(Credit: DVDtown.com)
Directed by
David Lynch
Cast:
Francesca Annis …. Lady Jessica
Leonardo Cimino …. The Baron’s Doctor
Brad Dourif …. Piter De Vries
José Ferrer …. Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV
Linda Hunt …. Shadout Mapes
Freddie Jones …. Thufir Hawat
Richard Jordan …. Duncan Idaho
Kyle MacLachlan …. Paul Usul Muad’Dib Atreides
Virginia Madsen …. Princess Irulan
Silvana Mangano …. Rev. Mother Ramallo
Everett McGill …. Stilgar
Kenneth McMillan …. Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
Jack Nance …. Capt. Iakin Nefud
Siân Phillips …. Rev. Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
Jürgen Prochnow …. Duke Leto Atreides
Paul L. Smith …. The Beast Rabban (as Paul Smith)
Patrick Stewart …. Gurney Halleck
Sting …. Feyd-Rautha
Dean Stockwell …. Dr. Wellington Yueh
Max von Sydow …. Dr. Kynes
Alicia Witt …. Alia
Sean Young …. Chani
The Movie:
Showing a film on Television used to be a really big deal. Before the boom in video, viewers who wanted a repeat viewing of a film had to either wait for re-releases in the theater or for the movie to finally make its network TV debut. Often times, to attract more viewers deleted footage would be added to the film’s running time, making the experience unique one exclusive to TV broadcasts only. While TV rights aren’t nearly as important as they used to be, those longer cuts of films seemed to have emerged in a different way, the DVD market. These longer versions of films have often been marketed as the “Extended” or “Director’s Cuts” of the films that were on Television and repackaged for audiences yet to have seen them.
The latest film to get this treatment is David Lynch’s 1984 version of Dune. With 40 minutes added to the film, Dune: Extended Edition comes in at a whopping three hours, but does it help at all? Lynch’s adaptation of one of the most popular Science Fiction/Fantasy novels of all time is maddeningly frustrating. Turning down the chance to direct Return of the Jedi, Lynch and others worked tirelessly to bring Frank Herbert’s epic to the screen, only they seemed to forget a usable screenplay.
Dune has a wonderful look to it at times, including elements of the dirty, used worlds from Alien, Blade Runner, and Star Wars, but still retaining a renaissance style of architecture and costumes. Model-work and miniatures occasionally look incredible, but when any actor opens his mouth or tries to convey any emotion at all the film loses all momentum and the audience disgruntlement begins.
If only Peter Jackson had been around when Dune was being made. Jackson knew when he adapted Lord of the Rings that certain things were going to have to go. The books’ constant poems and songs were going to have to be excised in favor of action in order to keep moviegoers interested. With David Lynch’s screenplay of Dune, he simply jam-packed as many elements from the book as he could get to in the film’s nearly two and a half hour running time.
In fact, the entire fault with the film would have to fall with Lynch. The film really doesn’t make much sense if you haven’t ever read Dune before as creatures and characters wander through scenes and back out again with little to no explanation. People’s powers and motives are hardly analyzed, nor are we made to care about any characters at all. Actors seem to be completely confused about the direction of their characters and their actions.
The largest victim in Lynch’s film is subtlety. As is typical with a novel, Herbert’s original text is filled with inner monologue. Lynch apparently felt it necessary to include every character’s thoughts from the novel that he could. Not that subtlety has been a hallmark of the director’s career, but the crimes committed in this screenplay are overly egregious. Seemingly every scene has a moment where a character repeats in his mind what he just did on screen.
Making things worse is when Lynch adds his own devices to the film, they are completely uninspired. For instance, the main villain, Baron Harkonnen in the book is a sadist, but outwardly is quite regal. Lynch turned his own version of the Baron as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside, with boils on his face. Unfortunately, this loses all finesse and nobility that the character possesses.
In another change, the film’s hero Paul (Kyle MacLachlan), and his mother Jessica (Francesca Annis) are supposed to have a power called “The Weirding Way”, which gives them Force-like abilities to anticipate an opponent’s moves. Lynch changes this into “Weirding Modules” which are guns that shoot out a beam when a certain sonic tone is said by the person wielding it. This makes for the most ridiculous battle in movie history as one side shoots weapons by making really goofy noises. Often times, weapons make no visible discharge at all, giving the impression that a combatant waves his gun at his opponent and kills them just like you would by making your hand into a gun shape and yelling “bang!” Needless to say this makes for uninspired combat sequences.
So is the Dune: Extended Edition a better movie than its original counterpart? Yes, it is. The biggest help to the film is a detailed prologue which gives a history of Dune’s universe and its characters. We learn of the noble Atreides family and their mortal enemies, the evil Harkonnens. We also learn of spice, which is the only real currency in this universe (think oil), and how the only place to be able to produce the spice is on the planet Arrakis (or Dune), where the two houses battle for supremecy. The plot involves political double dealings, family rivalries, fantasy battles, and Paul, the prince of the Atreides becoming the Messiah of the universe, but it’s very hard to follow in the original version. The Extended Edition features a narrator to help you along as well as some nice footage to help with character development.
Not sure if this is surprising or not, but apparently David Lynch hates this version. He took his name off of the picture, as the credited director is the popular Hollywood pseudonym Alan Smithee, and the writer credited on the film is “Judas Booth”, with Lynch combining the names of everyone’s favorite turn-coats Judas and John Wilkes Booth. Its hard to imagine why this version is so hated by the director, as it is a much better film, though not much better.
Dune should be a masterpiece, but instead is a colossal failure. As the writer/director, no single person could possibly take more of the blame than Lynch himself. Someone should have seen the early cuts on this film, stepped in and made some major changes. It’s too bad that so many wonderful effects, model work and costume design is wasted on a letdown like this film.
Theatrical Edition Score: 2.0/10
Extended Edition Score: 3.5/10
The DVD:
The Video
The digital cleanup done here is beautiful. All of the wild colors and odd sets and costumes come out strikingly, especially compared to the shabby VHS version that’s been out for years. Sometimes there’s also a noticeable difference between the extended footage and what was in the theatrical edition, but there is nothing to discern the new stuff visually. Both versions are presented in an Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1.
The Audio
The audio here is also nicely done, although the soundtrack by Toto is less than inspiring. But if you want to hear all the bad inner monologue, stilted dialogue and goofy sound effects with crystal clarity, this is definitely the version to get. The film’s sound is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1.
SPECIAL FEATURES:5 Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Photograph Gallery, Production Notes
Deleted Scenes with Introduction by Raffaella De Laurentiis – There are actually some really nice deleted scenes here that would have added to the film and given fans of the book some of the hallmark moments left out. The best of the bunch features Thufir Hawat (Freddie Jones) unable to kill his master’s child, even though it will save his own life. In all, the scenes run about 15 minutes.
Designing Dune – This is about an 8 minute Featurette about the design work done on the film. Once again, these people put so much of their lives in this movie just so David Lynch could ruin any good they did. They all highly regard Lynch here, but the director himself is no where to be seen.
Special Effects – This is most about the physical effects on the film (AKA: explosions) that were done on there were many.
Models & Miniatures – This is maybe the most fascinating of the Featurettes. It covers the work of John Baker’s model shop and Antonio Balandin’s foreground miniatures, but of which do excellent work on the film. Each was quite proud of the work they did on the picture and were definitely the film’s highlight.
Wardrobe Design – This is nice look at the costume work that was done on Dune. It really is a shame that these people worked so hard on a picture that failed so miserably. The funniest bit talks about how some of the costumes were made of used body bags, but none of the actors were told.
Photograph Gallery – I’m not a big fan of galleries like this on a disc, but this one is pretty comprehensive.
Production Notes
Score: 5.0 /10
