Dune

Dune 1984

• Director: David Lynch
• Based on book by Frank Herbert
• Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Siân Philipps, Sting, Max Von Sydow, Patrick Stewart, Sean Young and many more
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Kyle MacLachlan – Hamlet, The Trial, Twin Peaks, The Doors
• Siân Phillips – Ivanhoe, I Claudius, Shoulder to Shoulder
• Sting – Life’s Too Short, Stormy Monday, Quadrophenia
• Max Von Sydow – Star Wars the Force Awakens, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Shutter Island, Robin Hood, Awakenings, Ingenjör Andrées luftfärd, Voyage of the Damned, The Exorcist, Utvandrarna, Invandrarna, Nybyggarna, Vargtimmen
• Patrick Stewart – The Hollow Crown Richard II, Hamlet, Extras, X Men etc, Star Trek (one of them, I don’t remember which), Excalibur, Hamlet, I Claudius
• Sean Young – Blade Runner 2049, Blade Runner
• Why?  Classic sci fi novel
• Seen:  29 November 2019

 Thousands of years in the future, time travel and life lengthening are made possible by a spice which only exists on the planet Dune. Young warrior Paul (MacLachlan) is sent to Dune to secure the trade in this spice. His life is in grave danger from assassins and royal intrigues. Wars abound.

Lynch clearly had fun with all the sci fi toys, space travel, aliens and weird planets. It makes me want to watch Doctor Who again.

There are many problems with the film. MacLachlan is very young and amateurish, light years away from his sophisticated Dale Cooper of Twin Peaks. This DVD has no subtitles so it’s hard to catch all the dialog but that doesn’t matter because it seems quite awful. I really don’t like imperial royal etc dramas. I now have two hours left to decide if the film has any merits.

Yes, and here they are:

• It’s visually sensational.
• It’s almost Shakespearean in its grand incomprehensibility.
• The worms – they’re the only thing I remember from the book.
• Siân Phillips is always good and it’s fun to see Sting as a villain.
• It’s entertaining once in a while.

   The visual effects get 5*. The few good moments give it 2*. But it’s a hopeless muddle, which takes away 1*. The pretentiousness takes another. The silly story loses it 1*. It’s overlength and boring bits lose it another. The religious nonsense winds it down another notch. If my math is right: +7 – (-5) =

2 * of 5