Dune

Name: Dune
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Released: December 14, 1984
Duration: 137 min
Rating: 41
Cast: Brad Dourif, Francesca Annis, Freddie Jones, José Ferrer, Kyle MacLachlan

1984

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 116 Ratings

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6.3

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6.3	Your Score
6.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 116 Ratings

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Dune

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Movie Details & Credits

Universal Pictures | Release Date: December 14, 1984 | PG-13

Starring: Brad Dourif, Francesca Annis, Freddie Jones, José Ferrer, Kyle MacLachlan, Leonardo Cimino, Linda Hunt, Richard Jordan, Silvana Mangano, Virginia Madsen

Summary: Set in far away future the year 10191 where life in the universe and space travel is reliant upon a spice Melange found only on the desert planet Arrakis or Dune; where the natives of the planet eagerly anticipate the arrival of their Messiah who will lead them into a holy war against the evil Harkonnen empire.

Director: David Lynch

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 137 min

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Critic Reviews

David Ansen

It is a dark, spellbinding dream, full of murmurs and whispers, byzantine plots and messianic fevers. It finds its iconography of the future deep in the past. It's not always easy to follow, but it's even harder to get out of your system. For better and for worse, it takes more artistic chances than any major American movie around. [10 Dec 1984, p.93]

Kirk Ellis

For all its cumbersome scope (realized on a shimmeringly large scale by Lawrence of Arabia cinematographer Freddie Francis), the film remains an intensely personal epic, Lynch's uncommon emphasis on characters rather than effects lending his exposition a rather remarkable lucidity. Read full review

Alan Ng

The entire film seems to be the book’s narrative highlights strung together but rarely spotlights any of the themes or subtext from the book (if there are any). I don’t think this David Lynch film is Lynchian in any way. To me, Dune is a straightforward adventure with very little depth or character motivation outside the genre’s tropes. Read full review

Linda Deutsch

The only real heroes in this lumbering, over-inflated epic are the army of special effects coordinators and technicians who create a fantastic, otherworldly environment peopled by creatures more weird and threatening than Jabba The Hut. Freddie Francis' photography is constantly impressive. But technical wizardry alone cannot save Dune from a crash landing. [3 Jan 1985]

Dave Kehr

The problem is that the imagery—as Sadean as Pasolini's Salo—isn't rooted in any story impulse, and so its power dissipates quickly. The real venue for this film is either a grind house or the Whitney Museum. Read full review

Pauline Kael

The movie is heavy on exposition, and the story isn't dramatized - it's merely acted out (and hurried through), in a series of scenes that are like illustrations. And, despite the care that has gone into the sets and costumes and the staging, the editing rhythms are limp and choppy.

Rita Kempley

David Lynch's disastrous film adaptation of Fank Herbert's science-fiction classic turns epic to myopic. [14 Dec 1984, p.31]

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User Reviews

pin97dew24

Jul 22, 2018

Depth: 2/2
Importance: 2/2
Relevance: 2/2
Artistry: 2/2
Imagination: 2/2

Total: 10/10

5 of 6 users found this helpful51

diralark

Nov 13, 2019

great actors, great stories, great SF, great text, great worms, great movie !

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

gracjanski

Jan 10, 2022

The movie is not bad: the story is great of course with a lot of details and a deep universe. The visual effects are outdated of course.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

DarkwingSchmuck

Mar 8, 2022

While David Lynch's adaptation is not without admiration and ambition, it is ultimately only accessible to those already familiar with the source material. A fantastic cast is somewhat squandered with a lack of focus on character, while the pace of the film is all over the place with a slow,While David Lynch's adaptation is not without admiration and ambition, it is ultimately only accessible to those already familiar with the source material. A fantastic cast is somewhat squandered with a lack of focus on character, while the pace of the film is all over the place with a slow, exposition heavy first half and a second half that races to get to the finish line. Though, special mention goes to Kenneth McMillan as the Baron, who steals every scene he's in.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

HellHoleHorror

Feb 16, 2022

Some of the models and effects were amazing. Some were much less impressive. The print was very dirty. Some of the chroma key looked really bad. Shame that the sound was not surround. Very original and creative use of effects but not the best example of this sci-fi fantasy type. They triedSome of the models and effects were amazing. Some were much less impressive. The print was very dirty. Some of the chroma key looked really bad. Shame that the sound was not surround. Very original and creative use of effects but not the best example of this sci-fi fantasy type. They tried to pack too much story in. It should have been a trilogy of shorter movies. An interesting story but I had real trouble following it. I liked the old-school effects but failed to connect to the story. Some interesting ideas sadly don’t make up for plot confusion.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Gloone

Dec 1, 2020

Don't be fooled by the cult classic status. On the whole this is obviously not a good movie. I've just finished the novel, which I enjoyed. Frank Herbert built a fascinating and convincing world and, as any great author, understood the importance and art of gradually setting up points ofDon't be fooled by the cult classic status. On the whole this is obviously not a good movie. I've just finished the novel, which I enjoyed. Frank Herbert built a fascinating and convincing world and, as any great author, understood the importance and art of gradually setting up points of interest and later resolving them. The screenplay here does the opposite, and starts by narrating a ham-fisted and pointless information dump. One illustrative example: the Spacing Guild. In the novel they are a secretive organisation whose involvement and motivations slowly unfold throughout the story. And the Guild members themselves, rumoured to have strayed from human form, are never seen; they only do business by means of human agents. They are glimpsed only once, through a vision of Paul's, and he does not disclose what he saw. This is effective, engaging storytelling. In this movie, within the first ten minutes, a Guild member is placed directly before the Emperor. (Oh yes, you also immediately see the Emperor and are told his motives.) The Guild member is a big scary monster. Whoo. It then tells the Emperor that the Guild are in charge and that the Emperor must kill Paul Atreides because he's going to destroy the spice, which is essential to the Guild. Okay then. This kind of boneheaded obviousness is all over, and as a result the story is flat and boring. At several points it's downright cringe-inducing. "I'm going to miss Caladan so much!", Lady Jessica shouts at Duke Leto, as they prepare to leave their homeworld. Great, thanks for explaining. Most of the performances are bad, due to the bad writing, bad casting, and plain bad acting. Sometimes it's difficult to watch. Kyle MacLachlan does his best as Paul but is miscast and too old. Sting actually provides the best performance here as Feyd-Rautha -- take from that what you will. Baron Harkonnen is written ridiculously but Kenneth McMillan just about pulls it off. Many characters are changed for the worse. The Lady Jesscia is an excellent female character in the book -- strong, cunning, magical. In the film she is useless and sometimes hysterical, serving only as mother to Paul. Other female characters receive similarly poor treatment. There appears to be only a single woman amongst the Fremen, and her only role is as Paul's lover. Also rather baffling is that every character is white. The cosmopolitanism of Frank Herbert's novel was an essential ingredient, drawing from many cultures, religions and races, so this is a real disservice to the source material. Dr Yueh should obviously be of asian descent. Thufir Hawat is described as "dark skinned" -- in the film he looks like he should be wearing a smoking jacket and holding a glass of port. Fremen culture is clearly derived from the Middle East, and they've lived for thousands of years in a scorching desert! In the film they don't even have a tan. Visually the film is a mixed bag. Some of the sets and costumes are good. Some are bad. There are a few interesting abstract sequences. The design of the worms is pretty good. But the execution of the special effects ranges from okay to bad. This was released seven years after Star Wars; it looks much worse. Most of the score is by Toto for some reason, and it gets pretty bad when the electric guitars start playing. There's one track written by Brian Eno which is an absolute stand out and sounds just how the book felt. If only the rest of the film were as successful.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

imthenoob

Jun 10, 2020

Dune is arguably one of the worst written films of all time. It was the equivalent of trying to cram the Lord of the Rings into 2 films rather than 3. There was just too much going on to warrant this being a single movie when it should have been broken up into two. Or they should haveDune is arguably one of the worst written films of all time. It was the equivalent of trying to cram the Lord of the Rings into 2 films rather than 3. There was just too much going on to warrant this being a single movie when it should have been broken up into two. Or they should have trimmed the story to focus more on certain characters over others.

Either way, It's still a nightmare of a script with way too many awful looking special effects and makeup designs that just don't work.… Expand

2 of 7 users found this helpful25

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