Dune (1984)

Directed by David Lynch. Starring Kyle MacLachlan, Kenneth McMillan, Francesca Annis, Jürgen Prochnow, José Ferrer, Siân Phillips, Freddie Jones, Everett McGill, Dean Stockwell, Brad Dourif, Patrick Stewart, Richard Jordan, Sean Young, Sting, Max von Sydow, Silvana Mangano, Paul Smith, Virginia Madsen, Linda Hunt, Leonardo Cimino. [PG]

Self-serious, trudging leviathan of a science fiction opus, as grand as it is unwieldy, set over 8,000 years in the future when rival noble houses battle for control of “the spice,” a drug that’s the universe’s most valuable commodity. Frank Herbert’s much-admired space opera couldn’t possibly be faithfully translated into a single film, but that didn’t prevent them from trying, and as visionary and idiosyncratic a director as David Lynch is, he was not the right man to lead the way. The basic narrative thrust is a conventional hero story (privileged young man nearly loses all, joins in with the “under class,” inspires revolution and accepts his fate as the chosen one), but the collective details and terminology are incomprehensible. So much of what may very well work on the page becomes indigestible onscreen, like the easily-parodied awed whispers of inner thoughts, the glowing blue eyes that come from ingesting too much spice, or absurd line readings of so much clunky exposition and overripe dialogue (e.g., “Teach us this weirding way, and you both shall have sanctuary, and your water shall mingle with our water”). Not without the occasional isolated moment or performance worth savoring, but too much of a torpid, uninvolving muddle to bother with; the special effects and set design are uneven, but sometimes laudatory. The extended version prepped for television has been disowned by Lynch, with his name replaced by “Alan Smithee”; other versions of varying lengths have also seen the light of day.

41/100