ddb@mrvax.DEC (DAVID DYER-BENNET MRO1-2/L14 DTN 231-4076) (12/17/84)
Dune movie review -- probably spoiler, possibly flame. If you haven't subjected yourself to DUNE the movie yet, DON'T GO. It's a horrible, horrible, travesty of the story. I'm VERY short of time right now; possibly I will flame at length later. Briefly, the entire political reason behind the Atreides moving to Arrakis is twisted and blurred. The power relationships within the empire are distorted beyond recognition. The social structure of Arrakis and the Fremen is not mentioned, or totally redesigned (and stupidly). Paul's character and motivation are completely different from the book. In general, the characters and their relationships are completely different from the book (or completely absent -- the relationships, that is). For example, Paul's main motivation is given as revenging his father. He actively starts the Jihad (which he spent most of the book trying avoid). Paul identifies himself as the "hand of god". At the end of the movie, it rains on Arrakis. There is no vestige of the complexity and depth of invention from the book left in this pitiful butchered hulk. [For those in it only for the visuals, it's pretty. The sandworms were VERY well done.] On a scale of -4 to +4, give a a -3.5 . I make no pretense of judging it apart from the book. By using the title Dune and claiming to be "based on the novel by Frank Herbert", it ties itself to the book; it should at least tell some part of the story told in the book, about some people recognizably similar to the people in the book. It doesn't. I don't think it could be considered a decent film even on its own. DON'T SEE IT. YOU'LL REGRET IT. -- David Dyer-Bennet -- ...decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-mrvax!ddb