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Dune

In 1965, Frank Herbert wrote a science fiction novel called Dune. In 1984, David Lynch (The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, and Wild at Heart) directed the movie version of this story.

The story takes place in the year 10,191; the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV (Jose Ferrer) runs the universe.

The most important substance in the universe is the spice Melange -- it extends life, it can be used to expand the consciousness, and it is vital to space travel. The spice gives the Spacing Guild and its navigators the ability to fold space, which basically means they can take you from one place in the universe to another without moving (a theory explained in the movie, Event Horizon).

The spice is grown on only one planet in the universe, the planet Arrakis. Arrakis, also known as Dune, is a planet completely devoid of moisture; the entire planet is one giant desert. There is a native race of people who live on this planet, the Fremen. The Fremen are a deeply religious group who live by a prophecy that one day a messiah will come and lead them to freedom.

Now we begin with the story of a young man named Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan), the son of the Duke Leto Atreides (Jurgen Prochnow) of the planet Caladan. Paul should have never existed but not for the love of Duke Leto's concubine the Bene Gesserit trained Lady Jessica (Francesca Annis), but we'll get to that later.

The Emperor Shaddam IV places Duke Leto in charge of Arrakis, replacing the former overseer of spice production the ruthless Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Kenneth McMillan), and his two nephews Beast Rabban (Paul Smith) and Feyd Rautha (Sting). House Atreides and House Harkonnen have always been enemies, and the fact that the Atreides are now taking over spice production, which is considered one of the most powerful positions in the universe next to the emperor, is cause for the Harkonnens to completely lose it and eliminate house Atreides.

The Bene Gesserits are a group of women, who are considered witches, but many men of power employ their services for use of their many abilities. For instance, they can control people with the sound of their voice. For thousands of years, the Bene Gesserits have been manipulating bloodlines to create the universal super being, the "Kwisatz Haderach". The Lady Jessica was supposed to have a female child who would have in turn been wed to a Harkonnen son, which would have done two things: first, their union would have finally brought peace to the two houses; and second, their offspring would have produced the Kwisatz Haderach.

Before the Harkonnens left Dune, they set many traps, spies, and saboteurs for the Atreides -- one of which was a very close member of the Atreides household. When the time was right, the Harkonnen's set out a full attack on the Atreides and completely destroyed them, leaving only the young Paul and his mother, the Lady Jessica, to be disposed of in the deep desert.

Paul and Jessica managed to escape and meet up with the Fremen. Through time, they became part of the Fremen tribe, and they taught the Fremen their methods of fighting and philosophies.

As years go by, Paul starts to take on more and more of leadership role in the tribe, and the Fremen are beginning to believe Paul is the prophesied messiah they have been waiting for.

I'm not going to tell you any more of the story because I hate those movie reviews that give away the entire story. And believe me, I left out a lot of details of the movie 'cause I want you to see it and enjoy it... also because this review would have been ten times longer if I had put them in.

I will tell you this, however. Dune is definitely a movie not only worth seeing, but it's worth owning because the first time you see it, it's pretty confusing. It took me around three times to completely understand every part of the story. I love this movie, and even after I read the book, I still love this movie.

Unfortunately it was made in a time when everyone and their mother was using the blue-screen effect way too much, and computer animation was so primitive. If Dune would have had the special effects like we have today, and the rest of it stayed exactly the way it was, I would have given this movie a 10. They definitely made some changes from the book to the film, but I could see why they made the changes, and they were necessary for the flow and continuity of the film.

The Sci-fi Channel put out a mini series version of Dune a couple of years ago, and I guess they thought that they could have improved on the story, but in turn, they simply mutilated it.

So, if you're debating on which version to see, go see the David Lynch version.

Written by: Barry

Reviewers Rating: 8
Reader's Rating: 7.84
Reader's Votes: 31

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