The new Dune movie is a spectacular cinematic experience that's vastly different to David
Lynch's vividly weird take on the original story by Frank Herbert.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in this video I'm explaining the spiciest differences
between Denis Villeneuve's Dune and the 80s cult movie.
Lynch and Villeneuve's films are worlds apart when it comes to the villainous characters
of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and his nephew Rabban aka The Beast.
Once you've seen the 1984 version played with maniacally OTT gusto by Kenneth McMillan,
who's covered in grotesque prosthetics makeup and zooms through the air, it's not something
you're ever likely to forget.
It is I, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who encompasses his doom!
Stellan Skarsgard gives a more subtle, less caricatured take on the character, making
him memorable more for his quietly menacing manner than his gruesome cartoonish ways like
the original film.
Even how he rises into the air feels more ominous than the exaggerated zoomy way it
happens in Lynch's movie.
For Villeneuve, Skarsgard's eyes are the key to his frightening performance as you feel
the Baron's always thinking, tense, and calculating deep inside.
The first time we see the Baron, he's hidden by steam, giving the scene a really atmospheric
feel, and reminding me of the shadowy scenes of Marlon Brando's Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse
Now as well as the helmet-less Darth Vader.
Dave Bautista is back working with Villeneuve again after Blade Runner 2049, and thankfully
his interpretation of the intimidating Rabban is much less theatrical, and sweaty, than
the 80s film.
So far, Rabban and his uncle play a relatively small part in Villeneuve's cinematic vision
of Herbert's source material – more on that later.
As for the Baron's younger nephew Feyd, there's no sign of him at all at the moment.
I do wonder if he'll pop up in Part 2 though.
It'd certainly be interesting to see who Villeneuve would cast compared to the mad-eyed over-acting
of Sting in Lynch's film!
Despite Dune's dangerous, dog-eat-dog world, there's one creature that seems pretty much
safe at all times, and that's the House Atreides pug!
Whether sitting patiently at home, travelling through space, or venturing into battle, the
cute royal canine always appears pretty chill even if his presence in the film seems a bizarre
choice for a grand space opera aiming to be "Star Wars for grown-ups", as Princess Irulan
actress Virginia Madsen called it.
Though we may never know exactly why Lynch made this weirdly memorable and often beloved
addition to the world of Dune, it may have something to do with this particular breed's
long association with emperors, royalty, and the upper echelons of society from Ancient
China to Renaissance Europe and beyond.
Understandably, though sadly for some fans, there are no pooches present in Villeneuve's
version, however, the director has made his own strange new addition with a creepy giant
spider creature with uncanny humanoid features such as hands at the end of its legs.
The Harkonnen pet is listed in the movie's credits as a "Human Spider Proxy", and the
creature's performer is Milena Sidorova, a choreographer who came up with the famous
spider dance you might have seen on YouTube.
The spider-creature appears to understand human communication as it responds to the
Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother when she orders it to leave the room.
And this has led many fans to speculate that the Harkonnens turned Doctor's Yueh's wife
into the spider.
It's a plausible theory given in the original source material her fate was never known,
although – spoiler warning now for character fates in Dune 2021 going forward – the Baron
implies Yueh's wife was dead at the time he kills the doctor.
I said I'd set her free.
That you could join her.
So join her.
The character of Duncan Idaho played by Jason Momoa is hugely improved in Villeneuve's version
getting more screentime and his relationship with Paul is better developed than in Lynch's
movie where the two characters share just a couple of scenes.
Villeneuve has described his Duncan as a kind of "big brother" character who Paul idolizes.
Momoa's Duncan also gets an epic fight scene where he sacrifices himself to take down a
slew of Sardaukar warriors to buy time for Paul, Jessica and Kynes to escape.
And it's a pretty badass moment when he pulls a sword out of his chest and takes out another
bunch of baddies before eventually keeling over.
Duncan's death in Lynch's movie is much more anti-climactic with a projectile slowly penetrating
his defensive shield.
And those Holtzman energy shields were one of the oddest things in the 80s movie with
the Roblox-like polygon shapes surrounding a character making scenes such as Gurney and
Paul's fight training just a mass of blurry forms facing off, then piling on top of each
other.
Thankfully special effects have massively improved since then and the personal shields
in 2021's movie are much smoother and less blurry so you can still see the characters
clearly enough.
Kyle MacLachlan didn't do a bad job as Paul given the material he had to work with, especially
all those endless internal monologues he and several of the other actors were forced to
bring to life.
However, Timothée Chalomet's Paul and his path to becoming the super being known as
the Kwisatz Haderach is much better developed.
First of all, although Chalomet was in his early 20s when filming, Paul is around 15
to 16 in the original book and the actor plays the part of a somewhat inexperienced teenager
thrust into a deadly world of political manoeuvrings much more convincingly than in Lynch's movie.
Considering that it's originally supposed to be a coming-of-age story, Lynch's Paul
feels much more like the man in his 20s that the actor was at the time and too self-assured.
Also the way that Villeneuve foreshadows Paul's connection to Arrakis is teased more elegantly.
For starters, Paul's visions of Dune and his future there are clearer, more nuanced and
detailed than Lynch's more cryptic, clunky visions.
Also, Villeneuve has added more depth to scenes such as the sandworm attack on the crawler.
In the new movie, as Paul gets out of the ornithopter, he becomes entranced by the desert
while hearing mysterious voices chanting.
In Lynch's film, Paul never gets off the ship and instead simply gets a little intoxicated
by the smell of the spice the men bring in with them.
Spice.
Pure, unrefined spice.
The look of Villeneuve's worms is also quite different, and the director explained to Empire
magazine that it took over a year to come up with
"every little detail that would make such a beast possible, from the texture of the
skin, to the way the mouth opens, to the system it uses to eat its food in the sand, and to
find the perfect shape that looked prehistoric enough."
Overall, the new sandworms seem even larger than Lynch's version which was more closely
based on the original designs by the book's illustrator with its distinctive three-lobed
mouth.
Something we didn't get much of in the 2021 movie was worm riding, with only a small moment
at the end where Paul sees a Fremen riding a worm in the distance.
Desert power.
In Lynch's film, Paul memorably rides a worm and the creatures are used as part of the
Fremen resistance and attacks on the Harkonnen occupiers.
Because this happens in the latter part of the story, it's safe to say we can look forward
to Timothée Chalomet riding a giant worm in the sequel!
While Lynch's film opens with the Emperor's daughter introducing us to the world, Villeneuve
gives Chani the job of briefly being our guide to Arrakis.
Given her prominent placing in the movie's marketing, you'd be forgiven for thinking
Zendaya must have quite a substantial role, but that's not the case.
In fact, her screen time consists mostly of brief glimpses in Paul's visions until near
the end of the film where she and Paul finally meet and she gets a bit of real dialogue;
indeed, her words are the final ones we hear in the movie.
This is only the beginning.
Although Zendaya spent only four days filming for Part 1, in Part 2 her character will have
a much larger, more important place in the story which I'm looking forward to as she's
a talented actress.
As for Sean Young, though Lynch covers the whole book, she's still only a very small
part of a much bigger movie and doesn't get any especially interesting dialogue to craft
a truly memorable part.
When it comes to Paul's mother, Lady Jessica, Villeneuve has built up her role compared
to Francesca Annis's version, giving her more time training and defending her son.
Rebecca Ferguson is perfectly cast, bringing the delicate mix of power, vulnerability,
and mystery that's required for her character whose role encompasses parent, partner, and
member of the formidable and influential Bene Gesserit,
who have the commanding power of The Voice, which doubtless inspired the Jedi mind tricks
of Star Wars.
Another character who gets more screen time in the new movie is Dr Kynes.
And compared to Max von Sydow in Lynch's movie, Sharon Duncan-Brewster goes out heroically,
exacting revenge on the colonisers ravaging her planet.
I only serve one master.
His name is Shai-Hulud.
Sometimes, Lynch's Dune feels more like a collective hallucination or weird fever dream
I had rather than a film I actually watched!
Its frequent wacky visuals and garish aesthetic certainly give it a very distinctive look
which does have its fans.
The latest film's look, however, is wildly different, more David Lean, specifically Lawrence
of Arabia, than David Lynch, with touches of Apocalypse Now, Villeneuve's own Arrival,
and cinematographer Greig Fraser's Rogue One.
There's plenty of lavish, sweeping vistas, and arresting visuals, but the director never
loses a sense of what really matters: his characters.
And the film's muted, more natural-looking tones make its pops of colour stand out, but
in a grounded, more realistic way.
Trying to pack the whole of Frank Herbert's expansive sci-fi novel into a single film
did not work out well for David Lynch.
The movie ended up heavy on melodrama, and overloaded with plot and masses of expositionary
dialogue.
Not only did it perform poorly at the box office, but it was also critically mauled,
with reviewers calling it "incomprehensible", "stupefyingly dull and disorderly", and the
"worst movie of the year".
Even Lynch himself disowned the film and viewed it as a failure, citing his lack of artistic
freedom making it.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Denis Villeneuve says he's never felt such deep
joy or gratitude watching one of his movies as he has with Dune.
Villeneuve actually refused to adapt the novel unless the story was split over more than
one film as 'the world is too complex'.
So the new movie brings to life roughly half the book, building its world and introducing
its concepts, characters, cultures, and planets.
Though this does mean the ending is a bit less satisfying than you might like, the sequel
will cover the rest.
While for Villeneuve, Part 1 is "like an appetizer", "Part 2 is the main meal", "an insane playground"
that will "allow him to go berserk and really create".
And, as it that's not enough, the director has even said that he'd like to make a third
film adapting the second book in the Dune saga, Messiah.
I love the overall epic feel of Villeneuve's Dune, but what do you think?
And if you've seen both movies, which do you prefer?
Let me know in the comments below, and if you enjoyed this, then a thumbs-up and share
are hugely appreciated.
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Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!