The Spice Must Flow, Part III

I’ve mentioned that I’ve never seen the 1984 version of DUNE all the way through, so I watched it last night.

I’d say that 1984 DUNE was an ambitious failure. It was probably doomed from the start, given how troubled its production was.

The biggest problem was the movie’s length – the version I watched was 2 hours and 15 minutes long. That isn’t nearly enough time to tell a story with the length and complexity of DUNE in a satisfactory manner. By contrast, 2021 DUNE was 2 hours and 35 minutes long, and only covered about forty percent of the book. This unfortunately means that the final 45 minutes of 1984 DUNE kind of watch like an accelerated Cliff’s Notes version of the story. So I think all the movie’s problems stem from that collapsed length. 1984 DUNE also spent way too much time in ponderous exposition of the backstory, which 2021 DUNE deftly handled with a few lines.

1984 DUNE also changed the story in significant ways – the ending, for example, where Paul uses his powers to make it rain on Arrakis. That’s neat and tidy, but it completely defeats the point of the book. It would be a bit like if the film version of THE LORD OF THE RINGS had Frodo calmly drop the Ring into Mount Doom and stroll away without any inner struggle.

The Wikipedia entry for the movie notes that critics “heavily criticized the screenwriting, lack of faithfulness to the source material, pacing, direction, and editing, although the visual effects, musical score, acting, and action sequences were praised”, which I think is a fair summary.

In the end, I will rewatch 2021 DUNE, and go see the second part when it comes out in 2023. 1984 DUNE is the kind of movie I will watch once out of intellectual curiosity and then never see again.

Though if the 2021 version of Baron Harkonnen saw how he was portrayed in the 1984 movie, he would probably have David Lynch assassinated. 🙂

-JM