Arrow Blu-ray Review: Dune (1984)

Dune is considered one of the greatest sci-fi novels ever published. Seeing that the second part of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is about to be released it is a good time to revisit David Lynch’s version of Dune and Arrow Video’s re-release.

In the distant future, the known universe is ruled by the Padishah Emperor and a feudal system of government functions. Duke Leto (Jürgen Prochnow) of House Atreides is given the fiefdom of Arrakis, the most valuable planet in the universe, but House Harkonnen, the former rulers of Arrakis plot to wipe out their rivals. Amidst all this political tension is Leto’s son, Paul (Kyle MacLachlan) who has visions of Arrakis and a mysterious woman and has the potential to be the most important person in the universe.

The 1984 version of Dune had a long production history. Experimental filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky attempted to adapt Dune back in the 1970s, which was documented in the critically acclaimed documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune. Ridley Scott was hired to develop an adaptation but left to direct Blade Runner. David Lynch was an up-and-coming director back then when he was hired to write and direct Dune, following the success of Eraserhead and The Elephant Man.

Dune came out during the Star Wars boom. Many sci-fi fantasy films were being made in the late ‘70s and ‘80s, like Krull, Starchaser: The Legend of Orin, and Flash Gordon which tried to capture that same audience. Star Wars’ success helped Star Trek’s revival since it led to the production of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and the Bond series jumped on the Star Wars bandwagon when they made Moonraker. Lynch was approached to direct Return of the Jedi before getting the Dune offer.

On the surface, Dune seemed like it could be the next Star Wars. Both properties were space operas about young heroes battling against an evil emperor and his lackeys and Dune was set on a desert planet, like Luke Skywalker’s home world. However, there were big differences. Star Wars was a traditional hero’s journey story about good versus evil. Dune was a complex story about power conflicts, various factions battling for a valuable resource, and a young man’s desire for revenge. Dune was a dense source material that had a complex web of organisations, deep mythology, and long history. It was more like Game of Thrones and it was a difficult novel to adapt.

Dune wasn’t a swashbuckling adventure like the original Star Wars was. It was strange and that’s what helped earn the film its cult status. Lynch embraced weirdness. This ranged from the journey through a wormhole which felt like an acid trip, or a weird scene when Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Kenneth McMillan) told one of his captives that he had to milk a cat to survive. I felt sorry for the cat since it was stuck in a milking contraption. Lynch’s focus was on the visuals and Dune was a spectacular-looking film. Dune cost over $40 million which was a large budget for the time and the film hired some of the best special effects artists and technicians available.

There was great art direction and special effects throughout the film. The world of David Lynch’s Dune was advanced and archaic in equal measure. This was a world where humanity had developed interstellar travel and advanced aircraft and mining machines, but the universe used an outdated form of government and a retro-future look to the world. People dressed in Victorian-style imperial dress, villainous soldiers were looking like Nazi stormtroopers, and some technology looked as if it came from a different era. The Harkonnen’s home world was particularly notable since it was an industrial polluted hellhole that no one would want to live in, but fitting considering how horrid that House was. Vladimir Harkonnen was a wonderfully vile character, in both personality and appearance and he did make for a great villain. Lynch’s Dune did manage to make some terrific sequences like when Paul tamed the Sandworm, and the final battle gave people sci-fi thrills. Dune was a surprisingly violent film with a lot of bloodletting, leading to its being rated a 12 for the Arrow re-release.

Dune was a troubled production. There were physical challenges since it was filmed in the Mexican desert and Mexico lacked the infrastructure at the time. The other issue was the divide between Lynch and the executive producer Dino De Laurentiis. Lynch wanted to make a three-hour-long film, whilst De Laurentiis demanded a two-hour cut. The Arrow Video release is based on the theatrical cut that’s 137 minutes. This reduced runtime was felt. Two-thirds of the film follows the major plot events in the novel like Paul being tested by the Reverend Mother, Duke Leto and Paul seeing the power of the Sandworms, the Harkoneen’s takeover of Arrakis, and Paul using ‘The Voice’ to free himself and his mother. The final third seemed like the filmmakers were trying to speed run to the conclusion since it showed Paul being able to train the Freman to fight a guerrilla campaign against the full force of the Empire. The final act took the most liberties from the source material.

Rewatching Lynch’s Dune made me appreciate Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part One more. Villeneuve’s version was somewhat slow and methodical which did make it a drag, but his version was more faithful to the novel. Villeneuve was more interested in the dynastic struggles and focused on the anti-colonial themes. Villeneuve’s version of the Arrakis felt more grounded and lived in and he focused on Arrakis being a stand-in for the Middle East. Villeneuve was able to tell his version without clunky exposition like Lynch’s Dune which had the opening with Princess Irulan (Virginia Madsen) explaining the world of Dune and the use of voiceover throughout the film.

David Lynch’s Dune was a grand, ambitious, and strange film and it’s easy to see why it has a cult following. However, as an adaptation of Dune, it falters and its strangeness can turn off people as it draws in.

Special Features: The Arrow Video Blu-ray came with a number of documentaries, interviews, and commentaries. The longest documentary was Impressions of Dune which looked at all aspects of the filmmaking process. There were also shorter documentaries that focused on specific aspects of the film like special effects and set/prop design. My favourite was about costume design since the people in that department admitted they winged it when working on Dune. The documentary about the music was interesting since it used archive footage and not a series of interviews. It was like a mini-version of Asif Kapadia’s documentaries. The interview with Golda Offenheim was a highlight since she had an incredible personality.