Dune (Wide Screen)

Advantages: Still impressive visuals, great cast
Disadvantages: Pretentious, confusing, my copy's out of sync

...Even after over twenty years, Dune is still a very very weird film. Cult director and probable insane genius David Lynch helmed this 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert's doorstop science-fiction novel. Specific gripes first: my copy of the DVD is a bit glitchy. The transfer seems to have been a pretty ropy job in places with freezes, pixellation and skipping (that might just be my copy) and the sound is out of sync with the actors by up to about half ...
...dread to think how much Dune must have cost to produce. It is a ridiculously lavish film, full of massive sets with hundreds of extras, and special effects that still hold up commendably well for the digital age. If the occasional ornithopter shot looks a bit creaky, the fabby shield fighting and the groovy flying Baron Harkonnen more than make up for them, and to my amazement the giant Worms of Arrakis (the desert planet) don't look too bad either. ... Read review

Advantages: Recreates the novel well
Disadvantages: More appealing to fans

The 1984 film Dune is based on Frank Herbert's novel of the same name. It is set in the future and follows the fortunes of Paul Atredies, the son of a Duke and the Heir to one of the galaxies ruling families. All this sounds quite clear and maybe nothing special. However what Herbert did with his novel and the Universe he created around it was to establish and describe a completely new society. I will try and explain this as best I can: The galaxy ...
...fulfill their dream of making Dune more habitable for the Fremen way of life. I don't want to give too much away about the film but the second half of the films takes place over several years and looks at how Paul's influence and religous standing grows and how through their guillera tactics the Fremen under his command bring the whole galaxy to it's knees leading up to the final confrontation. I enjoyed this film because I was a fan of the book ... Read review

Advantages: Dares to be different, visually innovative, if sickening, will divide opinion.
Disadvantages: See above

Overview Dune is an obscure sci-fi film written and directed in 1984 by that prime peddler of the peculiar, David Lynch. Starring Kyle McLachlan, Patrick Stewart and Sting(!). Dune polarises opinion, optitimising the idea of a cult hit. What? That will most likely be your first reaction to a multi-layered, multi-plot-lined monstrosity of a film, during the course of which your eyes will see many things they do not wish to see, your ears will be ...
...its something different. Thats what dune shows you whether you like it or not. In terms of sound this film is incredible. Atmosphere is ramped up to vertiginous heights with masterful recording. The spiralling, howling maelstrom of the desert sands, the full throated bellowing roar of the sand worm, all serve to add an extra edge of emphasis to the proceedings. This is in my opinion the films best feature. And, honestly, its worth a look purely ... Read review

Advantages: see review
Disadvantages: see review

...read any of Frank Herbert's Dune novels will realise the mammoth task which stood before David Lynch when he attempted to translate the first into a respectable movie. Well mammoth task or not he set about trying and the result is well erm...questionable, but at the same time still a damn fine movie. Does that make sense? Well probably not, and neither does the movie to be fair...UNLESS you have read the novel first, otherwise you will undoubtably ...
...even going to go into the story very deeply because it is simply going to lose you otherwise. Read the book. Bascically, there is a planet where a mineral known as the spice or melange is found, the only place that this can be found. This spice is the foundation on which all sentient life forms base their lives, as it has the ability to provide stellar travel by 'folding time' the usual sci-fi kind of thing. Its a miraculous thingumy which everyone ... Read review

Advantages: Great film, great direction, great individual performances, gripping plot
Disadvantages: Slightly dodgy lighting, plot not properly explained

...before) can come back to Dune and destroy them, as they are enemies. This basically does happen, and only Duke Atreides’ son and wife escape. Now his son is actually a perfect being – for centuries the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood (kind of witches/nuns) have been manipulating bloodlines to create this being. The Duke’s wife was supposed to bear him a daughter who was then supposed to marry a Harkonnen to create it, but she bore the Duke a son, because ...
...else he’s written, except the Dune series) Music: Brian Eno (Castaway) Marty Paitch (Pretty Woman, My Girl, The Fugitive) etc. *DVD EXTRAS* 1. Slide Show – stills from the film, and a couple of collages. Nice. 2. Theatrical Trailer (that deep voice-over man must be so rich by now…) 3. DVD Credits – really not that exciting. *CONCLUSION* I love this film. The whole universe is spun around such great sci-fi themes; the plot is infinitely complicated ... Read review