The first movie adaptation, directed and adapted for the screen by David Lynch way back in 1984, was a paradox of lush production values marred by amateurish special effects and rather silly costumes. Still, at least this film had an art-house sensibility that made it JUST SO WEIRD as to distract us from overwrought expositions. And therein lies the problem – trying to condense Frank Herbert’s extremely dense 1965 novel into a two-hour-plus movie, (which was ridiculously long for 1984) which still required huge amounts of the original story to be left out, including most of the religious details. However, the strong cast, led by Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides, helped sustain the complex plot, and heaven help me – I simply adored Kenneth McMillan’s completely over-the-top performance as the truly vile Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.
I will leave it to you to grab a synopsis of Frank Herbert’s epic novel rather than try to squeeze the plot into an elevator pitch, which was and still is the basic problem with the 1984 version. And yes, there was a Sci Fi Channel limited series back in 2000 that benefited from far superior special effects that, over three episodes, did a better job of telling the story. But even with a fine cast, this version was hampered because the key role of Paul Atreides, our protagonist, was filled by a clearly adult man, Alec Newman, when regardless of its epic-ness, this story is, at its core, a coming-of-age story.
So now we have another cinematic attempt, directed and co-written by Denis Villeneuve, and this time around, thankfully split into two, which does truly help the uninitiated into the world that Herbert created nearly 60 years ago. “Episode One” (no relation to Star Wars) takes its time in world and character building, helping us to understand the importance of ‘Spice’, its connection to the sandworms, and all the motivations and machinations of the House of Atreides and House of Harkonnen, and what seems to be an ongoing theme, the Evil of the Emperor (again, no relation to Star Wars). But most importantly, we are offered the backstory of the Fremen, the sand people native to the harsh desert world of Arrakis (the Dune planet), who live in harmony with the sandworms, and pray for their savior to arrive.
Then along comes Episode Two, which is nothing but battle after battle that culminates in a big battle and, without creating a spoiler, seriously strays from the novel. Yup, at a little under three hours, that’s the synopsis. Sure, there is a smattering of references to the religious undertones so beautifully detailed in the novel, but again, we need to get back to the battles to attract the teenage boys to the theater. So rather than providing some closure with a satisfying climax, by straying from the novel’s ending, this movie feels like a gratuitous setup for yet another movie. And the movie’s last hour is so loud that it feels like you are being hit over the head with a ‘Gom Jabbar’.
DUNE (1984) 😊 – Experience Whenever
FRANK HERBERT’S DUNE (2000) 😊 – Experience Whenever
DUNE (2021) 🤩 – Experience Now
DUNE PART TWO (2024) 🤮 – Experience Never…but in reality, Experience Whenever if you never read the book and vaguely care about what will happen, mostly because Dune One (2021) ends literally in midsentence in the novel.
