While the first half attempts to pull you into Lynch’s unique view, what we’re left to experience is a convoluted, substance-less epic that unravels the longer you stare at it.
As with any Hollywood production, it doesn’t take much for an ambitious project to be derailed by conflicting ideas. Nowhere is that more apparent than the conflict between director David Lynch and producer Dino de Laurentiis. While I won’t dive into the derailing that much in this review, as I’ve read about this production it’s clear there was more than the typical amount of producer and director conflict or disagreement and that spilled over into the finished product.
If You Have To Narrate…
Narration doesn’t have to drag down a film. Some of my fellow critics may vehemently disagree, but if you look back, there are films that do this incredibly well. Think about The Sandlot or Goodfellas, where the protagonist that gives extra insight into the scene or events as they unfold. The key here is that the narration adds to the proceedings, they aren’t doing the heavy lifting. That’s a key problem with some of the added scenes cut for the film, like Princess Urulan (Virginia Madsen) explaining the world of Dune in a very weird monologue that proceeds the intro credits.
This also continues a lot in the beginning with various voice-overs popping up to explain various details. To the film’s credit, it stops doing this after the early part of the film however there’s another ADR/voice-over issue that occurs: tons of internal monologue from the characters being said to fill in gaps. However, these moments distract from scenes that might have held up better without these interjections…not to mention…
What Are They Saying?
Characters just say things…a lot…as if we’re familiar with the issues or terms they are bringing up. What makes the internal monologue moments worse is that we’re not sure what the hell they are even talking about. The screenplay is trying to tease out that Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan) will eventually become a uber-powerful being due to his mother’s decision to birth him and betray the teachings of the Bene Gesserit sisters. Yes, I realize there’s more nuance there, but that’s the general gist. Unless you’ve read the book however, the utter gibberish that Paul, Lady Jessica (Francesa Annis), and various members spout off is almost indecipherable. Say what you will about the Lord of the Rings films, but they understood how to have an effective screenplay that teased things for long time fans of the books without devolving into madness.
There are plenty of scenes that are straight-forward, like most of Baron Harkonnen’s (Kenneth McMillan) monologues or directions, Paul training with Gurney (Patrick Stewart), or his conversations with his father Duke Leto (Jurgen Prochnow). And if I dig harder, there’s likely more scenes that fit the bill as well. However, key plot points are just expected to be known, like Paul and Lady Jessica drinking the Waters of Life. You can tell that drinking it is dangerous, but we don’t actually know or care why the protagonists are drinking or partaking in this ritual. This failure in storytelling starts to happen in spades as the Atreides are attacked, so just as the plot starts to move along, we grind to a halt with a slog of nonsense.
And what’s worse? The collection of talent in this film is too good for this disaster. In particular, this movie was Kyle MacLachlan’s first on-screen appearance and he does an admirable job, as does the supporting cast at the attempt, but it was always going to be hampered by some bizarre and frankly irritating screenplay decisions that would undermine their efforts.
Where Lynch’s Vision Shines
Visually, there’s definitely some things that didn’t hold up for 1980’s standards so they look even worse today. There are moments where the ships flying into a scene pull audience members out of the experience. Paul and the other Fremen riding the sand-worms look utterly ridiculous. And yet for every scene that looks bad, there’s some equally interesting and engaging scenes that challenge even the best shots in Star Wars. For instance, the home worlds of the Emperor, House Atreides, and House Harkonnen stand out for how varied each one looks while also communicating a lot about each faction with their wardrobe choices, color schemes, or how they display or integrate with technology (the Harkonnen’s especially).
Given how grotesque Baron Harkonnen (Kenneth McMillian) is and acts in the books, it was wise to hold back parts of that in this film (and to achieve their desired rating). I won’t go into detail about that here – feel free to research that on your own. However, one trope that was toxic in the book and that carries on in the film, is the use of obesity as a sign of gluttony. While it’s an easy visual cue for audience members, it’s still based in a harmful stereotype of body shaming. That may not have been the aim here and McMillian does a great job with his performance in other aspect, but it should be noted, there were other ways his greed can be displayed without relying on outdated tropes.
Side note: Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel famously talked about the visual quality as being pretty poor and I have to wonder if it had anything to do with the theatrical version or issues with the transfer. If you look at the clip they have access to, not only is it blurry (given the taped quality of their regular program) but there’s a number of artifacts that make it looked rather terrible. If that’s any indication of the quality they watched, it’s no wonder they never enjoyed the visuals of this film. If you have watched a 35mm version of this film or the recently released 4K remaster, can you let me know your thoughts in the comment section or head over to the Nerd Union Discord and join the discussion there.
Bless The Rains Down In Arrakis
Having the band Toto do the score for a film as iconic as Dune may have seemed like a weird choice. However, it’s a choice that’s held up well on multiple viewings as their score works very well for the universe and style that David Lynch creates. Additionally, this wasn’t the first time a popular band would take on composing duties. One only needs to look back 4 years earlier to the classic Flash Gordon score composed by rock super group Queen to see this trend taking off. Toto was able to craft a sound that was pretty unique for space based sci-fi films that were heavily entrenched in the orchestral sounds of 2001: A Space Odyssey, that it continued to affect the scores of John Williams as he developed Star Wars and even Jerry Goldsmith composing Star Trek: The Motion Picture or Alien. And that’s not to say that Dune’s score has no orchestral element, however Toto’s perspective allows them to approach the different factions in the screenplay with different motifs, like the heavy industrial rock sound on the Harkonnen home planet which works beautifully with their vivid, black and machine heavy imagery.
Cult Status
In the years following Dune‘s release, David Lynch publicly distanced himself from the project, especially the TV version (which I haven’t seen and I’ve heard is even more convoluted) and famously won’t talk about it during interviews. We later learned about how much work and headache went into previous adaption attempts, like Jodorowsky’s Dune back in the 70s (which received a 2013 documentary about the failed project) along with potential directors before Lynch, like Ridley Scott (who went on to do Blade Runner at that time) or David Lean, who was no stranger to epics and might have been a better fit given the Lawrence of Arabia vibes the book gives off (Lean directed Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, among others).
And for all that strife, Dune occupies a weird place in pop culture. After Lynch returned to critical success with Blue Velvet and the classic TV series Twin Peaks, fans of his started to look more fondly upon Dune, setting aside the problems the film has to appreciate what his vision was. I oddly find myself among this group, in the sense that I have a child-like nostalgia for many parts of this film. And yet my critical eye prefers to watch the 3-part mini-series that debuted on Sci-Fi channel back in the early 00s . This version, starring William Hurt as Duke Leto Atreides, clocks in at 4 hours 25 minutes or nearly 5 hours with the director’s cut. That length, which wasn’t afforded to theatrical directors Lynch or Jodorowsky sort of proves that the material was too dense for a compacted two hour movie. I think this may be an additional reason that fans look back fondly on Lynch’s adaptation, knowing that he did his best with the limitations of his day.
Conclusion
Dune is not without it’s share of convolution, with its messily placed voice-overs doing heavy narrative lifting to weak VFX choices that have hampered it’s watch-ability with subsequent remasters. Fans of David Lynch and this franchise in general will be able to find some kernels to enjoy in the same way that series writer Frank Herbert did when he famously gave his seal of approval. But cult status alone isn’t enough to wipe away this film’s enduring issues.
Score: 5 out of 10