The most mind-boggling problem with the film is the constant use of voice-over.
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Many consider Frank Herbert's "Dune" to be the "Lord of the Rings" of the sci-fi genre. Originally published in 1965, it won the Hugo and Nebula awards for Best Novel and spawned five sequels. After Herbert's death, his son, Brian, kept the world of Dune alive with a series of prequels. While I am a big science fiction fan, I must admit to never having read any of the novels nor have I seen the Sci-Fi Channel's recent mini-series (which many feel is more faithful to the source). However, I'm not really attempting a review of the "Dune" franchise, so much as I'm reviewing the original "Dune" film from 1984.
The unenviable task of adapting such daunting material fell on veteran producer Dino De Laurentiis and a young David Lynch. The result is mixed, at best.
"Dune" is set in the far, far future in a year that requires five digits where the most valuable commodity is the spice melange, which expands the human mind. The spice can only be found on the desert planet Arrakis (also known as Dune) and causes greater awareness in the navigators of the Spacing Guild, thus allowing for safer space travel. The Spacing Guild holds great power as part of a ruling hierarchy that is divided into various houses. Presiding over these different factions is Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV (Jose Ferrer), who fears the growing influence of the House of Atreides. Rather than attacking them directly, the Emperor pits them against their mortal enemies, the House of Harkonnen.
The Emperor dispatches the Atreides clan to Arrakis under the pretense that they will be put in charge of spice mining. In actuality, it's a set-up for a Harkonnen ambush. Duke Leto Atreides (Jurgen Prochnow) is killed during the attack and his concubine, Lady Jessica (Francesca Annis), and their son, Paul (Kyle MacLachlan) are left to die in the wastelands. Oh, but things aren't that simple.
Lady Jessica is a member of a secretive sisterhood known as the Bene Gesserit who seek to create an omniscient being through selective breeding. This being shall be called the Kwisatz Haderach. Jessica was to have given birth to a daughter who would go on to marry a Harkonnen and the resulting offspring would be the chosen one. Instead, Jessica fell in love with Duke Leto and gave birth to Paul.
Exposed to pure spice, Paul's latent abilities are activated and he becomes more powerful than anyone could have imagined. Paul becomes the leader of the Fremen, the natives of Arrakis, and trains them in the "wierding way", a technique giving one the means to destroy or kill with only their voice. Thus, the stage is set for Paul to free his people from the evil of the Harkonnen.
Did you get all that? In case you didn't, the film makes sure to explain it all to you in almost excruciating detail. In fact, much of the movie seems to be exposition, while the plot advances at a slow crawl. "Dune" breaks one of the cardinal rules of screenwriting: Show, not tell. Plot elements and back story are simply given to us when they should naturally come out as the movie progresses. The film even opens with a dry narration that explains the world of "Dune." Normally, I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to it, if not for the fact that it was done by a young Virginia Madsen.
The most mind-boggling problem with the film is the constant use of voice-over. We frequently hear what's going on inside the characters' heads. This is fine when you're reading a book, but on film it comes off as awkward and annoying. It's as if the filmmakers didn't think the audience would be intelligent enough to understand what's going on, so it has to be spelled out for them.
On a positive note, the set designs look good and the models are well-crafted. The special effects are quite an achievement considering the time it was made.
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[release]15534[/release]