Movie Night: Dune

He who controls the spice controls the Universe.

Based on Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel Dune, this 1984 movie was directed by David Lynch. Though the movie apparently did not go over well in American box offices in 1984, this film remains a cult favorite by many Science Fiction buffs all over the world.

The film itself features many famous actors and actresses ranging from Freddie Jones (Krull 1983, Young Sherlock Holmes 1985, Count of Monte Cristo 2002), Kyle Maclachlan ( The Flintstones 1994, Desperate Housewives 2006 to current), Patrick Stewart (So many amazing roles that I won't even bother picking out a few.), and even Sting the musician that many people know. With a great cast such as this, you would think that this movie would have been a hit, sadly it was not at the time.

The plot itself is pretty unique though many people have linked its plot to the bible, much like many other Science Fiction movies. The spice that is brought up throughout the entire movie has properties that allows it to extend the life of man and to grant people abilities that were not previously possible. There are a few factions throughout the movie that use these powers in different ways. We find the Noble House of Atreides, the high-tech and industrial but evil House of Harkonnen, the Bene Gesserit nuns who use powers similar to that of psychics, and then you have a the Spacing Guild, a group that uses the spice form the planet Arrakis to fold space itself to navigate tremendous distances in an instant. At the start of the film one of the Guild Navigators (which looks very similar to one of the Combine leaders in Half Life 2.) approaches the Emperor and tells him that he needs to kill Paul Atreides, son of Duke Leto of House Atreides. The Emperor then uses House Harkonnen to attack House Atreides as Atreides takes control of the planet Arrakis due to a prior agreement before the movie. They succeed in taking over the planet but fail to kill Paul and his mother. Together they are saved by Fremen, the natives to the planet. I can't give out much more without spoiling too much of the movie, but I will say that it has a few turns here and there. Overall I find the movie to be a fun watch despite the fact that I have never gotten around to reading the books. The music during the movie is very good and even though the movie is over twenty years old I find that it only enhances the visuals of it since there is no CGI used during the film. It feels much more organic than a large number of films that come out these days. I'd go on ahead and say buy this movie, the special edition dvd comes in a nice little tin and is well worth the money.

One last note, please do not confuse this movie with the year 2000 miniseries Dune which was directed by John Harrison. That miniseries is very different from this movie though they are based on the same book.