Badmovies.org Forum

I always thought that this book was overrated for what it was ..somehow "bloated" comes to mind as a description. And then the movie comes along and adds "pretentious" as well as "ponderous and mindnumbing". skip the movie..chuck the book...read "The Left Hand of Darkness" instead

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

<I> - Paul Atreides using the Bene Gesserit litany.</I>

You know, I never knew this was a David Lynch movie.  I guess that explains things...exactly what, I don't know....

One thing I'm amazed wasn't mentioned in the review was the whole 'weird-blue-glowing-eyes' thing. It's bad enough that they look like they were colored in with a blue crayon directly onto the film itself, but they can't even remain consistant! One scene the major characters have blue eyes... the next they don't... then whoops! They're back again!

Dune is an awesome scifi film. I think the reviewer is a little disrespectful to the film... i wouldnt want to see it if i only read this review. The fact is, this film is a real gem. I LOVE IT! Maybe its a little to "european" for the reviewer? Anyway, see this one... in my opinion its up there with blade runner and brazil.

David Lynch rules all.
I say that even though I don't understand some of his movies very well. Sometimes I wonder if Mr. Lynch understands them himself.
He does manage to put so many strange things together that you can't help remembering them though.
 The film is too European for Mr. Whipreck to review? I just don't think so. I think he did a very entertaining review that wasn't negative but honest.

Nah, I don't think the film was too European for me. After all, I AM European. The frequent use of the word "bloody" should have made that obvious.

I love the movie too, but if I did a serious review that didn't make fun of it, it wouldn't have been funny, which is, after all, the whole point.

This is one of the least comprehensible movies i've ever seen, and i've read the book, so i know what the whole spice thing is about. Making a film less then two hours long based on dune is ridiculous, and 80's space effects didn;t help. I still thought it was good movie though, entertaining, if incomprihensible. (maybe becuase i watched it just beofre Dune: the making of (2001), followed by the three parts of the six hour 2001 version - that was both immposible to understand and actually boring)
My problem is with the eyes, they're supposed to be SOLID DARK blue, not too large iris's of bright blue. (whoever was in charge of the 2001 version's eyes, probably didn;t bother to read the book. just watched The old dune movie)

Sorceress

Maybe the Fremen et al should have worn blue lenses..
I was startled (to say the least) by the sheer badness of the not-so-special effects. This was 2 years before Aliens and at over twice the budget ($45m) there was no excuse for Flash Gordon-style explosions and spaceships. (The sets by H.R Giger -Alien/s- were excellent though)

You see very little of Sting, and his character is so il-defined, that the final confrontation with Paul is totally unmemorable.
The Fremen are also misrepresented and we hardly get an idea of the tough lot they are supposed to be.

That image near the end of Chani wielding a sword really made me cringe, as did those 'sonic' weapons ("aiii-cha!").

Interesting interpretation, but uncohesive and confusing.

Paul riding on the back of the giant worm, leaning back and letting the wind blow through his massively feathered head of hair, exchanging knowing looks with Stilgar and his Fremen buddies as the worm sucks up his enemies to a rockin' Queen soundtrack...I've never used cocaine before, but the people who made this movie probably went through a ton of it.

People talking about the length obviously haven't heard of the half dozen different 4+ hour length versions...  They don't really make it better, just longer.

Fletcher's rule of film states that good books make lousy films (eg Starship troopers) and vice versa with good films make terrible novels (just about any film "novelisation). Dune is a noteable exception to this rule. The book is a lousy, overblown pretensious piece of crap with far too many sequels and the film is even worse. If they wanted to make a Frank Herbert novel into a film The Dragon In The Sea would have been a much better choice.

In you cast section, you forgot to mention the character of Gurney - Patrick Stewart! (Captain Picard!).  Although it's true, he's just a supporting character, his presence in this film is significant and noteworthy!  Thanks for at least putting in what is probably his best quote, though.  You might also wish to consider adding another of Gurney's quotes, "You're young Pup! You're young Pup!" hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!  (Sorry, just couldn't contain myself)

I am glad to see this film listed, as it is one of my all time favorite "bad" movies. It is certainly better then the television miniseries. The acting is better. The action sequences are better. The directing is better. And certainly the style is better. Who can forget the scene where Paul L. Smith, who played Bluto in "Popeye" and one of the Harkonnens in this one, was touring a slaughterhouse and ripped the tongue out of the mouth of a dead cow and started munching on it, as he continued his tour. Yes, David Lynch has a style all his own. Enjoy

funny thing about david lynch, apparently in college he was roommates with J. Geils of The J. Geils Band (whoda thought). after a month or 2 of rooming together, lynch took off out of dormitory life forever because geils was "too weird". how f**king mind numbingly insane must geils have been to freak out lynch? and why didnt he ever transfer that insanity into his music? id rather hear the ramblings of some f**king nut over "my angel is a centerfold" any day.

I read the book before seeing the film, so maybe I'm not looking at the movie with a fresh mind.  It just seems to me that several elements of the book could have been left ALONE and still be both CHEAPER and COOLER than they were in this movie.

A.  In the book, sometimes, the sun is out.
B.  In the book, they don't use guns (wierding modules) that turn random words into lasers.  They use knives.  I for one would prefer knives to whatever the f**k those things are.
C.  The wierding way was not originally saying things into a gun.  It was kick ass kung fu.  Kung fu is much more fun to watch than a battle of deadly negative scratches.
D.  There was no need to give Thufir and the other mentat embarrassing eyebrows.
E.  Most of the cast is horribly chosen; most of all the role of Paul's father, who is supposed to be a great leader of men but is portrayed as a weepy, sentimental, slow witted, and hairy man.
F.  In this movie, a man is presented with a cat with a rat tied to its back and told he must milk it and drink its milk to live.  Don't give me that "but it's david lynch and his imagination made it so it must be worshipped by you" bulls**t.  IT'S A CAT WITH A RAT TIED TO ITS BACK.  Despite being ludicrous, this was somehow presented in such away as to make me not laugh.

So, to recap, too much hair, too many cats with rats tied to their backs, and sound guns (like in that Shaq movie) instead of knives.  Oh, and the navigators look like fetuses.

I don't need a faithful interpretation (it's no worse in that respect than Starship Troopers, which I enjoyed) but I would have liked to have seen knives and more Fremen fighting with knives.  If you think that "wierding modules" are a better movie making choice IN ANY WAY than knives and kung fu, please say so.

Having read all the Dune series book (if you want to severely punish yourself, you should read them all), I didn't think that the movie was too bad.  But then again, I usually have no problems understanding the weird scifi plots; especially if I've read the book.  If the movie was done properly, it would be 5-6 hours long.  But then that's what they said about Lord of the Rings and movie turned out well.  So what the bloody hell am I talking about?

@Steve: This ist not a Queen Song it is Toto!!

Heh. This is the film that came out in the same year as the first Terminator film. James Cameron Dune this was going to be the big hit while his own film would just make a little money and be a nice little flick. Instead, Terminator turned out to be a real hit while Dune turned out to be a fifty million dollar disaster. Easy to see why.

Personally Dune is my all time favourite film, however, whenever I read this review I get reduced to tears...of laughter! Hahaha brilliant writing.

I guess I'm strange, but I love this version of Dune. Sure it doesn't follow the great book it's based on, but it's still very enjoyable in it's own way. Does anybody remember The Shining ? Stanley K. didn't follow the novel but still made a very effective film.
If you like the visual style of Dune, see Chronicles Of Riddick, it has a similar look and feel.
Does anybody know where to find the four hour version of 1984 Dune ? Please email me if you do.

David Lynch takes the most overrated book in history and turns it into an even worse movie. The FX were atrocious (Star Wars came out years before this, for god's sake), the plot reduced to the point of becoming completely incomprehensible, and, pray tell, what's that thing with those sonic guns? Ridiculous.

With regards to the sandworms, I think they get the nutrients they need to survive from the sand or something.

For those looking for a movie of a book thats more original then the book its based on it was good.Frankly the mini series was better.

God what an awful film. Saw this the week it opened and I remember the feeling while watching it of something heavy sitting on my chest. By the time the film ended - with a rain storm for cryin' out loud - I wanted to throw something at the screen.

There really isn't enough room to list the problems with this overblown confusing incoherent mess of a film - but it's safe to say that every decision David Lynch made about this film - from the Baron's boils to the silly sound weapons and the people with the weird eyebrows was just wrong. I'm not sure what Lynch was trying to do here but it didn't work. But for damn sure the man can't film a battle scene to save his life - the two battles in the movie feature loud music with people running around like they were late for a bus.

While I wasn't a huge fan of Dune I was keen to see what they could do with the book. Not much it turned out.
At least we managed to avoid Lynch directing anymore Dune films - he was signed to three if memory serves.

O.K., you are on a huge desert planet with nothing but sand – hence the title, DUNE – no water, vegetation or 7-11’s. My question is, WHAT THE HELL DO THESE SAND WORMS EAT FOR GOD’S SAKE? It can’t be other sand worms, because then THEY would have had something to eat before hand. If any answers are floating about, please email them to this site.

I'm surprised nothing was ever mentioned about Sting's big line:

"I WILL KILL HIM!"

I laugh whenever I hear that.

How bout another character assassination with the Bene Gesserit's reverend mother? She mastered the fine art of "wideeyed indignation".

:)

Funny review. Loved the movie when it came out, and this review had me 'rolling'.
Franks work must have been tough to squeeze into a two hour movie. A lot must have been left on the cutting room floor, and thus the reason for the big budget but 'low' quality special effects.
Have you seen the Sci-Fi channels mini series? Good stuff.
I think its a great adaptation of the Dune book series.
Certain parts had me going "Oh! Thats right!".

David

I think we all have mixed emotions about this movie.

I remember reading the movie storybook as a kid--you know, big pictures, not too much text--and thinking "Wow! What a great story."

Then I saw the movie, and absolutely HATED IT! The scene with the heart plug made me almost puke--I was 11 or 12 when I rented the video, and that scene made me sick.

Having read the book this year (2005), I decided to give the move a 2nd chance. The novel, by the way, is awesome.

As for the Lynch film, I no longer hate it. It has great production design. Great actors, IMHO. But while the 1st half of the film is pretty solid, the 2nd half crams 2/3 of the book into an hour or so.

It makes me wonder what a 4 hour version (not the 3 hour TV version) would have been like...

Well I recall the makers of it pating themselves on the backs about closely the followed the book. In the 6 hour movie version perhaps they did. But we only got the cut down version. Which made 100% no sense to anyone who didn't read the book. It's a great book! I read it after I saw the movie. Not sure how I ended up reading it. I was grossed out by the movie when I first saw it. It seemed everyone in it was creepy looking, and it had way too much of that 1960s space look and feel to everything. But thats just me. When you don't feel some sort of identity to a movie. You don't relate to it. Thus
it come them it goes. While movies that you feel like you can relate to become cult classics. Dune is a tragic case. It should have been a movie everyone would have found something to relate to. Be them Sci-fi fans, military, politicians, professionals, idealists, computer nerds, MetalHeads, SkinHeads, Punks and what have you. The books touched on sooo much! From politics, religion, race, genetics, eugenics, psychology, war and anthropology. This movie could have been the biggest blockbuster in history! If it was done right. But they sterilized all of it because such things make the meek uncomfortable. The TV series fumbled the ball as well. Just not as much. They still had way to many guns, they screw up Duncan Idaho's heroic death,
they written Thufir almost completely out of the script, (Rumor has it that the chick playing the Princess pulled many stings from behind the scenes from her tribe to give her a much bigger role in the movie. A much bigger role her character didn't have in the book. You can see this in that fact that most of her lines are lines Thufir had in the book when he was capured by the Baron! Plus she has nothing on   Virginia Madsen's looks or acting talent.) Also. Both attempts failed to show the artilery fire that was in the book. Which also showed why guns were not used. Because those personal force fields stop bullets and fast moving objects. Making guns out dated. However! When the cities shields were down. The Baron had cannons used cannons as a distraction and to cause havok. Also Lazguns could not be used on shields. The contact of both cause a nuclear reaction. Which Duncan Idaho used to help them escape. But anyway. I could go on but I'm sure you get the point. It's not bad it's not great. Sort of like Riddick. Few people feel identity to a psychopath. Or someone like Vin Diesel. Who looks way too much like N.O.'s  Naggin for anyone's comfort!

I first saw this film long before I read the book, and as a result fell in love with its awfulness. "Many machines on Ix... Better than those on Richesse." Yep, that same planet that isn't mentioned ONCE through the rest of the film! Actually, I can't remember Ix being mentioned again. "The Duke has been gaining favour in the Lansdraad." Er, yeah.

Then I read the book, the film began to make sense, and I lost all my inclination to watch it. Fortunatly, I enjoyed the books (all of them, even Chapter House, which a lot of people seem to despise).

I haven't seen the film in about four years, which makes this review like greeting an old friend. "The worm is the spice, the spice is the worm!"

This is a floored masterpiece. It has so many good things going for it and just as many bad. The sonic weapons are just plain corny, what a dumb idea.

I guess you've heard this by now, but the first one to tackle the task of attempting to film Dune was Alexandro Jodorowsky (of El Topo fame.) It would have starred Salvador Dali as the Emperor, Moebius made costume designs, Giger was doing backgrounds, Chris Foss (you've probably seen his artwork on sci-fi paperback covers) was designing the ships, and Pink Floyd would have done the soundtrack. That would have been some movie!!!

http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/ (http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/)

http://www.jd.gosling.btinternet.co.uk/dune.htm (http://www.jd.gosling.btinternet.co.uk/dune.htm)

http://membres.lycos.fr/sarfa/majeure.html (http://membres.lycos.fr/sarfa/majeure.html) (Note: this site is in French)

I somehow forced myself through the first three books of this series (it's gotta get better) and threw in the towel midway through the fourth book -- when I learned that there was a fifth one coming out.  Make the pain stop, I'll tell you where bin Laden is.

the filmmaker managed to turn an incomprehensible, tedious and overly long book into an incomprehensible, tedious and overly long movie.  Hated it.

They take a real good book and turn it into aperfectly awful movie what next for these nerds :thumbdown: :bouncegiggle:

The best "bad movie" part in it for me, is when they discover that "Muad Dib" is a power word.

Theres also a scene where Muad Dib kills a dude, and then one of the fremen looks at him and goes "Muad Diiiiiiiib!!!!!" with love in his eyes. Hilarious.

Worst Lynch movie ever, but saw it recently again, while hungover/half asleep, and it was pretty enjoyable.

Good grief! 'Dune' is one of the most atrocious films ever made! Portentous, boring, full of agonisingly self conscious performances, and what the hell is all that WHISPERING about? My bf and I spent a week whispering at each other after watching this, cracking up every time.  The bits which are meant to be funny (and they are very few) are the opposite - however you can't claim, conversely, that the serious bits are funny, there are far too many of them. And how could Lynch allow Sting to stay in the film after watching the rushes? HE IS NOT AN ACTOR and a child of three could see this. Sorry guys, it's a turkey.

The whisperiing is their way of portraying what the characters are thinking.

I acually like this film a great deal, but I gotta say, man...your section "Things I Learned...." was one of the funniest things I've read in long while! heh!



kudos!
B-17

I recently revisited Dune via Netflix. My first viewing, years ago, was before I ever read the novel, so watching this film anew led me to this conclusion: science fiction is a genre that is completely foreign to David Lynch. He was precisely the wrong person to direct this famous story. I also learned that he, and various other key persons on this flick had never even read the book. They just winged it, I guess.
If you are familiar with Frank Herbert's novel, you'll see just how badly they screwed up the movie version. And who the hell did they put in charge of hairstyles? Jeez!
From the extras on the DVD I learned that the original script for this ill-fated project was so huge that the movie would have been about 12 hours long! They went through several writers and many rewrites and a couple of other directors before cajoling Lynch into helming the shoot. Lynch himself admits it all turned to crap and to this day refuses to be associated with the film. He had his name taken off the credits and the job of director is now accredited to the fictitious Alan Smithee.
A newer version, with William Hurt, and less outlandish hairstlyes, done in two parts, is a much more faithful version to the novel and makes way better sense.

Lynch blames studio interference for the disaster that was DUNE.  In his interview in the book “Moviemakers’ Master Class” he says:

“My advice to every young filmmaker is this: remain in control of your film from beginning to end. It’s better not to make a film at all than to give up the power of final decision. Because if you do, you can suffer immensely. And I know that from experience. I shot Dune without final cut, and I was so damaged by the result that it took me three years before I could make another film. I still haven’t gotten over it, even today. It’s a wound that won’t heal.”

  "You know, if I ever take on a worm longer than an aircraft carrier with a hand weapon..."
  I thought Battleship was the unit of measure. Does that mean the worms are bigger than The Giant Claw?

Steve, I realize this is near 10 years past your comment, but the soundtrack was by TOTO, not Queen.

I absoluely LOVE this movie, and saw it well before having the chance to read the book, and I had no problem figuring out what the hell was going on. Not all the little details that made Frank Herbert's universe so compelling in book form, but enough to follow and enjoy the alien strangeness of it all.

This was also before I knew about David Lynch and what a mindscrew his works are, I think I was about 10 years old at the time.

I in many ways prefer it to the (VERY European!) mini series of Dune and Children of Dune, except for the representation of 'wierding way' combat that was a million times better then just grabbing Stilgar by the throat.

Anyhow, if you have read the book but never seen this version of Dune, you may well hate it. But look on the usual torrent sites for a fan-edit done by a guy named 'Spicediver' who re-inserted a comprehensive history at the start and much of the cut scenes (Including the mystery of the disappearing Thufir Howat as the Fremen confront the Emperor)  and restored some of the original Brian Eno score alongside Toto's work.  Most agree it's a far more coherent version.

But if you've never read the books or seen the miniseries, give it a shot! It truely fits 'so bad it's good'.

Dune is the finest example of read the book first.  David Lynch was so embarrassed by the theatrical cut, he had his name removed and added Alan Smithee as director, a name common in Hollywood when a director doesn't want to be associated with a steaming pile.

Most people had not read Herbert even when Dune was made, those that had, could not see a movie with enough depth to make it understandable.  All the plots and sub plots were just a mystery to them.  No character development other than to name them and give them some screen time to do the best they could. Eventually, they had to add in some animation and opening dialog to make it make a bit of sense.

Still, however, a very powerful story which cannot really be told on the screen due to the ponderous length of the novel itself.