DUNE (2021)

Fudged in 1984, David Lynch’s disowned adaptation of Frank Herbert’s epic fantasy/Sci-Fi novel was all but impossible to follow in its initial 2'17" cut.  Two re-edits followed (3'10"; 2'57"), so-called ‘director’s cuts’ made without Lynch’s involvement.  (Somebody’s director’s cuts, just not his.)  Yet, maddening as the original release could be, the look of the thing, the way it played as free-floating abstract object, far more compelling then either extended cut.  (Perhaps it was otherwise for the book’s large fan base.  Not read here, DUNE’s rep has it best encountered at a certain age.  Late teens?)  But at any length, the ‘Chosen One & Mom’ storyline palls.  (Where did Herbert come up with that fresh concept?)  Yet here we are again, now with perennially overpraised Canadian director Denis Villeneuve having a whack at the first half.  (Part Two to follow.)  Lynch’s bright, colorful lacquered studio æsthetic now banished; replaced by earth tones & dusty desert spice atmosphere.  (‘Spice’ the mined commodity that makes the universe go ‘round and which the House of Atreides has been charged by The Emperor to run . . . or rather, fail at running.).  Framed by masses of expensive CGI & model work that look just like expensive CGI and model work, Timothée Chalamet, still groomed to pass as a Sandro Botticelli bride with Audrey Hepburn’s neck, is the putative ‘chosen’ one, surrounded less by a supporting cast than by a sacrificial one.  Everyone but his mom falling by the wayside defending the boy prince.  The large scale battles have some movement to them, but, my goodness, close-up action work is weirdly inept.  A fight for control inside one of those aerodynamically untenable bumble-bee helicopters; a mano-a-mano challenge in the desert ; hypnotic vocal commands; valorous last stands: did Villeneuve insist on doing these himself?  The second-unit must have been seething.  The film editor even more so.  Sure, we can actually follow the plot, and what a simple surprise-free path it takes.  Plus, there’s now one (count ‘em, one) goofy bit of physical business where a special desert sand walk fools those ginormous sandworms from rising to the surface and devouring you.  Is it a dance step?  It might ‘the Hokey-Pokey.’  (That’s what it’s all about.)  Probably only three years before Part Two.  Yikes!

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT:  DUNE 1984, in the original 2'17" cut.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  The film cleaned up in Academy Award technical categories.  Oscar®, never lets you down.