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The word epic gets thrown around a lot these days. often by people who don’t really understand what the word actually means. ‘These french fries are epic!’, they might say, or ‘That new Taylor Swift sure was epic!’. This is, however, incorrect. Epic, or an epic as you might say, carries much more weight than some synonym for the word cool. When something is truly epic, the very earth beneath our feet changes, armies of thousands clash against each other, the sky roars with thunder at the love, the honor, the betrayal which we as the audience behold as the story plays out. The Iliad and the Odyssey were epics. Der Ring des Nibelungen was an epic. La Morte d'Arthur was an epic. J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy was an epic. Dune, Frank Herbert’s sci-fi treatise on religion, ecology, philosophy and science is also an epic, and in 1984, after Alejandro Jodorowsky’s grand vision for a film adaptation fell through (check out the documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune for more info on that), movie producer/robber baron Dino de Laurentiis brought in then hot young maverick director David Lynch (known at that point for his critically acclaimed 1980 film The Elephant Man) to try and salvage the project. The movie, unfortunately, was a money sink as well as a commercial failure, and Lynch vowed never to do anything nearly as coherent ever again. One of the most famous science-fiction stories of all time, forever associated with a 3 out of 5.
We’re still going to talk about it though.
Even attempting to summarize the events of Dune is a bit of a trial, but I will try to do the minimum to the best of my abilities. In the year 10,191, mankind has expanded into a vast galactic corporate state known as the CHOAM, or Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles, which is ruled by the Emperor Shaddam IV and the Great Houses, as well as the Spacing Guild (a private organization who hold the monopoly on FTL travel) and the Bene Gesserit (a sisterhood who have managed to clandestinely position themselves in various positions of influence through their unique powers of perception and persuasion). Although CHOAM is spread out over hundreds of worlds, the most important planet of them all is the desert world Arrakis, colloquially known as Dune. It is on this harsh world of Dune, where water is so scarce that the people (known as the Fremen) have to wear devices known as ‘still suits’ to save and reclaim the moisture exuded by the body and gargantuan beasts known as sandworms stalk the vast seas of sand, that melange (otherwise known as spice) is located. In fact, it is the only place in the known universe where melange exists, and it is the restorative, psychotropic and psychoactive properties of that spice which makes FTL travel possible. Without spice, CHOAM could not exist, and as such is easily the most valuable product on any world. It also makes your eyes
Within the Great Houses, there are two which are locked in a blood feud, the dastardly Harkonnens of Geidi Prime (led by the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen) and the relatively noble Atreides of Caladan (led by Duke Leto). The Harkonnens, as we learn at the start of the book and the movie, have formulated a plot to assassinate Leto and wipe out the Atreides once and for all. By relinquishing their own claim on Arrakis, they push the Emperor to call upon Leto to take it over, which appears to be an obvious ploy given its tremendous value. Expecting an attack from a Harkonnen assassin, Leto and his staff would never expect the killer to come from a trusted adviser, something which they couldn’t plan for no matter how many guards they have. Leto would die, the House of Atreides destroyed, and the Harkonnen would then have free reign over the mining operations of Dune and all the power and influence that control of the spice trade provides. It is destined to be.
Meanwhile, Paul Atreides, son of the Duke Leto and his royal concubine Jessica (of the Bene Gesserit), has reached the ripe old age of 15, tempered with all the Bene Gesserit teaching and Mentat (basically clairvoyant assassins/advisors) training that his family and friends can provide. He also might be the Kwisatz Haderach, the Bene Gesserit messianic figure that is meant to lead the empire into a new Golden Age, if those prophetic dreams and the gom jabbar is anything to go by. He may not want to accept the responsibility thrust upon him (and really, what heroic protagonist does?), but once his dad kicks the bucket, it will be up to him to learn the ways of the mysterious Fremen, destroy the Harkonnens, avenge his father and reclaim the throne of Arrakis once and for all. When you control the flow of spice you control the Universe, and Paul is going to own the whole damn thing.
If you might have guessed from just that bit of exposition, this is the biggest problem with Dune: So much shit to keep track of that none of it ever really makes sense. Frank Herbert did a fantastic job of creating an entire universe, with its own unique societies and religions and political systems, and when you can sit down with the novel and absorb it at your own pace, it’s great. Expecting an audience, most of which have likely never even heard of Dune or read the book, to take it all in is unlikely at best. There is just too much floating around for an audience to keep track of, too many ideas that lose context in the transition from text to physical performance. Even with a 2+ hour run time, which I imagine wasn’t too common with sci-fi films back then, it seems like they’re both skipping out on large chunks of the story and getting way too much information thrown at your face. Unless you’re somewhat familiar with the Dune novel, which I was before watching, it’s likely the average viewer would find it a confusing, interminable slog. Which is probably why we never saw a Dune franchise pop up after this one came to theaters.
On the other hand, aside from the original Star Wars films, I don’t think there has ever been another science fiction movie that looks quite as impressive as Dune. The sense of scale here is just absolutely fantastic; when you see a sandworm rising from the earth, it really feels like you’re seeing a creature the size of an ocean liner moving about, and when you look at the deserts of Arrakis, it really seems like this endless, stormy wasteland..The set design, costume design, character design, special effects so reminiscent of own own world yet so utterly alien at the same time. Fantastic. I don’t know how much that were holdovers from Jodorowsky’s work and how much of it was Lynch’s (the creepy worm monster that leads the Spacing Guild certainly brings to mind the infamous baby from Eraserhead) but props either way. Dune may have been a money sink, but unlike The Island of Dr. Moreau (check out the previous entry for Lost Soul), the money was put to good. The whole movie is just beautifully, magnificently extravagant in every way, and I love it for that. Almost enough to forgive it for all it’s problems story-wise, especially with Patrick ‘Jean-Luc Picard’ Stewart in the cast. I guess an debate could be made on big movies that expect too much from the audience, like Dune, versus big movies that don’t make the audience think at all, like Avengers or Jurassic World, but I’m not going to start it. I’m just in this for the spice, man.
This might be a bit difficult to categorize for your typical Halloween movie watchers, as people expecting a sci-fi movie might be getting more than they bargained for, and people interested in David Lynch’s filmography might be disappointed to find something a bit ‘standard Hollywood’ compared to his later, more surrealistic films. However, if you don’t mind doing a bit of reading, and I’d say it’s worth reading at least the Frank Herbert Dune novels, or you’re the kind of person who likes to ride out the weirdness in movies, then I don’t see why I shouldn’t recommend it for this Halloween. Unless you’re not a fan of Sting’s bulge, in which case I’m afraid you’re pretty much out of luck.
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