-directed dream sequence, and the unnerving horror of the scenes with the sadistic Baron Harkonnen is enough to make him a classic Lynch villain. Unfortunately, I can't sing the same praises for Lynch's screenplay. There are a few things that just probably aren't going to work in a movie, regardless of how interesting the story is or how competent the acting and directing. One is dubbed voice-overs of the characters' thoughts. Another is a duel between the hero and a rather insignificant sleazebag thug at the end-after the climactic, effects-intensive, epic battle between "good" and "evil." Dune, alas, has both of these.

What we have in Dune, then, is a great idea that is only partially realized. It could have been a remarkably sophisticated and engaging hybrid of supernatural drama and science fiction epic. But between the studio's slicing-and-dicing of the original cut and Lynch's small but noticeable tactical mistakes in narrative structure, it ultimately falls short of its full potential.

http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies/dune.html

Dune is a sci-fi classic, and a weird one at that. Based on Frank Herbert's novel, Dune attempts to bring to life what is left to our imagination in the book. The results are somewhat mixed, but are mostly positive.

Dune (Arrakis) is a planet that is the center of the universe: it is only here that the spice Melange is available. The spice allows Navigators (humans that have imbibed too much spice and have been mutated by it) and their Guild to "fold" space and time and travel from location to location without physical movement of their bodies. The spice is what makes travel and trade possible between distant star systems and whoever controls Dune controls the Universe.

Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV (Jose Ferrer), the ruler of the known universe, feels threatened by the rise in popularity of Duke Leto Atreides, and orchestrates a plan to eliminate him. The plan involves pitting the Atreides House against the house of his bitter enemy Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Kenneth McMillan), by asking him to take control of the spice mining operations on Dune.

As the Harkonnen's vendetta against the duke leads to his death, his son, Paul Atredies and his mother escape from their captors as they are about to become fodder for the giant sand worms that live on Dune. They soon run into the inhabitants of Dune, the Freemen and Paul (or Muad'dib, as he is known to Fremen) trains them the "weirding way" which involves the use of sound in battle. The Fremen then began to wage a war against the Harkonnens under the leadership of Paul which leads to an ultimate confrontation between the Fremen and House Harkonnen and the Emperor. Paul Muad'dib then fulfills an ancient prophecy and Arrakis is never the same again.

The film is pretty weird and it is hard to describe, which is what makes it appealing in my mind. The acting by the primary protagonists isn't too great and that detracts from a decent (but compressed) story line. The villains, including Sting (Gordon Sumner) as the cool but psychotic Feyd Rautha, fare much better. Dune is definitely worth renting and seeing again and again for its complex story line and the mythology it builds.

Reviewed by Timothy Voon
http://reviews.imdb.com/Reviews/94/9454

Directed by David Lynch Cast Francesca Annis, Leonardo Cimino, Brad Dourif, José Ferrer, Linda Hunt, Freddie Jones, Richard Jordan, Kyle McLachlan, Virginia Madsen, Silvana Mangano, Everett McGill, Kenneth McMillan, Jack Nance, Sian Phillips, Jürgen Prochnow, Patrick Stewart Paul Smith, Sting, Dean Stockwell, Max von Sydow, Sean Young. Based on a novel written by Frank Herbert

When one attempts to recreate a science fiction masterpiece, and a novel as thick as Dune, it had better be well done, or there will be cries of lynching or stoning from an angry mob. I cannot say that Dune is exceptionally well done, when a good second half of the novel is compressed into minutes of narration to help shorten the movie. So my after thought is that perhaps a mini-series may have done this Epic novel more justice than a feature length film.

One has to at least commend David Lynch for attempting a feat as difficult as Dune. Although the special effects are not wiz bang spectacular, he has managed to recreate the feel of the desert planet Arrakis (aka Dune), which is the taste of Spice itself. Spice is the most precious commodity in the universe. He who controls Spice controls the world. For with it space travel or jumping is made possible, and it is only found on one planet in the entire universe, on the desert planet of Dune. The political scene is of an Emperor who controls the Spice but is worried about the ascendancy of a rival House Atreides. To secure his throne, he pits one powerful House against another. Namely Atreides against Harkonnen, in order to weaken them, yet strengthen his own seat.

David Lynch best known for his dark, gothic, new age features like Twin Peaks, in some ways is ideal for a movie like Dune. After all, one needs a director to match the likes of the twisted yet brilliant mind of author Frank Herbert. A prime example of the darker side, is the homoerotic scene where a young man brings flowers in to the throne room of the raving mad Baron Harkonnen. The obese and disfigured Baron approaches the boy with a look of insatiable lust before ripping out his heart plug. As the boy is dying, the Baron bathes in his victim's blood before climaxing with an orgasm. The other scene of note is when an enemy of the Baron is made to suffer by being made to shamefully milk the antidote from a cat to counter the effects of a poison. Now if these scenes do not encompass the meaning of perversity, I'm not sure what does.

On a lighter and brighter note, less shadowed by the darker side of Herbert and Lynch. This movie captures and recreates the wonders of dry desert winds beating against frail human flesh; in a wilderness where water is as precious as blood. Here the protectors of Spice are giant Sand Worms which tower over the precious commodity like monolith Colossi. This is a world where Bene Gesserit priestesses mind bend and control the feeble minded, and the Fremen await the coming of a foretold Messiah to inflame their blood with long awaited freedom. This is the legacy of Dune.

Although Lynch has failed to recapture the immensity of the epic events that unfold in the novel, he has succeeded in recreating the unique flavour and feel of this most inspired of Herbert’s works. On Dune, Spice is the essence of life.

Reviewed by GaryW at All-Reviews.com
http://www.all-reviews.com/videos/dune.htm

Dune, the classic science fiction novel by Frank Herbert upon which this movie is based, is a novel in which a complex and richly textured world is created and which is populated by equally complex characters. The main plotline involves the struggle of Paul Atreides to assume leadership of the plaent Arakis, also known as Dune. Given such complexity and the huge scope of the (very lengthy) novel, it was hard for me to imagine the movie industry doing justice to the novel-- something which I felt was confirmed by the commercial failure of the movie. At that point I resolved to not see it for fear of it spoiling my appreciation of the novel, which I have re-read at least five times.

3/5 Stars.

Reviewed by Teen Movie Critic
http://www.dreamagic.com/roger/02-10-97.html#dune

Heavily panned at the time of it's release, this epic adaptation of Frank Herbert's gigantic sci-fi novel is much better than most critics make it out to be. The story is set mostly on the desert planet Arrakis (A.K.A., Dune), where various peoples of the surrounding planets vie for the power of the 'Spice', a special mineral-drug that is important to the balance and order of The Universe. The people of Arrakis in the meantime are waiting for their Messiah Maud'ib, who comes in the form of young Paul (Kyle MacLachlan). He is the key to a secret of The Universe that will either destroy all or bring The Universe together.

Despite some obvious flaws, the film remains true to Herbert's book, has some great acting (especially Kenneth McMillan as the floating villain, Baron Harkonen), imaginative visuals and an impressive score by rock group Toto. Yes, it's overlong. Yes, it does get confusing from time to time. And yes, the cinematography is truly drab and ugly brown. But the story, characters, creatures and visions of Herbert's imagination still come out on top. Seemingly being one of a small handful of people who like the movie, I think it has to be seen more than once to be appreciated more fully.

3/4 Stars.

Reviewed by Mutant Reviewers from Hell
http://www.geocities.com/~aral/rdune.html

Justin's Rating: Dune... or a Real World marathon? No contest. Bring on the whiney kids.

Justin's Review: Seven years after the infamous TV show Twin Peaks went off the air, my friend Lance and I discovered it for the first time and devoured all 30 episodes. We loved David Lynch's surrealistic, unpredictable, post-modern style as much as his characters Agent Cooper and Laura Palmer. Alas, Lynch's movies hold the same qualities, but never quite soar. 1997's Lost Highway was one of the most drawn-out movies I have ever had the disprivilage of sitting through. I'd literally fast-forward fifteen minutes at a time, just to see some plot development. While faster, Lynch's Dune still drags and has an awkward pace. Prepare for the remote control. It's a confusing movie about a confusing novel, centered around the fight for a planet with this valuable "spice". Too bad they made it before a certain British pop group became popular; I could see the tie-ins. You have Kyle MacLachlan as your standard hero who rallies some rebel people to fight some bad people. Patrick Stewart is in this, as is Sting (although both roles are awful and incomprehensible). The dialogue is about as stilted as reading most short stories from Beginning Creative Writing in college. For a science-fiction movie, it quickly breaks down into a low-level fantasy. From starships we eventually get to large sand worms. From the exciting possibilities of futuristic cities and space stations, we're grounded on a desert planet. Yea! Duller than Tatooine! From laser guns we get to people who fight by cupping their hands, screaming, and aplifying their sound waves. For the layperson, that translates into some grunts and people mysteriously flying backward. Star Wars this ain't. When it all comes down to is that Dune is just boring. Long, dull, and uninteresting. See it only if you are hard-core.

Sean's Rating: 4 out of 5 Spice dreams

Sean's Review: Once in a while, there comes a film that shows you how freakin' weird movies from the sci-fi genre can be. Mind you, wierd is par for the course when it comes to films from director David Lynch. This film has one VERY LONG backstory, courtesy of novelist Frank Herbert, who wrote four novels on the Dune Concept. So bear with me as I try to explain all the necessary information to those who didn't take that "Literature of Science Fiction" course. The year is 10,191, and mankind has moved beyond Earth to other planets, four of which are involved in the story. As that happened, mankind's government reverted to a form of midieval feudalism, led by Emperor Shadam IV, of House Padishah, who rules from the planet Kaitain. The most important substance in the universe is the spice Melange, known simply as "The Spice." The heaviest users of Spice are The Spacing Guild, consisting of Navigators who use the Spice to "fold space," making intergalactic travel possible, and the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, who use Spice to exercise and refine their mental powers. The Spice also allows people to live longer, up to 200 years or even more. There is only one source for the Spice, however. That is the desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune. Refining spice is a difficult and arduous task, which only makes Spice more valuable. Traditionally, the Emperor has had House Harkonnen, led by ruthless Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, oversee the collection and refining of Spice. When our story begins, the Emperor has decided that the Harkonnen rule of Arrakis should end, and instead refining should be carried out by the Atreides, led by the wise and peaceful Duke Leto Atreides, who are the great rivals of the Harkonnen. Leto's son, Paul is wary of the sudden change, sensing a trap, as well as the Duke's chief advisor, Thufir Hawat. Nontheless, the Duke is supremely confident that, trap or not, the Atreides will prosper, and the Duke's family and aides embark for Arrakis. After overseeing the changes the transition from Harkonnen to Atreides rule, the Duke finds out about the existence of a group of nomad desert dwellers known as the Fremen, and after meeting the Fremen ambassador, who secretly works as the Imperial ecologist, and knows the Duke is trustworthy, a pact is made between the Fremen and the Atriedes. However, there is little to time to develop the pact, when a sneak attack by the Emperor's forces, aided by the Harkonnen, promptly bring an end to Atriedes rule. The Duke and most of his aides are killed, with only Paul and his mother, the Bene Gesserit witch Jessica, escaping to what seems to be certain death in the deep desert...Whew! Needless to say, the movie covers quite a lot of story for the time it runs in. (2 hours, 17 minutes) And that's with a lot of stuff edited out of the actual novel on which it is based. The images within the film are standard Lynch fare, which includes strange and sinister imagery and bizarre, surreal sequences. Also, this film is not for people who need a simple story to understand, because you won't find one! I like this film because of it's fantastic and surreal quality. The reason it doesn't get a perfect score is because it's really humorless. The way it's styled is simply not conducive to laughter. I'd say the best laughs to be got about Dune is thinking about it remade into a modern-day drama about vengence and LSD use. But aside from that fault, Dune is a movie that you either like because it's so deep or wierd, or hate because it doesn't make any sense to you. I fall into the former category, but to be sure, I can understand that a lot of people who think the world of "Army of Darkness" will simply "not get" this film.

Reviewed by Mike Watson
http://reviews.imdb.com/Reviews/104/10471

Released in 1984 and made on a then mammoth budget of $40 million, the film of Frank Herbert's cult novel DUNE was eagerly awaited by sci-fi fans. Director David Lynch (BLUE VELVET, ERASERHEAD, TWIN PEAKS) was working on his biggest production to date, a mammoth undertaking filmed under trying conditions on location in Mexico. The screenplay was Lynch's own, chosen after the script submitted by original author Herbert was rejected.

DUNE is set in a universe ruled by powerful families overseen by a successive line of Emperors. The key to cosmic power is the planet Arrakis (Dune), a windswept desert planet that's home to giant sandworms and the precious spice melange. The spice is the most valuable commodity in the universe. It extends the life and expands the consciousness of those who consume it. Most importantly, it allows the navigators of the Spacing Guild (once human but now hideously mutated) to "fold space" and navigate their spacecraft across mammoth distances instantaneously, enabling interstellar commerce and trade to flourish.

Lynch's film by necessity excises parts of the book while retaining the story's two main strands. One is the long-standing rivalry between two families, Houses Atreides and House Harkonnen, and their battle for lucrative mining rights on Arrakis. The second strand is the emergence of young Paul Atreides as the reluctant Messiah long-awaited by the natives of Arrakis, the Fremen. The deeply religious Fremen want control over their homeworld, and young Paul may be the fulfilment of their prophecy that a man would come from the outer worlds and lead them to freedom.

Unfortunately, this epic story unfolds in a confusing and haphazard manner in the theatrical cut of the film, which runs 30 to 60 minutes shorter than what Lynch originally intended. The thinking among Universal's oh-so-wise money men was that films over two hours in duration were not popular with audiences at the time and would not do well at the box office. With Lynch's initial cut running at closer to three or more hours, the studio demanded that further cuts be made. What a great idea! Why not trim down an already complex film so as to make it almost incomprehensible?

The most glaring consequence of this one-eyed stupidity is a hopelessly jumpy narrative, leaving us with badly underdeveloped characters. Thus their personalities are vague, their motivations unclear and, in the case of Paul's father Duke Leto, their demise rather meaningless. The end result is a distinct chill: we can't warm to most of the cast and we don't care much for them. And it hardly helps that the voice-over narration is sparse and that the Dune-esque language and terminology sounds like so much gobbledegook to those unfamiliar with the book.

DUNE is also a very serous film. The constant "self-talk" by various characters makes it SO serious and self-absorbed at times that you may find it hard not to wince with embarrassment. The overall impression is a world full of people so intense that no one is allowed a joke lest the universe come crashing down around them. Humour - or at least a gentle kind of humour as distinct from the Harkonnen's mad, sadistic kind - is hard to find. You may balk at the comparison, but as a writer Lynch could well have done with some lessons from George Lucus' STAR WARS trilogy.

The theatrical version is still some way from being a complete disaster, however. It still possesses enough of Lynch's stylistic quirks and enough visual invention to sustain the interest of viewers with a taste for imaginative sci-fi. Special effects whiz Carlo Rambaldi's giant sandworms are an awesome sight. Both the production design (Anthony Masters) and costume design (Bob Ringwood) are striking and original. And the magnificent score by Toto and Brian Eno is one of the most underrated soundtracks of the last twenty years. With these elements in place and the benefit of Freddie Francis' lush cinematography, the film is at least a feast for the senses. See it in the widescreen format if you can.

And despite all the cuts, several cast members still make a strong impression, most notably Kenneth McMillan as the supremely nasty Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. Sian Phillips also registers strongly as the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, leader of the Bene Gesserit religious order who's secret aim is to manipulate Paul's destiny for its own shadowy ends. As Paul Atreides, the young Kyle MacLachlan starts off somewhat shakily, but as his character grows in strength so does his performance and he emerges as a credible leader of the Fremen crusade.

The conclusion? Any assessment of this film must take into account that Frank Herbert's original novel is a complex piece of work and presents a tough challenge for any filmmaker. David Lynch took a brave stab at it and, partly due to forces beyond his control, ended up with an officially released version that fails in several key respects. DUNE certainly confused and frustrated a lot of people on its release. Many chose to stay away altogether, as the film's disastrous box office showing attests.

The extended version, however, is a rather different beast. In 1984 Lynch stated his intention to release his own special edition "director's cut" of the film on home video, a clear indication of his dissatisfaction with the version that ended up in the theatres. But, alas, he failed to do so, choosing to move on to other projects. In a way, then, it is partly Lynch's own fault that what appeared instead was an unauthorised extended version, put together in 1988 by MCA TV Special Projects for airing on cable networks in the USA.

Stung into action, Lynch successfully petitioned the Director's Guild to take his name off the credits and replace it with "Allen Smithee", the standard pseudonym for directors who wish to disown their own work. He also had the screenwriting credit changed to the anonymous "Judas Booth".

Certainly, looking at the results of MCA's handiwork there's at least half a dozen instances that, for sheer technical sloppiness, are good enough reasons for the director to object. But these gripes must be considered in light of the improvements that the extended cut of DUNE offers in several crucial areas.

Most of the changes involve the restoration or extension of cut scenes and the addition of extra narration, both of which fill many holes in the original version's storyline. Paul's relationship with his father and associates is more intimate, with moments of humour and warmth lacking previously. The political skulduggery involving the Emperor, the Spacing Guild, the Bene Gesserits and the two warring Houses is far better explained. Paul's initiation into the Fremen way of life on Arrakis is also fleshed out considerably. And as further background, a new prologue has been added featuring narration and painted stills to give us a brief history of the Dune universe.

As a piece of storytelling, then, MCA TV's version of DUNE is clearly superior. As a piece of editing, however, it is at times surprisingly inept. The use of painted stills in the new prologue works well enough, but their occasional appearance once the action begins is inappropriate. There's some sloppy cutting, too, and in a few instances shots even appear out of order. And the use of repeated footage to fabricate certain scenes (eg. ships coming and going, soldiers coming and going) is at times clearly out-of-context. This is the kind of thing to which Lynch objected, and rightly so.

It should also be noted that several questionable scenes and shots from the theatrical version were deleted to satisfy the censorship demands of U.S. television. But the most notable omission is a gratuitous piece of nonsense from Lynch that wasn't even in Herbert's book. The scene features Baron Harkonnen killing a beautiful young man in front of his slobbering henchmen by pulling out his "heart plug". Its a surreal and disturbing episode that's very Lynch-esque but adds nothing to what we already know: the Baron is a nasty piece of work.

Despite its own peculiar flaws, then, the extended version of DUNE is a generally superior film. All up, it contains 35 minutes of restored footage and approximately another 15 minutes of either altered, fabricated or newly created sequences. Unless the idiosyncratic Lynch has a sudden change of heart, the "Alan Smithee" version remains the closest we'll get to what the movie should have been. On repeated viewings, one suspects it is closer than what Lynch would be prepared to admit.

Still, as one of this century's great science-fiction novels, some fans and perhaps the late Herbert himself would argue that DUNE deserved a better fate in its transfer to the screen. With rumours circulating of a new six hour mini-series planned by production company New Amsterdam Entertainment in 1998, it is unlikely that we have heard the last of the Dune saga.

Reviewed by Judge Nicholas Sylvain at DVD Verdict
http://www.dvdverdict.com/sr/Dune.html

Whether you like this adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi novel or not, you have to admit that the visuals and music are done on a very grand scale thanks to the bizarre imaginings of David Lynch. Universal gives it a passable, catalog title treatment on DVD, but it deserves better.

For a fair number of people, I think that this movie falls into the same category as the Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers As a film adaptation of a classic science fiction book, each film is going to have a crowd of detractors who will savage it for butchering the perfection of the author's original story. In each case, I have at one time read the original book, and I think the key is just to accept each version on its own merit. Books and movies are very different media, and I think it is harder to do a book to film adaptation than the reverse.

As for Dune, I cannot imagine the original book being simply ported to a film. It is at times tediously slow and ponderous, and simply had to be chopped down to size and reworked for the big screen. The movie is still well over two hours, and I think is much better than the goes-on-forever version that has shown up on the SciFi cable channel. (That version, incidentally, prompted David Lynch to insist that his name be removed from its credits.)

As the movie opens, Princess Irulan (Virginia Madsen) tells us of the spice melange that allows Navigators (spice mutated humans) to "fold" space and travel without moving. As a consequence, spice is absolutely vital to interstellar trade and travel, particularly because it is available only from the vast desert planet Arrakis (also known as Dune). We then learn that the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV (Jose Ferrer), ruler of the known universe, has set in place a devious plan to eliminate a potential rival, Duke Leto Atreides (Jurgen Prochnow) and his House. This plan requires House Atreides to take over the spice mining operations on Arrakis from their bitter enemy, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Kenneth McMillan) and his House, after which they will be trapped and destroyed by a combined sneak attack by House Harkonnen and the Emperor's Sardaukar terror troops. Needless to say, this plan worries the Navigators and their Guild. They warn the Emperor in the starkest terms that any interference in spice production bodes ill for him.

We are then introduced to Caladan and its inhabitants, the House Atreides. Behind the scenes over many centuries, a religious sisterhood, the Bene Gesserit, have been manipulating bloodlines in hopes of creating the Kwisatz Haderach, a "super-being." Lady Jessica (Francesca Annis) had disobeyed the dictates of the sisterhood, and bore her beloved Duke a son, Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan). As we meet them, House Atreides is preparing to make the move to Arrakis. Both assisting the Duke and instructing his son are Thufir Hawat (Freddie Jones), who comes from a race of human-computers known as the Mentat, Gurney Halleck (Patrick Stewart), the military advisor, and Doctor Wellington Yueh (Dean Stockwell). House Atreides suspects the Emperor's trap, but is confident that the wealth of Arrakis combined with the power of their budding new army (using the power of sound weapons and a form of battle called the "wierding way") will allow them to survive.

Our next stop is Giedi Prime and House Harkonnen. Their planet is dark and polluted, as is the House. The Baron Harkonnen is twisted inside and disfigured outside, a flying fat man of evil. His cohorts include a darkly brilliant Mentat of his own, Piter De Vries (Brad Dourif), a slow-witted thug, the Beast Rabban (Paul Smith), and handsome yet totally psychotic Feyd Rautha (Sting). They plan, plot, and generally exult over their inevitable destruction of House Atreides.

House Atreides loads up into a gigantic Guild ship and is "folded" to Arrakis. Once there, they begin the slow process of setting up their own defenses, taking over spice production, and rooting out Harkonnen saboteurs. A trusted officer, Duncan Idaho (Richard Jordan) reports to the Duke that he suspects that the planet's inhabitants, the Fremen, exist in vast numbers and could be allied to the Atreides cause. The Duke then inspects the spice mining operations, meeting the Imperial Ecologist Dr. Kynes (Max Von Sydow) and rescuing a trapped mining crew in the process.

Peace does not last long, as a traitor deep within House Atreides sabotages their defenses and destroys vital weapons, leaving them wide open to the attack of House Harkonnen and the Emperor. In the chaos of the attack, the Duke and his family are captured, and only Gurney Halleck escapes their clutches. While the Duke attempts a final revenge upon the Baron, his son and wife are taken to the desert to become food for the giant sandworms. They escape their captors and run into the leader of the Fremen, Stilgar (Everett McGill) and his tribe. The Fremen are suitably impressed by the "wierding way" and accept the pair into their tribe in return for learning the techniques.

As the universe continues, Lady Jessica is chosen to replace the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother of the Fremen tribe. Paul, known among the Fremen as Paul Muad'dib, becomes an integral part of the Fremen, as he both falls in love with a young Fremen warrior, Chani (Sean Young), and trains the Fremen in the "wierding way." The Fremen then begin a long campaign to reduce the Harkonnen army on Arrakis and stop the free flow of spice over a two year period. The Guild is unhappy with this turn of events, and peremptorily orders the Emperor to fix the problem or face "life in a pain amplifier."

Not exactly a shrinking violet himself, the Emperor orders his entire force of Sardaukar terror troops deployed to Arrakis to begin the genocide of the Fremen populace. At the same time, Paul is facing a crisis of confidence and feels compelled to put himself to the all but fatal test to see if he is in fact the prophesied Kwisatz Haderach. He survives the test, and with his newfound sense of destiny proclaims his Jihad (Holy War) against the Emperor and his forces, aiming to eliminate the Emperor and stake the claim to be in total control of spice production.

Paul Muad'dib and the entire race of Fremen launch a massive attack upon the Emperor's fortified encampment, with the assistance of a horde of sandworms as living battleships and troop transports. After a massive battle scene, we find that the Fremen are victorious, and have captured the Emperor and his advisors as well as Feyd Rautha and Guild representatives. Feyd soon expresses his contempt for his captor, which earns him a knife-fight to the death with Paul Muad'dib. The movie then ends with a remarkable event, indicating that Arrakis will never be the same.

Even in its theatrical release, this is a long and often slowly paced movie. Many of the immense cast of characters are either introduced with little explanation or exit as easily, or both. However, adding the necessary exposition would have added tremendously to the bulk of the movie at a substantial cost to the pacing and enjoyability of the movie. The area where this movie really shines is in showing off the costuming, set decoration, and generally oddly Nineteenth Century style that is at odds with the usual visual depiction of a science fiction movie. In reality, this is more of a space opera than a usual sci-fi flick, with grand sweeping visuals and music to match. It is a true treat for the eyes, as long as you don't mind a number of obvious (due to poor matting, or some other reason) effects shots.

Perhaps it is due to the length and deadly serious nature of the story that the actors don't get very much room to really strut their stuff. Kyle MacLachlan does a decent job, but you never get a real depth of character from him. A pity, given his importance in the story. Patrick Stewart is pleasantly passionate and dignified, and makes me wish that Captain Picard had as much stern presence as Gurney Halleck did. Oddly enough, I think Sting did a nice job, giving us a convincing performance as a very self-proud and homicidal minded Harkonnen who practically oozes stylish evil from his pores. Dean Stockwell does well with the conflicted, quiet Doctor, as does perennial wierdo-playing Brad Dourif with coiled-snake Piter De Vries.

The video transfer is acceptable, but far from reference quality. Aside from the fact that it is a non-anamorphic transfer, several scenes exhibit an annoying level of noise (often in dark wood, or similar background material). The print has a noticeable amount of film defects (blips and the like) and bits of dirt. Given these limitations, it is nevertheless a pretty movie. I have until recently owned the VHS widescreen version of Dune, and the DVD smokes it, as it should. Here, you can see much greater fine definition in the unique visuals, particularly in the Emperor's scenes, and a richer color saturation. With the preponderance of browns and blacks this may be difficult to see, but until the DVD I didn't realize the Atreides uniforms (which you see while they are still on Caladan) are actually dark green.

Probably a first for me, I think the audio surpasses the video in quality. I found myself frequently looking right or left, thanks to the nice directionality of the front channels, and there is a lot of ambient low level sound throughout the entire movie. The thumpers, in particular, are nicely represented by my subwoofer. On occasion, there is a bit too much of a jump in the sound between normal levels and an action scene, but nothing too bad.

Universal chose to give us only a light dusting of extras, which seems to be typical treatment for their average catalog title. We get reasonably detailed production notes and selected cast & filmmakers bios, and the original theatrical trailer (1.85 widescreen and of middling quality). We also get a two page insert with the chapter list and bonus features, static movie themed menus, and the preferred Amaray keepcase.

This is another disc that just cries out for a commentary track. Given some of the bizarre visuals (particularly regarding House Harkonnen) and the difficulty in both adapting the book and actually filming the movie, I would love to hear David Lynch recount his experiences and give us some insight into his decisions about the story and look of the movie. There are also a LOT of unused scenes that were filmed but cut, some of which were used to create the long TV version. This could form the basis for a fine selection of outtakes and deleted scenes on a Special Edition, as well as the storyboards and other visual material that is out there. Helllooo, Universal!

After my first run through for this review, I took a second look and noted that perhaps some of the video problems are due to a low average bit rate used for much of the transfer. I bet that if Universal would clean up the print of its blemishes and dirt, and use a dual-layer disk, they could ratchet up the bit rate and make a reference quality transfer. Plus, they'd have plenty of space for some nice extras.

One small point on the sound --- at times, I wished that the thumpers and explosions had more punch, but with a less than recent movie, I wouldn't expect the bass track to measure up to some of the more modern releases.

Overall, one of the more visually interesting movies I have seen, with a pretty impressive group of actors in a science fiction epic that uses every bit of the big screen. For the average viewer, it's worth a rental, and if you are a sci-fi fan, I'd still recommend it if you can get a good deal, as this is an OK but not phenomenal DVD.

To summarise, despite its story shortcomings, the visual style is decisive in this Court's verdict. The film is guilty of only misdemeanor faults, and deserves lenient treatment on probation. Universal is granted special dispensation, and will not have a conviction on its record if it gives us a Special Edition disc in the near future.

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