Dune (movie)

Dune is a 1984 movie based on directed by David Lynch. It starred Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides, pop-star Sting as Feyd-Rautha and Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck.

There was also an attempt in the early 1970s to make Herbert's novel into a movie, but it lost funding before the director Alejandro Jodorowsky could complete it.

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

The movie is an adaptation of the first part of a series of novels by Frank Herbert, with elements from the later parts. Lynch originally wanted to create a much longer movie; his first draft was five hours. As the production ran out of money and the producers wanted a format better suited for cinemas, much of the original footage was cut and replaced by narration.

Lynch uses a number of elements from his earlier movies, for example the figure of the Space Guild Navigator, who has a strong resemblance to the alien baby in Lynch's first movie, Eraserhead, which also appeared in The Elephant Man. Fans of the novel regard this as a bastardization imposed by Lynch's ego, because "Dune: Messiah" clearly describes what a Guild Navigator looks like and it is not what Lynch's Navigator looked like. The Children of Dune miniseries most accurately portrayed what they really appear as: basicially near-humanoid, but mutated to the point that they have fins and look fish-like. Another element is the use of low, humming sounds which create unease in spectators when used over a longer period of time.

In financial terms, the movie was a disaster, but has a number of dedicated fans.

The film's chief flaw is its almost total lack of exposition; the audience is presented with a barrage of admittedly fascinating sounds and images, but unless they have read the book few of those sounds and images will make the slightest bit of sense to them.

Another large fan complaint is that in the novel, the "Weirding Way", properly termed "prana-bindu training", is a sort of super-martial art form that allows an adept like Paul to move with literally blurring speed. The Lynch movie replaced this with the concept that the "Weirding Way" is the use of "Sonic Guns" that a user shouts into, and the sound is then amplified into destructive force. Thus in the movie Fremen followers of Paul shout his Fremen name, Muad'dib, into their weapons to power them. In the movie, this leads Paul to comment "my name has become a killing word". Fans of the novel found this cheesy in the extreme: in the novel, Paul says his name has become a death-prayer of sorts because the Fremen shout "Muad'dib!" before killing an opponent, like a battle-cry.

Still another complaint is that even though large, expensive, and complex hydraulic Sandworm puppets were used, the visual effect of the Sandworms in the movie was very poor: they looked "like rubber puppets". The Dune miniseries 16 years later used computer-generated Sandworms, and the effect was far more impressive.

Further, using Sting as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen was a somewhat shameless cameo: he was essentially eye candy and never did anything on screen. During the one scene from the novel where Sting has much to do, his final duel with Paul, fans regard his dialogue and delivery as an appalling disaster; melodramatic overkill. In the novel, Paul and Feyd get into a raging knife-fight. In the movie, Sting-as-Feyd holds up a knife and paces around the screen shouting "I...will...kill...him!" in a hammy way, and there is little if any fighting. The Dune miniseries made the scene far closer to the novel scene; Paul and Feyd strip down, and engage in a raging knife battle that degenerates into a fast-paced martial-arts face off.

The final scene of the film was also changed from that of the novel. In the novel, the final line, spoken by Jessica to Chani, is "Those of us who bear the name of concubine, history will remember as wives" (in reference to Paul's marriage to and refusal of Irulan). In the movie, the final line (spoken by Alia) are "He IS the Kwisatz Haderach!".

Further, the movie ends with Paul COMMANDING it to rain on Arrakis. In the novel, this is only accomplished through years of terraforming, and it does not rain for decades after Paul ascends the throne.

Also, there is nothing mystical about Paul's powers; he is the product of genetic breeding and training, and could not possibly command the sky to rain on Dune.

Many book fans consider the movie an unfaithful adaptation that tainted the non-book-fan public's perception of what the book was actually about. Dune was recently remade as a three part miniseries for release on cable and rental video/DVD; as noted above, it is considered to have come much closer to the philosophical and thematic point of view of the original.

Now despite the original complaints by some disgruntled fans, the movie has in fact became an enormous cult favorite. The less-seen 3 hour "Alan Smithee" version is a cult classic on its own. Prepared originally for syndicated television (and later seen on basic cable networks), it has just been released into some markets (including Canada and Europe) on DVD. The missing footage includes a not-bad painted montage at the prologue, and some key scenes added back into the mix, including the "little-maker" essence-of-spice scene. The TV version was edited almost haphazardly (for example, certain shots were repeated throughout the film to give the impression that footage had been added). Lynch objected to these edits and had his name removed from the credits of the TV print (his name remains on the theatrical print as it is the only version authorized by the director). The film inspired a praised series of video games, including "Emperor: Battle for Dune," by Westwood games. Westwood also published Dune 2000, which featured live actors (including John Rhys-Davies as Thufir !), in cut-scenes. Westwood's ground-breaking games were obviously inspired by, and are faithful to, the Lynch film. Rumour has it that another Lynch-inspired game is in the works.

See also: All Dune universe articles