#251: A Tale of Four Dunes

We have a new Dune again, or rather, part two of Villeneuve’s version. I withheld my judgement until I had time to see it, and had the opportunity to watch the Miniseries and the documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune to prepare, as well as Spicediver’s 3-hour unofficial version of Lynch’s Dune. By now, I must have seen 3 versions of Lynch’s film. I have yet to finish reading the book. But this is about the filmic versions — film is a different medium, and the comparison is easier. No book can be the same as a movie anyway.

So, what is the takeaway?

Alejandro Jodorowsky attempted to make the movie, and his vision of a 12-hour LSD trip with serious distortions of the original material met with the annoying financial realism of studio bosses. His beautifully laid out storyboard book, however, circled around Hollywood, apparently, and some of his ideas — and his team of people — found their way into other projects as diverse as Alien, Prometheus, Raider’s of the Lost Ark, Star Wars and many more.

Dino de Laurentiis gave the project to a young David Lynch, without final cut. Lynch famously is unhappy with the result, for understandable reasons, and there exist different cuts that show that had he been given more control, Lynch’s version could have been better. Personally, I find his movie utterly fascinating, disgusting (the Baron!), deviant (Sting!), inspiring, outrageous and annoying (in good and best ways) that I will be willing to rewatch it, in full or in parts, again and again.

It feels like the spirit of Jodorowsky hovers over the movie, but Lynch also laid the groundwork for all his future movies with his Dune. I would go so far as to say that with watching his Dune, some aspects of Twin Peaks, for instance, become more clear. Even after all these years (see my first review from 1998), and after the polished something which is the new movie, it still holds up. (David Lynch, please own up to it. You did well, given all circumstances. Maybe you can do a director’s cut with some help from a helpful AI? If Star Wars can resurrect actors, so can you.)

And yet, both Lynch’s and Jodorowsky’s versions are “artsy” and provide unique approaches to the material — they are filmmakers, after all, not just executers. For a more “straight” reading of the material, in many ways, the only more or less complete version of Dune is the Miniseries by John Harrison. You actually understand the story. David Lynch’s version becomes a bit strange once the speed of the movie changes after half the runtime. The ending feels rushed. Had the producers not messed with Lynch, his would be the gold standard. But the miniseries is decent filmmaking and good storytelling, and once you get used to the low-budget approach (strangely low budget almost), it really shines. Alec Newman is actually probably the best Paul, and the great Ian McNeice is the best Baron — evil, but also seductive, witty and somehow human (which makes his evil less cartoonish). Barbora Kodetová also portrays the best version of Chani. As a rule: Harrison goes for true to the material and for theatrical realism, Lynch goes for strange and deviant, Jodorowsky for absolute madness, and Villeneuve for corporate blandness.

Villeneuve’s version feels like a remake, not like a stand-alone version. Sometimes, it is a shot-for-shot reshoot of Lynch, only boring. It is not magical. It feels, in tone, visuals and atmosphere, like fitting in with Ridley Scott’s Prometheus (a movie I loved! But a film set in the Alien universe may not be the best guidepost for Dune). This new Dune has this cold, slick, corporate, detached, grey, grey, grey sense of professionalism and avoidance of originality. You just get the sense that the mission was clear: Avoid all the eccentricities of Jodorowsky and Lynch, avoid the pedestrian visuals of the more theater-like miniseries, and build this into a franchise that looks respectable. Gone is the outrageous idea of Jodorowsky’s to create a filmic version of a messiah, which actually translated into Lynch very well. Science Fiction today has to look clinical and fit within the cruel aesthetics of an Apple store. No soul, no substance, just pretend-beautiful but clinical visuals. A 21^st century MTV video clip with atmospheric but eventually indistinguishable Hans Zimmer soundscapes that are not allowed to show any personality.

The Lynch version keeps me awake, and keeps me angry about what could have been had he been allowed to do what he does best. Yes, the second half is a mess, and not even the 3 hour unofficial Spicediver version can save something that simply isn’t there (although it makes many things better). But Lynch is full of original ideas, and designs both mysterious and audacious.

The Villeneuve version though bored me. It took me several days to get through Part I, and Part II was oddly incomprehensible in parts because of odd choices — Villeneuve seems to have made the choices voluntarily that Lynch was forced to: Strangely, Villeneuve manages to rush the ending of Dune 2 even more than Lynch – and Lynch at least tells the more complete story. Villeneuve changes the story and does not show Alia Atreides, who in the original is the one who kills the Baron. How such a choice happened is almost unbelievable. More screentime, but all of it wasted on lingering shots of style over substance? Timothy Chalamet’s and Zendaya’s acting is rather bland already (though Zendaya is better than him), but both lose to both Lynch’s and Harrison’s casting choices. Even Sean Young’s Chania — who doesn’t get much to do — is more inspirational and evocative. Victoria Madsen of course wins over Florence Pugh — for which I blame the director. And the famed emperor of the universe? Christopher Walken should almost sue, because he was so underemployed that I don’t remember a single thing he said. Both Giancarlo Giannini in the miniseries Frank Herbert’s Dune and José Ferrer in Lynch’s Dune were actually given a chance to shine. Ferrer actually does portray “plans within plans”, whereas they make Walken look like he is looking for his walker.

When I watched Frank Herbert’s Dune — the John Harrison Miniseries —, it was in between the new Dune 1 and 2, and felt a bit bored initially due to the familiarity with the story and the more television movie style, but it won me over eventually. In many ways, the miniseries is the second best version, with Lynch still (with qualifications) the best in theory if not eventual execution.

Just look at Lynch’s beginning. It starts with the “Lynch noise”, that weird electric humming we all know from Twin Peaks. In many ways, Lynch’s Dune is Twin Peaks 0.1 as many things (and many actors) are foreshadowed here. Then, the “reverse THX” sound, from high to low, which leads to a pedal point tone which slowly develops into the music underlying Virginia Madsen’s perfectly spoken introduction as Princess Irulan: “A beginning is a very delicate time,” and so on (Spicediver makes a mistake cutting parts of this). Then, Toto’s  both outrageous and magical theme. You’re in. You’re excited. The Villeneuve version? Bland, no personality, no standing out, trying to not make any mistakes. Even the miniseries has a more original opening! I can easily recall in my mind Toto’s theme, but remember nothing from Hans Zimmer’s Dune theme — and I adore Hans Zimmer typically. I blame the director.

What have we learned? The surrealism of Jodorowsky and Lynch still shines over the bland hyper-realism of Villeneuve, while the Miniseries works well as a more or less straight story. Lynch inspires, Harrison informs, and Villeneuve bores.

Oh well.

Casting? The miniseries actually has some great casting. Barbora Kodetová’s Chani actually gets something to do, whereas the otherwise great Sean Young is mainly eye candy, and Zendaya lacks personality. Alec Newman is best as Paul, although Kyle MacLachlan is always great, but he gets better with age. No baron is better than the miniseries’ Ian McNeice. He is actually believable — not the perverted monster David Lynch shows us, nor the generically dark evil of the Villeneuve version. I find the way the Harkonnens are portrayed as inhuman generic monsters very disturbing — and not in a good way. Lynch’s baron was disgusting and evil in a very specific way. Anyway. A shame we never got to see Dalí play the emperor.

Finally, here are some casting comments in more detail:

Atreides:

• Best Paul Atreides: tie: Alec Newman (Harrison) / Kyle McLachlan (Lynch)
• Best Duke Leto Atreides: Oscar Isaac (Villeneuve)
• Best Lady Jessica: Rebecca Fergusson (Villeneuve)
• Best child Alia Atreides: Alicia Witt (Lynch)
• Best Gurney Halleck: Patrick Stewart (Lynch)
• Best Duncan Idaho: Jason Momoa (Villeneuve)
• Best Thufir Rabbat: Jan Vlasák (Harrison)
• Best Dr. Yueh: Dean Stockwell (Lynch)

Harkonnen:

• Best Baron Vladimir Harkonnen: Ian McNeice (Harrison)
• Best Feyd Harkonnen: Sting (Lynch)
• Best Rabban Harkonnen: Dave Bautista (Villeneuve)
• Best Piter de Vries: Brad Dourif (Lynch)

Arrakis:

• Best Chani Kynes: Barbora Kodetová (Harrison)
• Best Stilgar: Javier Bardem (Villeneuve)
• Best Jamis: Babs Olusanmokun (Villeneuve)
• Best Shadout Mapes: Linda Hunt (David Lynch)

Empire:

• Best Emperor: José Ferrer (Lynch) — in Theory: Salvador Dalí (Jodorowsky)
• Best Princess Irulan: tie: Virginia Madsen (Lynch) / Julie Cox (Harrison)
• Best Reverend Mother: Charlotte Rampling  (Villeneuve)

And some classical categories:

• Best Effects: Villeneuve
• Best Cinematography: Villeneuve
• Most inventive: Lynch — in theory: Jodorowsky
• Best music: tie: Toto (Lynch — more memorable) / Hans Zimmer (Villeneuve — more atmospheric)
• Most memorable: Lynch
• Best narrative flow: Harrison
• Best set design: Lynch
• Best story: Jodorowsky’s Dune
• Best overall: Difficult to say. All versions have their moments.

So what is the end result? We should see movie versions like opera or theater. Each of those has something to say about Frank Herbert’s original story, and they have even more to say about the times during which they were filmed.

What is the best? Jodorowsky’s documentary is a strange winner in many ways. But seriously, you should watch all of them. They all speak their own language. I may gravitate towards David Lynch, but that may just be me.

Best sand worm maybe? How would I know.

But what should a movie be? I defer to Jodorowsky:

The dream is still out there, and the nightmare also.