Dune (1984)

Dune (1984)
Director: David Lynch
Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Virginia Madsen, Linda Hunt, Brad Dourif, Richard Jordan, Jurgen Prochnow, Sting
Memorable Line: "God created Arrakis to train the faithful."

Dune taught me a valuable lesson in movie appreciation -- don't fall in love with a book and expect a film maker to make the movie you want made from it for you will surely be disappointed.

It's far into the future and the young Paul Atreides (MacLachlan) and his family, led by his regal father, Duke Leto Atreides (Prochnow), have taken over leadership of a far-flung desert planet, Arrakis, also called Dune. Arrakis, primarily a desert planet, is a key source of spice which is necessary for space navigation, therefore Arrakis is a pivot point for space trade and a much fought over planet. A coup for power erupts and Paul and his mother are forced to flee among the planet's native and savage people called the Freeman. It is here that Paul learns that he is apivotal figure in the planet religious prophecy and once enmeshed in his prophecy leads the planet and it's inhabitants on the path to revolt.

First, let me put forth my disclaimer; I'm huge fan of the Dune series of books by sci-fi and futurist, Frank Herbert. While this movie tries to capture the book and quite a few people who saw the movie without knowing the book felt like they needed a lexicon or guide from the book to understand the movie, this movie is one huge misfire. Humorless and self-indulgent, the movies shoots for some sort of high language and Gothic take on this high concept sci-fi epic series of books and misses terribly.

The actors have a huge challenge of getting in lock-step with Lynch's leaden vision of the movie. MacLachlan is quite wooden in the lead role and that doesn't help the movie at all. Sting is stuck with the thankless role of ranting and screaming his lines. While the cast brought some basic talent to the table, the direction of the movie basically wastes it.

To make matters worse, the special effects of 1984 were nowhere ready to pull of a movie of this complexity and depth. Many of the effects are almost laughable which is evidenced when the characters PaulAtreides has to ride a sand worm and the scene looks like a badly done back-screen scene from a '60s Beach movie.

I'm sad to report that I cannot recommend Dune because I'm such a fan of the books. With that being said, I think I can safely say that I'm objective enough to say that I can separate a movie from a book and this is a true disappointment as a movie. Try the sci-fi channel's version made years later and skip this adaptation of Dune.