Dune
Directed by David LynchIn the year 10,191, the most precious substance in the universe is the spice Melange. The spice extends life. The spice expands consciousness. The spice is vital to space travel. The spice exists on only one planet in the entire universe, the vast desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune. Its native inhabitants, the Fremen, have long held a prophecy that a man would come, a messiah who would lead them to true freedom.
Cast of Dune
Dune Ratings & Reviews
- EnochLightNovember 18, 2024This film - how does one describe it? Mesmerizingly shot... beautifully scored... wonderfully acted. David Lynch got a lot of flack for his take, and that's unfortunate - as it possesses many of his trademarks: mind bending visuals; uncomfortably organic effects; things happening within.. "things"; hearing the words of protagonists' thoughts at key moments; mind tripping visuals... One could argue that there was no better person at the time to bring Frank Herbert's world into being, and David Lynch did it masterfully. Oddly enough, it's probably his most approachable work ever made (his original early 90's-era Twin Peaks television series being the exception). For anyone who is a David Lynch fan (raises hand!), this film is a must-see. For fans of sci-fi, you would be remiss to not have this in your collection. For everyone else: fuck off.
- K1t5un37d agoOh boy. I'm going to make a lot of nerds angry with this review. Okay, but first, let me get out of the way that the Dune universe is better than Game Workshop's universe. Now, that I've drawn the ire of the WarHammer boys, let's get this review on! First things first. I would equate Dune to a lesser version of Blade Runner, which is praise, don't get me wrong. What it does well: environment, casting, world building, visual effects, and an absolutely outstanding musical score from TOTO. Well, that's as much praise as I'm giving Dune, so here's the egregious flaws that makes Dune nearly unbearable for me to watch. 1.) They speedrun the story. Most of the characters in this movie merely existed to fill a spot so Dune could actually have a story. Poor Sting, you wake, you flex, you die. 2.) Too dichotomous. They modeled Vladimir's character after Henry the 8th, I'm sure, and Paul is Dollar Store-brand Skywalker. When it comes to Aristocratic stories, even in galactic settings like Battle Tech or Dune, dichotomy (good vs evil) is bad, you need subterfuge, intrigue, nuance, grey areas. That's why everyone likes Song of Fire and Ice, no good guys, aristocratic struggles appeal to the audience's sense of survival, not ethics. Dune forces "Baron is bad", "Paul is good" in manor that I wouldn't even consider it good for a children's tale. Not to say dichotomy of good vs evil is bad, it's required for epic tales, but in Dune, it's horrendously implemented. 3.) They break the basic story telling rule of "Don't introduce plot devices unless you plan on using them." As the chief example here, they had the emperor's daughter give a long speech at the beginning of the movie and she fills NO other role and has NO other lines throughout the entire movie. This isn't just tacky, it's fundamentally bad story telling. There's a lot of bad storytelling elements in Dune, but I know what people will say. You should read the book, it's better. And, while that may be, it's time to attack the actually narrative of Dune. 4.) Before I get started, let me start off by saying that anyone who relies on psychedelics and hallucinogens to write a story, they're doing it wrong. Creativity comes from actual life experience, as it did with Tolkien; it doesn't come from LSD. With any story, you need to start off with a theme, the point of your story. Blade Runner is better than Dune, why? It narrowed it's theme down to a singular moment in the movie, the speech, you know the one. You don't have to do this in a story but it shows that Blade Runner actually had a working theme. Blade Runner's theme is asking the question can artificial humans be considered alive? Dune's theme is all over the place, none of Dune's themes are thought provoking or original. Each of Dune's themes is allegory for something that was going on in Frank's life, war of assassins = cold war, Bene Gesserit = CIA, Spice = Cocaine / Oil, Space Guild = Oil Tycoons, Fremen = insert-indigenous-people, Kwisatz Haderach = Übermensch, jihad = jihad, messiah = messiah, I think Frank gave up with coming up with alternative names in the end. And, while the low frequency weapons and the idea of folding space is cool, it wasn't any thing new, the Philadelphia Experiment hit all of these ideas 10 years before Dune. In short, Dune offers no thought provoking themes or narratives, it's just Frank getting high and regurgitating what he already knows. 5.) Dune is a fantasy, not science fiction, but Frank treats it as Sci-Fi. You see, in fantasy, you can have magic and stuff that you don't really need to explain, but in science fiction, you have to have a logical explanation for things. The way you write the two needs to be different. Fantasy needs to have an interactive world to make up for the lack of explanation, i.e. Doby from Harry Potter or Aladin's Carpet. You need to do this because it aids in the suspension of disbelief, since it has no logic. In science fiction, if you come up with a cool device like a Tricorder or a "The Epstein Drive", you don't need to give it a personality because you explain how it works, you appeal to the audience's logic, rather than emotion. In Dune, they don't give logical explanation to any of the devices and they don't give them any personality. The Kwisatz Haderach suddenly causing it to rain as a way to end the movie that only serves to entertain people who would struggle on the IQ test from Idiocracy. I.. I really can't. I think I'm just a little bit dumber after watching this movie. Dune explains nothing and it does nothing to mediate the suspension of disbelief, but again, one shouldn't write stories while you're high. I'm not sorry. Dune is a bad movie. Dune is a bad story. Dune is nothing original. Dune is not thought provoking, and I would never trust a review that claims Dune is. If you need cheesy space fantasy in your life right now, watch Life Force instead, it's a much better Patrick Stewart flick.
- Mister ArnMay 13, 2025Dune is a highly complex story, and if you have read the book, you can fill in all the missing backstories. I'm afraid that makes this a much more enjoyable film for fans, while first-timers might have difficulty following the story. I'm a fan of Dune and loved it.
- GMLenoirOctober 10, 2025This is the ( 1984) Spice diver fan edit. Was given access to more footage by the director which was spliced to reflect the chapter version, without the silly rain. A better cut than the theatrical release
- RogerXombieOctober 6, 2025A very misunderstood film. It broke so much ground, was ahead of its time, and did the impossible by adapting the huge story that is DUNE.
- Myke and NickAugust 3, 2025This extended version is awful. It's no wonder the director has his name taken off it
- Ringmast4rJuly 11, 2025Must watch
- Bonow.July 7, 2025Real classic with great actors.
