Dune (1984) - Thoughts?

[chanster]

I'm a big fan of David Lynch's Dune. I know objectively its not that good of a movie, but whenver I watch it, I really enjoy the visuals and the incoherency of the inner dialogues. Lynch did a great job with creating an "alien" culture. And Patrick Stewart, man, thats a role of a lifetime for him. I know the Harkonnens are portrayed differently than in the book, but the Lynch crazy visuals of them is one of my favorite things of the movie. I especially love the hairless cat. And the pug, I love the pug. I just finished watching it, and you can actually see the pug in the final end scene, one of the little boys is holding it. How did the pug survive without a stillsuit?????

Anybody else wish to discuss this movie?

[MR Round]

I think its crap compared to the Sci-fi miniseries that was made. The lynch version just wasent what I expected from it.

[Dr Mabuse]

I prefer the miniseries.

But the look of Lynch's Dune was pretty cool. A lot of talent involved.

[Torchur317]

Very under-rated....

[Neeb]

It looks the way Dune should look. The costumes, sets, cinematography, etc. Some of the actors were cast perfectly.
It just doesn't feel the way Dune should feel.

[BullGooseLoony]

I always love watching it, and it holds a special place in my heart.

I first saw it in in 1997, when I excitedly bought the VHS from costco. I had been making it my mission to watch every major movie flop of the last thirty years, and this movie was next. At first, I thought it was awful, but now I really do appreciate it.

The fact is, the movie looks amazing, and I really do think that it is a major battle. The costumes speak volumes about the characters, the production design speaks volumes about the worlds, the f/x are top-notch, and the movie has one of the most amazing scores, in my opinion, in movie history. Even if you think the movie stinks, it's hard to deny the music.

The problem, of course, is that the movie doesn't make a lick of sense. DeLaurentis and Lynch should have aimed for a longer running time, one that would have made the most of the film's duration. Even the 3-hour TV cut doesn't make much sense. There are gaping plot holes, and it's difficult to figure out exactly what everyone's goal is. In trying to be do desperate to the source material, the movie only harms itself. As a result, there's no room for any of the characters, let alone any new ones as the film progresses.

The mini-series got the logic and the story right, which is half the battle, but it looked cheap as hell. And since I'm a sucker for production values, I go with this movie. But if a movie had the look of this version and the storytelling of the miniseries, then THAT would have been a masterpiece.

[Hokeyboy]

I really don't see exactly HOW Patrick Stewart's role as Gurney Halleck was exactly "the role of a lifetime"... he was barely in a handful of scenes and completely underutilized.

Still, I love Lynch's Dune... I view it as less of a film on its own, more like an 2 hour condensed opera devoted to fans of the book who already know the story and characters.

[milo bloom]

Still, I love Lynch's Dune... I view it as less of a film on its own, more like an 2 hour condensed opera devoted to fans of the book who already know the story and characters.

Exactly, I even see the theatrical cut, the extended cut, the mini-series and the novel all as facets of the same story. The book is the foundation, and all the filmed versions add to the experience.

[gcribbs]

I love the books and hated the movie. I watched the movie when it first came out in theaters and have never seen it since.

[Josh-da-man]

I've always liked Lynch's Dune and thought it was unfairly maligned.

The costumes, the design, the cinematography, the casting -- it's all spot-on. And I really appreciate the oddness that infuses the whole thing, making it surreal and alien experience.

[Giantrobo]

I like all versions of DUNE 84 particularly the extended version. The mini was great too but it had its share of negatives too.

[scott1598]

i like "Star Wars".

[Lastyear]

It looks good but doesn't jell into a good movie. The mini series was typical SFChannel crap. Dune is one of those books which is hard to translate into film. An awful lot of exposition.

[Giantrobo]

i like "turtles".

fixed

[Abob Teff]

i like "Star Wars".

Well, on that note ... the SciFi Channel raped my childhood.

[RocShemp]

I was mildly curious about the books but the movie (and the Sci-Fi Channel mini-series) killed any thoughts of reading the books. It just felt odd and uninteresting. I may still read the books someday just to see what all love for them stems from (and I don't trust any movie to be page for page translation of a book).

[Tuan Jim]

It's tough to say...I like most of the costumes and the actors and acting are very good, and some of the portrayals of technology, sandworms, etc...but then you have that ridiculous "voice" thing. I mean, wtf?

The miniseries....I'll force myself to watch it all the way through one day...the acting turned me off the first time I tried. Just couldn't stand to watch the guy playing Paul whine his way through one scene after another.

[Numanoid]

One of my favorites. I must have at least 8 or 10 versions on VHS and DVD.

And it certainly does make the movie more enjoyable if you have read the book (which I did after watching the movie a couple times).

[hasslein]

I couldn't watch the extended version, it was very distracting when one shot the actors had the blue tint in their eyes, and the next shot (non-theatrical) they didn't. I don't know if they remedied this on the dvd or not. The Japan laserdisc didn't have the effect fixed.

[Thrush]

I couldn't watch the extended version, it was very distracting when one shot the actors had the blue tint in their eyes.

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/spicekitty.jpg

I liked the movie, still watch it when I see its on. Thought the sci fi miniseries was meh. But I have never read the books.

[milo bloom]

I couldn't watch the extended version, it was very distracting when one shot the actors had the blue tint in their eyes, and the next shot (non-theatrical) they didn't. I don't know if they remedied this on the dvd or not. The Japan laserdisc didn't have the effect fixed.

They didn't fix it on the DVD. While I was still glad to get a good copy (it is 16x9 widescreen btw), it would have been really nice for them to go all out and fix all the FX and add in any other deleted scenes they had.

[dhmac]

The biggest problem (IMO) with the film version of Dune is it rushed through things in the second half. I wish it had taken more time then to tell the story, like it did in the first half (which is the part of the movie I like best). And I have seen the extended cut, but it has, in many ways, more problems (ex. using illustrations to tell the story - just a bad idea) than the theatrical cut.

The biggest problem (IMO) with the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries version of Dune is the blatant cheapness of its look. It was staged like a filmed play with intentionally fake backdrops instead of at least using CGI to make the world somewhat more convincing. Plus the costumes are laughably bad in too many cases. The cheap look of the whole thing made it very disappointing to me, even moreso than the weak performances in some roles. (At least the sequel miniseries, Children of Dune, abandoned the fake backdrops and used a lot more CGI to look like a more major production.)

.

[chanster]

I was mildly curious about the books but the movie (and the Sci-Fi Channel mini-series) killed any thoughts of reading the books. It just felt odd and uninteresting. I may still read the books someday just to see what all love for them stems from (and I don't trust any movie to be page for page translation of a book).

I read the book after seeing the movie, and I enjoyed the book. I haven't seen the Miniseries.

As far as the "blue eyes" problem with the extended cut, the theaterical has the same problem, at least with characters in the backgrounds.

[Rizor]

I love Lynch's Dune. It looks great, and similar to other films like Excalibur, it's an overly bombastic and over the top production representative of the 80s - it's hard not to love (IMHO). Is it a great adaptation? Hardly, but I think it gets the most cinematic points of the source material across. It's a rousing sci-fi motion picture with many great moments. Some of its weirdness or eccentricities help set it apart from any other film.

I never got the hate for the internal monologues. Perhaps it's viewed as a sort of lazy form of cinematic shorthand, but it's just another one of the elements that makes the movie unique. It's similar to the way Roman Polanski's film version of Macbeth handled the play's soliloquies. In plays, there's no way of expressing a character's internal thoughts to the audience so they have the actor externalizing it. Somehow the audience accepts that no other character can hear them. But this is unnecessary in films and Polanski took a rather cinematic approach to internalizing the characters' thoughts. It sounds kinda obvious, but audiences find it "weird". ;) Anyway, I think the internal monologues kinda add a feeling of other worldliness to the movie and I like it...a lot. :)

[Hokeyboy]

I read the book after seeing the movie, and I enjoyed the book. I haven't seen the Miniseries.

As far as the "blue eyes" problem with the extended cut, the theaterical has the same problem, at least with characters in the backgrounds.

Read the books!! Or, that is to say, read the FIRST book. It's a freakin' masterpiece. I must have read (and re-read) it at least 20 times in my life.

Avoid the sequels. They are mostly garbage and often incoherent as hell.

(I actually liked the "prequel" books written by Herbert and Anderson, but I seem to be in the minority on that one...)

Funny thing about the Children of Dune TV miniseries... technically, it's infinitely superior to the original miniseries. Better acted, better shot, better directed, better edited, better production values... everything across the board is superior.

EXCEPT the story. You can't polish a turd.

[naitram]

love the movie, never read the book :)

[Giantrobo]

Read the books!! Or, that is to say, read the FIRST book. It's a freakin' masterpiece. I must have read (and re-read) it at least 20 times in my life.

Avoid the sequels. They are mostly garbage and often incoherent as hell.

Yeah I enjoyed Dune(read after seeing the Lynch Film) Children of Dune, Dune Messiah, and God Emperor. After God Emperor, the series got really corny and convoluted.



(I actually liked the "prequel" books written by Herbert and Anderson, but I seem to be in the minority on that one...)

Same here. I get shit for it every time the topic comes up in the Book Forum. :grunt: Fuck 'em. I liked most of the prequels with the "House of" books being my personal faves.

Funny thing about the Children of Dune TV miniseries... technically, it's infinitely superior to the original miniseries. Better acted, better shot, better directed, better edited, better production values... everything across the board is superior.

EXCEPT the story. You can't polish a turd.

Yeah they tried to combine at least 3 of the sequel books in the mini. Children of Dune, Dune Messiah, and God Emperor are all touched on in the the COD mini. I still liked it and bought the DVD, but I could see where others might no like it.

I think the Dune Universe in general is a Love it, or Hate it type thing.

[hal9000]

In my 39 years on this planet I don't know how I managed not to see Dune... until today!

I must say W T F... man, partying in Hollywood in the 80's with David Lynch must have been a freaking blast! I bet the "spices" flowed alright... flowed right up every single person's nose associated with the creation of this flick. Tell me they weren't all flying high as kites when they were making Dune.

I mean how freaking bad ass must it have been for Lynch to pitch Dune to a studio exec (obviously high on coke) "okay, here's the story, there are these gigantic killer worms." "And these dudes end up harnessing these worms to do battle... it will blow (pun) your freaking mind!" "Imagine if you will, tons of bald women... oh, hold on, it gets better, Sting, yes I said Sting, will battle the chosen one to the death in a knife fight that will end all knife fights." "It's gonna be baaaaaad ass!" Oh to be a fly on a wall during that meeting.

I'm sorry, but I saw this steaming pile tonight for the first time ever... can someone tell me why I really, really wanted Duran Duran to appear half way through the movie and start singing a medley of Wild Boys/Union Of The Snake/New Moon On Monday and The Reflex... Now if that had happened, that would have made this turd truly bad ass!

I'm sure there are a lot of fans of Dune, admittedly I like my fair share of terrible movies, I really can't think of any at the moment other than Jaws 3 of course, oh, and He-Man Masters Of The Universe. To each his own, but damn I really wanted (actually expected) Dune to be amazing... but all I could do is laugh.

[Heat]

It was based off of the best selling science-fiction book of all time - that's why there were worms and why people were riding the worms into battle. You aren't going to get much sympathy about the plot from people who have read the book.

Now, the execution of the book into a movie... yes, it left a little to be desired.

If you want to read more about the plot: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(novel))

From the discussion in wikipedia on the film:

In his review, critic Roger Ebert gave Dune one star out of four and wrote "This movie is a real mess, an incomprehensible, ugly, unstructured, pointless excursion into the murkier realms of one of the most confusing screenplays of all time." Ebert added that "The movie's plot will no doubt mean more to people who've read Herbert than to those who are walking in cold," and later named it "the worst movie of the year."] On At The Movies with Gene Siskel and Ebert, Siskel began his review by saying "it's physically ugly, it contains at least a dozen gory gross-out scenes, some of its special effects are cheap — surprisingly cheap because this film cost a reported 40 to 45 million dollars — and its story is confusing beyond belief. In case I haven't made myself clear, I hated watching this film." The film was later listed as the worst film of 1984 in their "Stinkers of 1984" episode. Other negative reviews focused on the same issues as well as on the length of the film.

[Suprmallet]

I was mildly curious about the books but the movie (and the Sci-Fi Channel mini-series) killed any thoughts of reading the books. It just felt odd and uninteresting. I may still read the books someday just to see what all love for them stems from (and I don't trust any movie to be page for page translation of a book).

Don't let the filmed versions scare you away from what is easily one of the best sci-fi books of the 20th century.

[Josh-da-man]

Roger Ebert hated "Blue Velvet," too.

[milo bloom]

I'm not usually one to defend "popcorn" style movies, but in Dune's case Lynch was fairly obviously trying to do something a little better than usual (considering it was sourced from a classic science fiction novel). For that reason I'm able to grade a movie like this "on a curve" if you will. Even missing major chunks of the novel, movies like this that are based on existing properties help give a viewer a "slice of life" view of that particular franchise. It's not perfect, but it should be a gateway or just an introduction to that larger world.

And I also love the extended cut on DVD. It's still clunky, but the extra scenes allow even more of that "slice of life" feel I mentioned.

[mike45]

I've read the books. I actually like the David Lynch movie.I bought the French Blu-Ray Dune form Amazon.fr. The disc is region free. The picture is excellent and audio good.

Though, I do like the David Lynch. I prefer the the Sc-Fi miniseries Dune and The Children of Dune. I hope they eventaully release them on Blu-Ray.

[dhmac]

Roger Ebert hated "Blue Velvet," too.
Roger Ebert has seldom been a fan of films with a certain "Cult Movie" appeal, particularly ones that are morally ambiguous.

For example:

- his negative 1972 review of "A Clockwork Orange" (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19720211/REVIEWS/202110301/1023)

- his negative 1986 review of "Blue Velvet" (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19860919/REVIEWS/609190301/1023)


(Although he has come around a bit in his old age.)

[Luther Heggs]

I think somewhere in what Lynch attempted there lies the potential for the best possible adaptation of Herbert's work - but that potential will likely remain unfulfilled.