Dune (1984)

Ok the special effects are from the 80s but the storyline is just amazing. The film inspired me to read all the books. If you are a sci-fi fan this has to be in your top 5

Based on the first book in renowned sci-fi author; Frank Herbert's sprawling, epic saga; Dune was a project that had been through some considerable development going back as far as 1971. With Arthur P. Jacobs, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and Ridley Scott separately vying to direct with their individual visions of how to bring the classic novel to life, executive producer Dino DeLaurentis eventually settled on hiring avant garde film-maker; David Lynch who had gained critical and commercial notoriety for his 1980 biographical period hit; The Elephant Man to helm the project. With a budget of $40 million (a costly sum for a big budget picture at the time) and fevered anticipation that came with the film, due to it's cult fan base there was a much riding on it's financial success. Lamentably however it was anything but; merely raking in $30.9 million at the world-wide box office after opening to scathing reviews which would later lead Lynch to distance himself from the movie; a cowardly move in my personal estimations given that being not only the director but acting as screenwriter in transferring the epic tale from page to screen. In short, the buck had to irretrievably end with him. At only 131 minutes in length with it's source material being 412 pages in length and embracing an insurmountable wealth of characters, too numerous to count ; even with it's opening introductory monologue from the entrancingly beautiful Virginia Madsen as Princess Irulan (daughter to the Emperor) laying the basic foundations of the plot; it does little to prevent if from descending in to incomprehensible pap. Many scenes involving much needed exposition, that would have laid out crucial plot details were clearly left discarded on the cutting room floor, and it was left to predominantly superlative cast of actors to bravely struggle to salvage any kind of discernible meaning from it. To their credit they for the most part give it their all; with Kyle MacLachlan admirably conveying the young Atredies heir personal dynamic from wide-eyed, cocky young buck to the self-confident, charismatic religious icon that is Muad'Dib with ease. With slightly varied support from Jürgen Prochnow as his noble, sage father with Patrick Stewart, Freddie Jones and Dean Stockwell offering further wise, informative words of counsel as members of the Atredies entourage. With Francesca Annis making a demure, reserved and assured presence as the Lady Jessica, mother and concubine to Paul and Duke Leto they neatly round up the caste of their home world of Caladan. Starkly contrasted via mainly decent turns from a range of actors that include the late Kenneth McMillan, the versatile Brad Dourif, Paul L. Smith and pop icon; Sting, they portray the insidious ruling member of the House Harkonnen. McMillan is a revoltingly repugnant presence as the corpulent Baron with Dourif a wily if relatively short lived addition as the deceitful and cunning Mentat; Piter defries. Smith is the dim-witted, brutish ( a fitting term seeing as he played Bluto in Robert Altman's cinematic live action version of; Popeye) "Beast"; Glossu Rabban. Finally there Sting who aesthetically fits the role well with his sharply intense feature, slender frame topped with a fiery mane of red hair. Given the overall short screen time and minimal dialogue he had; he pretty much chews the scenery as he hams it up immensely. What you make of the acting depends I suppose on your personal predilections what with it's operatic, declamatory style but it's arguably one the few redeeming features; and there's very little beyond the phenomenal art deco and the spectacular grandeur of the planetary and intergalactic scenery. The editing is periodically ropy; a clear indicator where potentially vital scenes may have been dropped. It's only Toto and Brian Eno's evocative and spectacular score which resonates a mythological robustness in it's more bombastic moments; and a soothing tranquility in it's quieter moments that remind you that offers anything resembling relief from the tedium. The themes of religious fanaticism and political intrigue and corrupt machinations ultimately feel hollow, without enough meatiness to the narrative to fit the void that is woefully apparent. Not even some of the later scenes on Arrakis which include the then; and I suppose even now are impressively rendered; Giant Worm scenes offer much respite from the disjointed incomprehensibility. And that's including any key scenes with the native Fremen, which offer core exposition of Paul's journey in to manhood as he grows in to the position of religious messiah and warrior leader. Try as they might; co-stars Sean young as his future lover, the dutiful Chani (who is adequate enough) who and Everett McGill who fares better as her honourable and temperate father; the Bremen leader Stilgar can do nothing to elevate proceedings. A failure of monumental proportions; it has perplexingly gained some recognition given that it still manages to earn a moderately respectable score of 6.6 on IMDB; (god only knows why) Lynch even goes so far as to ignore some of the pertinent lore from the novel where upon he gives what is supposed to be a a rousing finale, but is contextually nonsensical. However with some much relevant information lost; I doubt many audience members with noticed or for that matter cared. And that concisely says it all.

When you begin to look for movies in every crack of the wall you get to see strange movies like this, which is supposed to be based on a famous source material that I have not read yet. This film is really good because of the fact that it's incredibly bizarre and follows a pure Twin Peaks sort of style to it, and beware bland normal "good popcorn fun" blockbuster fans, this is not a normal fantasy film like how apparently it's source material is. It's incredibly weird, and that is what is so good about it, and it contains surrealist visual effects and picture-perfect cinematography, holding some of the most memorably weird moments in a movie I've seen in a long time. The special effects are brilliant yet strange, and although they may be a bit too weird for some I think others looking for a mind screw will love the uniqueness of this movie. It's a surreal space epic with an 80's soundtrack and an imagination that'll leave you gasping; I watch movies specifically to see weird things like this that I wouldn't see in real life and to be captivated into such a strange world like this is really interesting. Before I think I complimented on the picture-perfect cinematography too minor and I'd say that it has some great movement and angles with the camera photography, so I recommend you analyze that if you give this a watch. You want escapism? This is the real deal.

When Dune first came out in theaters during the Christmas holiday season in 1984, it went with a thud due to competition from other holiday fare like Beverly Hills Cop. It also suffered from its running time which David Lynch cut from more than three hours to just around 2 hours and 20 minutes and sped up the pace of the best selling sci-fi novel by the late Frank Herbert to please young audiences who got weary of Star Wars after the last Star Wars movie the year before. Today it's now a cult classic due to its score by Toto, the casting, and the special effects which were ahead of its time for a $45 million movie that became David Lynch's highest grossing movie despite negative reviews from critics. The enduring popularity of this movie, and the franchise, has resulted in a TV miniseries as well as its sequel, and a reboot from Legendary that is being directed by the man behind Arrival.