Review of Dune (1984) by Kai82 — 26 Sep 2020

While it has strangely some appeal it is a below average movie and an awful adaption. There are some questionable production choices and the director had to force the whole story into one movie while also being denied of creative freedom.

Lets start with the compression of the story. If you did not have seen the book it is pretty thick and some will claim it would stop a bullet ;-). It is almost like wanting to make The Lord of the Rings into two or even one extra long movie.

The characters are also compressed into baseline forms or outright changed. Then there is the awkward choice to display inner monologues or though with voices while zooming in on the characters faces.

It is irritating, awkward and makes you think WTF did they think or what did I just see. There are also questionable character designs that could fit into horror movies and destroyed the immersion. I will not hit on the special effects.

Some look really good for its time but there are also exceptions. The actors deliver a decent to good job but are limited or sometimes even destroyed by the script and decisions. I think the term “Development Hell” or “Destined to Fail” are good descriptions.

With the great cast it is a pity because I think that there is not one weak actor in the movie. I will not describe what was changed because there are countless rants or videos on the internet and it would be to much to list here in 5000 words.

Remark: I even found a list on Wikipedia (Strangely only in the German article). Fans of the book will be up in arms to rip this movie a new one. The story has of cause a lot of plot holes and the compression of the story leaves you often wondering why, how or what happened.

However I must admit that it has a strange appeal to me. The overall story, lore and world building makes me want to see more of the world and read trough all books of the saga. The concepts and ideas are brilliant but much is not explained.

For example: Do you know what makes Paul even special? Overall this is even a good attempt given the limitations. While it is defiantly neither a good adaptation nor movie I respect what they did.