Dune

Plot synopsis:
In the opening monologue, Princess Irulan (Virginia Madsen) explains that after the fall of the machine titans and the reclaiming of the universe by humans, the people established training programs to gain knowledge they had lost in their apathy. The two training regimens, each gender specific, enabled humans to establish knowledge in math and psychic abilities. The universe is dominated politically and economically by the spice melange, which extends life and enhances certain psychic powers. The Galactic Spacing Guild and its prescient alien navigators use the spice to "fold space" and safely guide interstellar ships to any part of the universe instantaneously. Melange can be obtained in only one place: the desert planet of Arrakis, also known as Dune. The inhabitants of Dune, the nomadic people called the Fremen, have a legend that tells of the coming of a messiah from another world.The year is 10,191. The Guild sends a navigator emissary to the planet Kaitain to discuss a threat to spice production with the emperor of the known universe, Shaddam IV (José Ferrer). The emperor confidentially shares his plans to destroy one of the noble houses, the Atreides. The popularity of Duke Leto Atreides (Jürgen Prochnow) has grown, and he is suspected of amassing a secret army wielding sonic weapons called weirding modules, making him a threat to the emperor. Shaddam's plan is to give the Atreides control of the planet Arrakis to mine the spice, then have them ambushed by their longtime enemies, the Harkonnens. The navigator commands the emperor to kill the duke's son, Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan), a young man who dreams prophetic visions of his purpose. The order draws the attention of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood (a training institution for women), as Paul is a product of their centuries-long breeding program which seeks to produce the superhuman Kwisatz Haderach. Gaius Helen Mohiam (Siân Phillips), a Bene Gesserit reverend mother who serves as an adviser to the emperor, plans a visit to meet with Paul.On the planet Caladan, watery homeworld of House Atreides, Paul cannot understand why the Harkonnens would give up their hold on Arrakis to the Atreides, but understands that the family must go there. Thufir Hawat (Freddie Jones), a mentat (a human computer trained in pure mathematics), tells Paul they are going because of the promise of a new army. Paul's tutor and mentor, Gurney Halleck (Patrick Stewart), tests him in the limits of hand-to-hand fighting in preparation for his manhood trials and discusses Paul's amazing abilities with Thufir.Paul's mother, Lady Jessica (Francesca Annis), is also a member of the Bene Gesserit, and serves as Duke Leto's concubine. The reverend mother arrives on Caladan to test Paul. Jessica is worried that her son may not live through the test. Mohiam tells Paul about the Water of Life, bile from the giant Arrakis worms, which no man has ever drunk and survived. Only the Kwisatz Haderach, the true messiah in whom the Fremen inhabitants believe, can drink it. With a deadly gom jabbar at his throat, Paul is forced to place his hand in a box which subjects him to excruciating pain, but he resists the urge to withdraw his hand (which would result in death) and passes the test to Mohiam's satisfaction.Meanwhile, on Geidi Prime, the industrial homeworld of House Harkonnen, the physically sick, deformed, and sadistic Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Kenneth McMillan) plans his personal revenge against House Atreides by finding a traitor who will kill the duke. He assigns his nephews Glossu Rabban (Paul L. Smith) and Feyd-Rautha (Sting) the task of crushing House Atreides.Upon arriving on Arrakis, Leto is informed by one of his right-hand men, Duncan Idaho (Richard Jordan), that the Fremen have been underestimated; they exist in vast numbers and could prove to be powerful allies. Paul and Leto meet with Dr. Kynes (Max von Sydow) a spice mining leader who takes them by aircraft to a remote area where they witness a giant worm attacking a mining ship. Faced with the destruction of the mining facilities, Duke Leto orders the place evacuated rather than risking lives by trying to save the precious spice ore, and even saves many of the workers by bringing them on his shuttle before the facility is destroyed, earning him the trust and recognition of Dr. Kynes and the rest of the Fremen workers. But before the duke can establish an alliance with them, the Harkonnens launch their attack against Arrakis.While the Atreides had anticipated a trap, they are unable to withstand the Harkonnen attack, which is aided by the Emperor's elite troops, the Sardaukar, and by a traitor within House Atreides itself, Dr. Wellington Yueh (Dean Stockwell). Yueh plans revenge on Baron Harkonnen for the death of his wife. Captured, Leto dies in a failed attempt to assassinate the baron using a poison gas capsule planted in his tooth by Dr. Yueh; with his vision fogged by drugs, Leto kills the baron's aide Piter De Vries (Brad Dourif) instead. With Piter dead, Captain Iakin Nefud (Jack Nance), the baron's head of security, takes over Piter's duties as the baron's valet and aide. Dr. Kynes is captured and killed by the baron himself. Thufir is forced to take over as director of spice mining for the Harkonnens, while Rabban becomes de facto governor of Arrakis.Paul and Jessica, who is pregnant by Duke Leto, escape into the deep desert, where they manage to join a band of Fremen led by Stilgar (Everett McGill). Paul adopts the title of Muad'Dib, and the Fremen suspect he is the leader they have been waiting for. Paul teaches the Fremen (who are formidable warriors) how to fight using the weirding modules and begins targeting mining production of spice to stop its flow. Stilgar trains Paul in Fremen traditions, and Paul rides his first sandworm. The Fremen's Bene Gesserit reverend mother has aged and Jessica drinks the Water of Life to replace her. The poisonous water causes her to go into convulsions and premature labor, her eyes bleed, and the transmutation of the sacred water awakens her knowledge. Jessica's daughter Alia (Alicia Witt) is born prematurely, but has blue-tinted eyes because of the spice and the knowledge imparted by the Water of Life. Within two years she grows rapidly into a young girl with great powers.During the war against the Spacing Guild, the Fremen, with Paul as their leader, effectively halt spice production on Arrakis. The Guild warns the emperor that he must intervene; they fear Paul will take the Water of Life. During a skirmish, Paul meets his former mentor Gurney Halleck, now a smuggler, who surrenders and immediately joins Paul and the Fremen to continue the war and maintain the strangle-hold on spice production. Paul begins a romance with Chani (Sean Young), the daughter of the leader Dr. Kynes (known to the Fremen as Liet). After a vision, Paul can no longer see his future and decides to drink the Water of Life.Paul goes into the desert with Chani and a cadre of bodyguards, drinks the Water of Life, and enters a coma-like state. Awakening literally and figuratively, he is transformed and gains control of the sandworms of Arrakis and the secret of the spice. He has discovered that water kept hidden in huge caches by the Fremen can be used to destroy the spice. Paul has also seen into space and the future; the emperor is amassing a huge invasion fleet above Arrakis to regain control of the planet and the spice.When the emperor arrives on Arrakis, he executes the incompetent Rabban for failing to remedy the spice situation. Alia is brought in as a hostage, and she delivers a message: Paul is coming for them. Paul launches a final attack against the Harkonnens and the emperor at the capital city of Arrakeen, riding in with the Fremen on sandworms. After a climactic and fierce battle, where casualties are heavy on both sides, Paul and the Fremen warriors defeat the emperor's legions of Sardaukar, while Paul's sister Alia sends Baron Harkonnen into the jaws of a sandworm.Afterward, Paul, Stilgar, Gurney, Alia, Jessica, and their army confront the captive emperor, Princess Irulan, and their staff. Paul is challenged to a duel with daggers by the psychotic Feyd. After a short but brutal fight, Paul stabs Feyd in the neck and uses his vocal powers to explode his internal organs, killing him. Paul faces the defeated emperor, relieves him of power, and announces an era of peace for all of humanity. Storm clouds gather and it begins raining on Arrakis for the first time in the planet's existence. Alia declares, "And how can this be? For he is the Kwisatz Haderach!"

Tags: fantasy, cult, intrigue, violence, good versus evil, action, sci-fi

Review:
First of all I've read Herberts Dune saga and I loved the first book (the one the movie is about) and liked the rest.Second there is a difference between the cinema version (137 min) and the TV version (190 min often referred also "special edition") which should also not be confused with the new version from 2000 (Frank Herbert's Dune).
There are things that were cut out from the book or it shows stuff that wasn't there, but what you see is CLEARLY Herbert's book which I thought is nearly impossible to translate into a (good) movie.
Personally I prefer (well done) miniature shots over those Episode 1/2 CGI effects which make especially environments look like plastic.I think everybody who calls himself a Science-Fiction fan should have seen this movie which is a jewel under all those mediocre films that were spawned by Star Wars at that time.
I cannot really understand it because, in comparition to other movies based on existing literature, what we have here is a film which stays very close to the original story and does not add many new elements.When I read the book, I could see the movie in front of me in nearly every chapter.
I LOVE the music (which played in my mind all the time while I read the book), and I think the characters are very strong and (for example Letho Atreides) sometimes full of tragedy.The part I like the most though is the worm-part.
Every time I see this film I like it more, yet can see why people would dislike this movie, and I can sum up it's shortcoming this way:Not close enough to the book to humour the people who have read the book, to confusing for people who have not.
Not being familiar with the book, you're left with a disjointed tapestry of weird costumes and special effects, some of them impressive, but if you are, and don't have to burden yourself with following the constantly clumsy explanation of the multifaceted Dune universe, you can enjoy this as illustration of a few core ideas.
This might be tough.I will give David Lynch credit (indeed, as Frank Herbert did when he saw this) for trying to take an enormous amalgamation of things and ideas from the novel and trying to turn them into a movie.
Perhaps Lynch was asked to avoid doing anything surreal or bizarre with this film (sort of like asking Groucho Marx to avoid being funny), or the studio was trying to appeal to fans of Star Wars by simplifying and sterilizing its story.The recently released special edition DVD reveals some very interesting aspects of the production.
The special effects, often derided by contemporary viewers, required a great deal more effort that the synthetic art of today's computerized extravaganzas and, the documentary concerning their production on the DVD is also appropriately respectful.What you will see is an intense visualization of several, fully realized alien cultures whose art, architecture and general heritage are as well realized, if not more so, than in Herbert's epic novel.
And the acting and direction are fine throughout the film.The longer version fleshes out the stories, themes and intricate subplots of Herbert's book more thoroughly, and maintains a much steadier pace than the cinematic release.
Lynch's cinematic release, by contrast, rushes through components of the book and often feels inconsistent in pace.PLOT: Dune is the story of Paul "Muad'ib" Atreides, the son of Duke Leto Atreides the Just and his Bene Jesserat concubine Lady Jessica.
Choosing another at random: Everitt McGill as Stilgar was less than memorable, not being allowed to act, but simply progressing from one sonorous pronouncement to the next.The sets were brilliant - I have no quarrel with that part of the film - but imaginative backdrops alone cannot bolster a production where the quality of the script and acting - or rather, the direction - fell so dismally short of any acceptable standard.The costumes were also very well done, with one notable, and very important exception: Lynch clearly forgot most of what he had read in the book when he approved the final design of the Fremen stillsuits.On occasion, over the intervening twenty-odd years, when I have thought about this unrelentingly awful film, it has been more in regret than anger.
I haven't seen this movie in years,and a couple weeks ago I caught it on TV at my buddy Zak's house and it blew my f***ing mind.Of course, I had time to become a huge David Lynch fan and study cinema intensely since the first time I watched it, but it is still a visually awe inspiring film.It is almost if not just as visually stunning and beautiful, as well as emotionally,psychologically, and intellectually stimulating as Kubrick's 2001:a Space Odyssey.The cast is amazing,practically every good actor you can think of plays in this movie.The makeup effects by Gianetto de Rossi,one of my favorites, are incredible.And David Lynch's beautiful and delicate direction is some of the best in his career.And don't let me forget the scope and vision of this film are incredible,even though I can see where Hollywood tampered with it, I can also see Lynch's true intentions were with this movie,which is so great its good enough to make this film incredible.
The special-effects set pieces (especially the sand-worms and the climactic battle) have not aged well and despite some nice 'steam punk' stylings, the film still looks like an overproduced 1980's Italian vision of the future.
Love it or hate it your eyes will be glued to the screen and you will certainly never be "bored" by any of the visuals you will see.And what visuals they are!The effects were definitely way ahead of the game for their time and in my opinion should have earned the Academy Award that year (the movie did receive one nomination).Check it out if you haven't seen it..
It's a surreal space epic with an 80's soundtrack and an imagination that'll leave you gasping; I watch movies specifically to see weird things like this that I wouldn't see in real life and to be captivated into such a strange world like this is really interesting.
The story made no sense, the acting looked like a high school play and the score was to the ears what a visit to the dentist is to the mouth.After watching this epic on television in the year 2000 I have reevaluated my opinion of it.
Story is confusing/long/pointless, special effects look like those from the 20's, acting is bad (or waste of talents e.g. with Patric Stewart), and directing is again disappointing..
The three years Lynch spent making this film produced enough content for a movie that would have been six (yes, six) hours long, which, of course, was unacceptable.
Then Lynch threw in some neato sound-based "weirding module" weapons, made the Baron stupid and able to fly, cast a rock-star to get butts in the seats, and added plenty of cheesy eighties-style guitar to make audiences in the next millennium wince.The worms are cool, but for some reason the movie's portrayal reminded me of cows.
If you like cool worms, unique space scenes, sparse and tiny acting nuggets, amazing costumes, nice sets, but don't give a hoot about anything else, go see this movie right now!I don't know if a film adaptation of Dune could ever do the book justice.
I read that David Lynch cut about an hour from the movie's length, that hour probably would've been better left in to help move the story a little more smoothly.
Apparently the filmmakers were so worried that this weird, bookish film was such an indecipherable morass that the viewers who hadn't drank the Frank Herbert Kool-Aid would willingly consult a glossary to get back on track (you know: research!) The 2nd warning sign is the introduction to the film, clearly duct-taped on by desperate producers watching their profits evaporate, which shows Princess Irulan's (Virginia Madsen) floating head staring down the audience, didactically explaining still more obscure plot-points in positively boneheaded, stilted verbiage (with royal enunciation, "...and oh yes, I forgot to mention, the spice is crapped in big piles by an organism that looks like a blood clot, on the planet Jargon 7") At just the five minute mark, you have already sat through the most obtuse piece of film you ever will.
When we dismiss melodrama as the low-brow stuff of afternoon soap operas, we forget that the great Greek playwrights were exclusively melodramatic - and that the style is entirely appropriate for depicting characters of saga engaged in great events and performing weighty deeds.I felt it important to devote more time to addressing the common criticisms of Lynch's Dune, because I think its virtues speak for themselves, and these points seem to be what most interferes with people's enjoyment of the movie.
Released in 1984 and directed/written by David Lynch from Frank Herbert's sci-fi tome, "Dune" takes place in the distant future, where a Duke (Jürgen Prochnow) and his family are sent by the Emperor of the known universe (José Ferrer) to a sand world from which comes a priceless spice-drug that is essential for interstellar travel.
I already have the original version and have watched that many times, so this review is a comparison of the two.The first thing to note about this version is that David Lynch disowned it so the director is listed as Allen Smithee (a pseudonym which is always used when the original director of a film does not want his name associated any more).Whilst the original release features a brief introductory narration spoken by Princess Irulan, this version has a longer spoken introduction by a narrator against a backdrop of still oil paintings and drawings.
For someone who is big fan of Dune (both the film and the books) this suggests that David Lynch made the right decision in removing his name from the credits.
This is still a terrible film by most counts, but like some of the worst of big-budget sci-fi, it's not without its odd charms.The first strike against the movie is its incomprehensible storyline, an already complex tale is made into a convoluted mess by a compressed running time.
The man goes through as many lengths as possible to ensure this film be as "weird" as possible, meaning odd-looking characters and strange dialogue enunciation for no other reason than to make this movie more "sci-fi", as if though the man actually had even the slightest understanding of the genre.
Even some of the bad stuff has a certain flavor, such as the hilariously dated special effects and awful battle scenes, which are good for some belly laughs; that is, unless you're expecting a quality film, by which you'll probably be horrified much like I was on my first viewing (which would have been a 2 out of 10 way back then)..
I read "Dune" in 1984, prior to watching David Lynch's adaptation but with his film's visuals in mind (thanks to the magazines of the time).
I fell in love with the book (of course) and soon after with the movie.Problems during the course of its production, unwise (if not poor) decisions regarding its visual effects and the pressure of condensing a very complex material in 2 hours mark all conspired against the quality of the piece, the main victims here being the story telling (which is really not great) and the pace (which is somewhat unbalanced and even clumsy).
"Dune" is a book that cannot be adapted effectively (as proved years later by its somewhat insipid TV adaptation) and yet the film is there in all its beauty and relative failure.As noted in some other reviews on here, the TV version of the film which was atrociously re-cut and CRIMINALLY re-framed, boasts however some never seen before footages and scenes that could have benefited the movie if only producer Dino de Laurentiis had agreed to release a three hours epic.
It should be placed in an art gallery as a true Masterpiece.The politics involved in this film reminds one of the English Civil War and the demise of the Russian Royal Family by the Bolsheveks.Now is this down to the fantastic costumes and hand built sets, or the way the story rolls, In a nutshell Its a futuristic Revolution against Artistic Licence.Well done David.I'm sure Artist Damian Hurst from my home city of Leeds would be proud to show such super work of this quality if he'd created it,Dune is not Oxfam,as is so much of the film Rubbish been constantly produced in the Us Today and Everyday..
I don't get it, that people say this.The movie is visually strong, the plot is strong (of course; being a close adaption of Frank Herbert's masterpiece), it has (mostly) great performances (Kenneth McMillan as the baron Harkonnen, for instance) and the music (by Toto) is also top notch.I think maybe why people dislike Dune is that they don't understand what kind of movie they are seeing: It is not action, not space opera, it is not drama and it is (in some ways) not a "typical" David Lynch movie.
(I've always thought the Harkonens in the film look brilliant with orange coloured hair, as opposed to the black hair of the Harkonens in the book; a little change and originality can be good when adapting.) Mr. Lynch, I can't stand your other films, but I applaud your efforts for Dune.
When Dune first came out in theaters during the Christmas holiday season in 1984, it went with a thud due to competition from other holiday fare like Beverly Hills Cop. It also suffered from its running time which David Lynch cut from more than three hours to just around 2 hours and 20 minutes and sped up the pace of the best selling sci-fi novel by the late Frank Herbert to please young audiences who got weary of Star Wars after the last Star Wars movie the year before.
The development of Paul's character from a Duke's heir to Muab'dib, which is a key element in the novel, is left unexplained in this film.Having said this, the visuals are stunning, the casting and acting is almost perfect, the music goes very well with the story and the way to bring to the screen so many internal thoughts as they appear in the novel is well solved.I remember loving the film the first time I saw it, but having seen it repeatedly while re-reading the novel leaves me unsatisfied because so many things are left out.With more money and time this would have been a 10 and a perfect adaptation of a great novel..
But dialogue constrained much of the actors' abilities, and the story just got chopped into pieces as soon as the Atreides arrive on Arrakis.The movie studio forced Lynch to cut down his original 4+ hours of film into a two and a half hour film.
It is impossible to put all of the details from the book into the movie, especially if you have to make it two hours long (or short), but I think that Lynch made a perfect visual impression and an unforgettable style.
Compared to film failures such as Escape from LA, which also had a great cast despite being a very poor movie, this film tops other mentionable pictures.I liked the way the story unraveled and Patrick Stewart's involvement even though he didn't have much screen time.
I read the original Dune trilogy and so I realized that so much was missing, and there were odd little additions that were in the film but not in the books, which mostly were not effective.
This film has got some lengths, sometimes it´s even boring, nevertheless it is one of the best sci-fi movies I´ve ever seen: "Dune" contains a great nightmarish atmosphere, lots of great actors, even in the supporting roles (I really was surprised what a good actor Sting is..!) and an intelligent and demanding story that makes "Star Wars: Episode 1" looking like a 120-minute playstation video game.
It seemed to be impossible to film Frank Herbert´s novel, but David Lynch has done really great work with his movie!
Obviously, Frank Herbert's novel "Dune" is acknowledged as a genre masterpiece and there will be people who are great fans of the book who CAN make sense of this huge-scale film adaptation.
The final effect is to make this Dune look like a bad TV movie, and remove all of the cinematic touches from the Lynch film, be they in photography, sound design, score, or editing.But all these changes do is make the first half drag, and the second half suffers the same problems as the Lynch version: too rushed, and a diabolical ending.So, if you're a fan of the book, the Lynch film, or the new Sci-Fi channel version, avoid this!
I haven't read the novel that the film was based on so I can't say how great or awful the movie did in its adaptation but as someone who hasn't read the novel I can say that Lynch did a terrible job at making me understand the story.
If a film could be called all style and no substance then DUNE would be a good example but with that said I'd question some of the actual style as well.Look, Lynch is without question one of the most visually interesting directors of the past few decades but it's easy to see that he wasn't right for this movie.
And here I am watching a movie directed by Lynch and based on my favorite book.
Some of the most important moments in the book were not in the movie and that is terrible.I have heard that Lynch made "Dune" because he wanted to make some sci-fi.
This is essentially because David Lynch filmed everything that was in the book, but then tried to edit it down into a 3 hour movie.