Frank Herbert's Dune (Three-Disc Director's Cut)
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Actor: Alec Newman, Giancarlo Giannini, Saskia Reeves, Uwe Ochsenknecht, William HurtBrand: LIONS GATE HOME ENT.
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Director's Cut, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 265 minutes
Published: 2002-06-01
DVD Release Date: 2002-06-11
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Artisan Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Frank Herbert's Dune (Three-Disc Director's Cut)
DVD Review: 'He's the criss cross casserole!' 'He's the WHAT?'
Summary: 2 Stars
Let me start off by putting this into perspective: I read the original Frank Herbert novel, and I greatly enjoyed it. I agree that the David Lynch movie was a mess, but it was a thoroughly entertaining mess. When I heard that there was a six hour miniseries out there that paid scrupulous attention to the book, I was excited. I wanted another interpretation of the story, and a big epic miniseries would do the trick.
I had a few serious, serious problems though. Namely, these: the special effects are straight from the dime store, and the costumes occasionally verge into being outright absurd. Alec Newman created, in my opinion, a thoroughly dislikable and unrelatable Paul Atreides, and to be honest I didn't like too many characters in this version. It was all a bit rushed, and even with knowledge of the book I almost got lost. And the filmmakers chose to enhance the storyline of Irulan in such a way that left me with a bad taste in my mouth at the end.
First, the effects. I don't quite know how to be diplomatic about this, so here goes: it looks like something a fourteen year old whiz kid geek put together with no budget and his father's computer. The sand dunes of Arrakis look like a video game, as do the giant sandworms. These are supposed to be terrifying, wondrous monsters, and that's not how they come across. At best, they look like a Super Mario Bros monster, at worst they look like a scabby...well...part of the male anatomy. With teeth. Seriously, I just about lost it. Must be seen to be believed. Not sure I recommend you do that. Also, the matte painting backgrounds of the desert...look like matte painting backgrounds of the desert. If you wanted a planet entirely made up of matte painting backgrounds of the desert, this would be the place for you.
Costumes are generally okay, really, just a few awkward pieces. I'm sure Irulan's butterfly dress looked great on paper. In reality, however, it's a different story. The Fremen still suits, I have to say, look MUCH MUCH better in this version than they did in the David Lynch one. These look like direct fashion descendents of the Arabs, a good choice. Lynch's looked like a puffy body suit with a Groucho Marx mustache as a breathing tube.
As for acting, I was pretty sure William Hurt was just going to phone it in for a paycheck, so I was pleasantly surprised when he made an effort. He didn't go all `I am acting' here either, and that's a good choice. His Leto was relatable, noble and interesting. I also have to say that the actress who played Jessica was TERRIFIC. She was both poised and restrained and emotional and vulnerable. Then again, I'm pretty sure that Jessica is the most overall interesting character in the Dune story.
Unfortunately, we have to get to their progeny now, and he's the weakest link. I'm not sure what else Newman's done. He's an attractive man, and I got the feeling while watching him that he's a good actor in other things. I'm really not sure why this character failed on so many levels. I've come to the conclusion that the writers, the director and the actor must all accept some share of blame. In other words, no one person screwed this all up. It was a team effort.
Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate the fact that they tried to make Paul a little more, well, human at the start of things. Okay, if by `human' we mean whiny little brat who has a chip on his shoulder about EVERYTHING, then yes, he is human. The whining seriously got on my nerves after a while. This guy pouted at EVERYBODY and everything. Also, I think they aged the character up for this show, so I wanted to tell him to move out of his parents' house and get a job or something. You know something's not right when Paul Atreides, in line to the Duchy of wherever they are, eventual master of the universe, super being sounds like some spoiled brat who doesn't get to hang out with his buds on ski trip. "I don't wanna go to Arrakis! I wanna go to Europe with Hank and Todd! My life is soooo hard!"
Look, I'm not kidding, it really feels like that.
You'd think that when they get to Dune and everything explodes and he has to realize his destiny it'd get better. Sadly, no. He does a one eighty and becomes a cold, cold, merciless messiah of coldness and no mercy (and the occasional whine.) Apart from his freaky powers of everything, it's hard to imagine people wanting to follow this guy, since he's kind of a jerk. You have not seen anyone quite this devoid of charisma. When he turns to his mother and basically scolds her for standing up for the BILLIONS that will die in his quest to install Fremen everything all over the universe, you wish she'd slap his face and send him to bed without supper. He is that bratty.
Note: I hadn't quite realized until I saw this that Paul would lead a campaign that would quash all rebellion everywhere and make everyone slaves to his will and his nationalized religion and his culture. It kind of ends up feeling, with this actor at least, like it should be titled Hitler in Space.
Second note: the whine really came back in that scene with his mother. "Moooom. I wanna do genocide. You can't stop me. I do what I waaaaaant." God, I hated Newman so much in this role.
Also, I'm not quite sure why they needed him to be this much of a jerk. As most people know SMALL SPOILER NOW he has a son with his Fremen girlfriend, and the kid gets killed. So he sees this in prophetic visions, and when the girl wakes up he greets her with sitting on the mat staring into space like a freak and intoning solemnly `our son is dead' or something to that effect. Later, when the poor woman shows GENUINE EMOTION, WHY IS THAT SO HARD TO COME BY HERE about the poor dead kid, he basically gives her a hug and goes `There, there, we'll get you another one." THANKS, HONEY. THANKS SO MUCH. Between the brattiness and the `we'll get you one with spots next time' reaction he has to his child's death, if I were Chani, I'd do something that I'm not quite sure I can print here. Let's just say it rhymes with Reeve his Glass.
I found myself missing Kyle MacLachlan. True, like Newman he was bland (I think that comes with the Paul Atreides territory, though. It's one of those `I eat breakfast, I get a new power, everything I do is right' kind of roles.) However, he was also likable, sympathetic, caring and had a kind of regal bearing that worked. Newman is, like I said, that rich kid that you never liked in school because he had new trainers and would INSIST on telling you about them.
Moving on, I had small issues with how fast things moved. Like Kwisatz Haderach, or however you spell it. It came and went so fast that it was like `He's a criss cross quichera, he's a bushy casserole, he's a bird, he's a plane,' `He's a WHAT?' `Look, moving on.'
Last thing: the Irulan subplot. If you've read the books, you know that Irulan is the princess Paul has to marry to solidify his claim to the throne. She pops in at the tail end of Dune to have this happen, and then schemes through the second book until she has a change of heart. She's SUPPOSED to start off as unlikable, spoiled, selfish and haughty with no real love for Paul until the very end. That way, you feel for Chani the Fremen concubine, and you're happy Paul stays with her. In the book, I was definitely more a Chani person.
Here's the thing: they created a subplot for Irulan that portrayed her as clever, feeling, brave, a dutiful young woman trapped and used as a pawn, and in love with Paul. I thought the actress who played her was wonderful, and I'm glad Irulan had something to do here. But if you see her as all these excellent things, when she SPOILER ALERT BUT IF YOU'RE READING THIS I ASSUME YOU KNOW WHAT'S COMING marries Paul and he turns his back on her and goes to Chani all `ilu bb' you...sort of...feel horrible for her. In the book, when Chani stands there all sad and thinks Paul will leave her for gorgeous princess woman, he affirms his love and you are happy for her. Here, when you see what a good person Irulan is and he still treats her like crap, news flash, you don't like Chani so much anymore. So the thing basically ends with Paul and Chani prancing off together and leaving Irulan in the dust to be treated like crap by everybody, and instead of feeling like `oh I am so happy for Paul and Chani, their love will endure', I was more like `well, you can both go f--- yourselves, how about that?' And that's NOT how I want to feel after SIX HOURS of miniseries.
Okay, bottom line is despite all my moaning this has some okay things. It's faithful to the book if that's your bag, a few of the actors turn in really good performances, some of the sets and costumes are nice to look at. But I just hated Newman as Paul, everything felt rushed, and I really, really, really did not like how they handled the Irulan character. But that's my opinion. If none of these things bother you, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
Description of Frank Herbert's Dune (Three-Disc Director's Cut)
Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 07/08/2005Bestsellers in DVD
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