Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site pur-phy.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!CS-Mordred!Pucc-H:pur-phy!dub From: dub@pur-phy.UUCP (Dwight) Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Dune review (spoiler) Message-ID: <1575@pur-phy.UUCP> Date: Sun, 16-Dec-84 15:12:28 EST Article-I.D.: pur-phy.1575 Posted: Sun Dec 16 15:12:28 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 17-Dec-84 05:39:06 EST Distribution: net Organization: Parakeets for Peace Lines: 65 My reactions after having seen Dune are very mixed. First of all, I should mention that I've read the book twice and enjoyed it greatly. From all of the terrible pre-reviews I'd seen about Dune I went into the theater not expecting too much. The movie started out rather well I thought.The political situation is laid out for the viewer to comprehend and all of the important parties involved are introduced. The plot seemed to be following the book like a shadow. We get to see all of the facets of Paul's development and his devotion to his father, the Duke, comes through quite well. I really liked their shields. After they arrive on Arrakis the film still looks pretty good. The scene where the Duke goes out to inspect the spice mining was very well done and also the scene with the "seeker" in Paul's bedroom went off very well. Sure there were minor things I didn't like; the Navigators looked like a cross between Jabba and Leto II, the Baron was a bit skinny and seemed less "dark" (if ya know what I mean). But the settings looked fairly good. Many little things I didn't like I can trace back to my comparing the film to the book; in other words, things that might displease a Dune fan, but not the avg. movie goer. The trouble really starts for this film when the Baron attacks the Duke. The battle scenes looked very poor; alot of people just running around with an occasional explosion. Not at all realistic in my opinion. My next-to-biggest disappointment was that the "fierce" Fremen didn't strike me as being all that deadly. The entire Fremen culture is not developed for the viewer to the point where we really understand them. (The stillsuits are explained very well in the film but where are the face masks and they are always forgetting to exhale through their mouthpieces.) We hear Paul tell his mother to walk non-rythmically but in the next scene they go marching across the desert. Even the Fremen are guilty of this. One good point was that even though the thumpers looked rather perverse (in and out and in and out) Paul's first worm ride looked really neat! (neat - a ancient term meaning megafun) The biggest failure of the movie in its post-"Baron invades Arraki" part is to protray Paul as the "superior being" (sorry, can't remember how to spell the H..............). The movie goer is given no idea of just what the heck the spice has done to Paul conscienceness. The images that the film uses to try to convey this facet of Paul are totally obscure. Paul's obsessively constant remarks about Dune's smaller moon are never explained. The ending.... maybe I have got complete amnesia, but I don't remember Paul making it rain at the end of Dune. Making it rain would only kill off the worms and sandtrout. Also, there is a narrative saying that after Paul's victory over the Emperor at the Shield Wall there was at last peace in the universe. Like hell! Paul brought a jihad and that sure weren't peaceful! The ending to this movie may have been ok for a movie goer, but for this Dune fan it left a lot to be desired. I'm a Sting fan so I liked his fight at the end with Paul. In fact, the way Gunry Hallek wanted to do all sorts of nasty things to Fyern(sp)(Sting), I was mentally rooting for Sting to win. But anyways, I've seen advertisements for Dune that gave Sting top billing! That last scene is the only scene he has any importance in. To summarize: First half was ok, second half lousy. Liked the worms, though. Net result, there are tons of characters in Dune (the book). Dune (the movie) introduces them all one way for another, but most of them never get developed one bit. The result is a somewhat confusing movie. This production should have been an eight hour mini-series. There is just too much in Dune (the book) to put into a 140 minute film. Hope this review was readable, sorry if it wasn't. Dwight Bartholomew UUCP:{ decvax, icalqa, ihnp4, inuxc, sequent, uiucdcs }!pur-ee!pur-phy!dub { decwrl, hplabs, icase, psuvax1, siemens, ucbvax }|purdue!pur-phy!dub