The UnPopular Opinion: David Lynch’s Dune

THE UNPOPULAR OPINION is an ongoing column featuring different takes on films that either the writer HATED, but that the majority of film fans LOVED, or that the writer LOVED, but that most others LOATHED. We're hoping this column will promote constructive and geek fueled discussion. Enjoy!

****SOME SPOILERS ENSUE****

If you are like me, last week's trailer reveal for Denis Villeneuve's DUNE was very exciting. Having waited with bated breath since the BLADE RUNNER 2049 director was announced to helm the adaptation of Frank Herbert's iconic novel, I was hoping against hope that we would finally get the big screen franchise that nerds have been clamoring for since the book was published. In anticipation of seeing the trailer, I revisited David Lynch's 1984 attempt to adapt the book which the filmmaker has since disowned. With only a pair of SyFy franchises having attempted to adapt the books, Lynch's DUNE remains the big screen benchmark. Having seen Villeneuve's first trailer, I am excited to see the film but also underwhelmed as it looks very similar to Lynch's vision which already is an excellent film that does not deserve any of the hate heaped upon it.

If you have neither seen the 1984 version of DUNE nor read the novel, be prepared: this is a dense work that requires your undivided attention to appreciate. In many ways, DUNE is the science fiction equivalent of Game of Thrones and requires you to learn an entire wealth of phrases, disparate family hierarchies, and otherworldly rules of conduct that fly in the face of the real world. That being said, DUNE is also a thinking man's science fiction that is far more intricate than STAR WARS or STAR TREK. David Lynch is a brilliant filmmaker who also flies in the face of the status quo, delivering challenging tales in bizarre fashion. That is what makes his DUNE such an accomplishment rather than the failure it is always claimed to be.

Upon release, DUNE bombed when it grossed only $30.9 million on a $40 million budget with critics bashing the movie. A compromise between David Lynch and the aggressive studio control that denied him final cut, DUNE has seen multiple edits over the years, all of which Lynch has disavowed. In the thirty-six years since it premiered, DUNE has earned a cult following and rightfully so. Ranked as the Worst Film of 1984 by multiple outlets including Siskel and Ebert, DUNE certainly fails to entice audiences unfamiliar with the source material while simultaneously leaving out massive aspects of the mythology which soured fans of Herbert's saga.

DUNE is not a story for those seeking escapism but rather those looking to immerse themselves in a new universe. Ahead of its time, DUNE is a film that needs to be unpacked as there are many things happening in the story. There is the literal space opera adventure tale as well as metaphorical and allegorical allusions that only David Lynch could pull off. DUNE is closer in tone and style to Stanley Kubrick than the STAR WARS clone the studio was aiming for. DUNE was also praised by author Frank Herbert who enjoyed the film for what it was. With a cast featuring Kyle MacLachlan, Sean Young, Patrick Stewart, Max Von Sydow, Brad Dourif, Virginia Madsen, Jose Ferrer, Jurgen Prochnow, Dean Stockwell, and Sting in the most memorable underwear ever put to film, this was one hell of an ensemble.

What makes DUNE work as an entry to the literary franchise is that it streamlines elements and makes it more accessible to the layperson. If you have seen DUNE and think that the movie is anything but entry-level, that should clue you into just how packed with material the novels are. Villeneuve's upcoming film already looks like it takes a more straightforward approach to the tale which is a shame. David Lynch's eye for the surreal and bizarre was in line with how Frank Herbert described the planets and people that populate his book. There is horror here and a surprising amount of violence for a PG-13 movie but it also has some of the most striking costumes and set design in the last forty years. This is a movie that looks twice as expensive as it was.

Originally envisioned as a trilogy (of which Lynch was already scripting the sequel DUNE MESSIAH), DUNE is a gorgeous movie. With the orange-hued cinematography by Freddie Francis and the memorable score by Toto and Brian Eno, Universal Pictures limited advanced screenings which likely influenced critical appreciation of the movie. But Lynch's subsequent disavowment of the movie seems extreme in light of the movie we got. Yes, it is an uncomfortable movie and the story demands it to be. This is a film that should have been Rated R to achieve the level of sex and horror of the source novel. What we got pushes the boundary of the PG-13 rating, even decades later. There is so much that had to be trimmed to turn DUNE into a feature film that we should applaud the effort that Lynch made rather than treat it as a total failure, which it is not.

Like Stephen King's THE DARK TOWER, DUNE is a movie that failed to capture the magic of the source material while still delivering a unique vision. For two decades, it remained the only adaptation until SyFy's more expansive miniseries that premiered in 2000. But, if you have seen that version of DUNE, it feels even less like the novel than Lynch's work. The mere fact that Denis Villeneuve's upcoming movie looks as much like Lynch's should show how close the 1984 movie got to adapting this masterpiece of science fiction. So, if you have some time (and I know you do), maybe it is time to visit Arrakis again and see why David Lynch's movie deserves another look.

But hey, that's just my UnPopular Opinion. Tell us your take on DUNE in the comments below.