But who has the better hairstyle?
When considering how to review Dune (1984), it’s hard to know which element to denigrate first.
Consider the visuals: Much of the special effects are sloppily done, although, given the context of a large, space-going empire, the baroque architecture and even spaceships are a nice touch. It’s clear that the director, David Lynch, had a vision for this movie, but it appears his visuals crew just couldn’t deliver those goals for him.
The acting is not exemplary, despite the presence of many star performers, although it’s also not a disaster. With the exception of Baron Harkonnen (Kenneth McMillan), they come off as professionals struggling with oddball material; the good Baron may be the only memorable character.
And why are the actors struggling? Because of the story. I know I read Dune, the novel, back in high school, but I don’t recall a word of it, so I must take the movie version on its own terms, and those are dreadful.
First, there’s little attempt to make the characters sympathetic. They are operating in what appears to be a semi-despotic society, but they aren’t struggling for freedom or values, but rather for control of the spice of the planet Arrakis, an immortality drug. Why should we care? The Harkonnens are ceding control to the House of Atreides at the direction of the Emperor, but plan to return in force and kill the Atreides, including the head of the household, the Duke. After the battle and the Duke has gone to his doom, we find the son, Paul, has escaped and found his way to a mystical resistance movement, who might revere the sandworms of Arrakis, monsters who’d dwarf a brontosaurus.
All the while, inner thoughts – vapid as they are – are voiced in whispers, a signal of a failure to find other ways to communicate the inner states of the characters. There are hints of power politics in the Empire that are never sufficiently explained, even if they are somewhat fascinating in an otherwise dull story, of other ways of life both prestigious and constraining.
In the end, I have no idea of the real point of the story. Is Paul a chosen one? A new God? Or just a guy who happened to be at the right place at the right time? The mysticism serves to enable superpowers without significantly limiting them or associating costs with them, and that’s a mistake, because it legitimizes any sort of deus ex machina – meaning the value of cleverness plummets to zero.
In the end, while some of the visuals are slightly fun, this is really just a waste of time. It took me two or three months to watch it. Don’t follow my example.
