Even more than most of David Lynch's deliberately bizarre and idiosyncratic movies, Dune is a "love-it-or-hate-it" affair. An ambitious, epic, utterly mind-boggling--and, let's admit it, all-out weird--adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic science fiction novel, Dune remains one of the most controversial films in the director's exceedingly provocative career. The story (if Dune can be said to have just one story) is complex and convoluted in the epic tradition; it has something to do with political intrigue and a planet that is home to a precious spice and gigantic sand worms. Think Shakespeare's Henry IV with a dash of Tremors, and set in another galaxy. But despite plenty of strangely whispered voice-overs that explain the characters' thoughts (and endlessly detailed exposition), storytelling is not really among the film's strong points. There are, however, a lot of memorably fantastic/grotesque images, an extraordinary cast, and a soundtrack featuring Toto. I told you it was weird. Among the stars are Kyle MacLachlan, José Ferrer, Dean Stockwell, Brad Dourif, Sting, Kenneth McMillan, Patrick Stewart, Sean Young, and Linda Hunt. --Jim Emerson

Universal Dune (HD-DVD)
Actors: Dune
Format: AC-3, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English
Region: Unknown. Read more about region encoding and how it may affect you here.
Rating
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Release Date: November 28, 2006
Run Time: 137 minutes
Average Customer Review: based on 152 reviews. (Writea review.)
ASIN: B000IONJH4

I've previously owned the Lynch version on DVD and the epic, three hour TV version that was shown on the Sci-Fi channel on a worn-out VHS tape. When this new extended edition dvd was released I jumped at the chance to get it. The extended version gives you much more detail and insight into the characters than the Lynch cut. While I find that the Lynch cut is enjoyable in it's own right I prefer the completeness of the extended edition. The shorter version just seems too rushed with too many gaps.

This version looks better, but then why not wait for the Blu-ray disc in that case..? And as for the Smithee cut: this is a badly slapped together mix of extra materials on top of the original version. If you are a big fan of the movie, like myself, you will definitely enjoy the extra scenes, but I will not recommend it to anyone looking for a coherent narrative or goof-free film..

Basically this movie is a 2 1/2 hour snooze fest which has an action scene to get you excited for what is perceived to be more entertainment, only to abruptly end. The movie is very dense, and doesn't reiterate any important events that are given in dense chunks of information. Instead what the movie does is offer many reminders to unimportant events, often several times per event. Such as Jessica sees her son Paul is alive. She is excited he is alive, then she thinks "Paul is alive." And then later on she will say once more that she is glad her son is alive. We as the viewers readily see that Paul is alive, and yet we are treated to several reminders, just incase we didn't pick up on it the first three times. Whereas complex political relationships aren't expanded upon, or re-explained, they are briefly described and then you are left in a cloud of confusion. Another complaint would be the constant thoughts of the characters you are treated to, such as Jessica thinking "my son is alive" these events occur often, and add nothing to the movie, they serve to break up the flow of the film. Paul has one such thought episode, which is useful (the only one in the entire film) which he describes an on screen item, and explains its function as well as his actions regarding it, giving us viewers a real treat, relevant information. The special effects were cheesy in some parts, such as sound guns which we only sometime see projectile being ejected from and the Fremen's blue within blue eyes that only show up half of the time they are on screen.
This movie could have been a good movie if they cut the film to half of its length and removed the several reiterations of events occurring only seconds before. The movie ends up being all a set up for the final confrontation between House Atreides and House Harkonnen, which itself seems rushed due to the great length of the film. The film should have spent less time setting up the story and more time dealing with the actual story.

I know many people did not like this because it was so different from the book. But in all honesty, Dune was a rich and complex book and you could only capture so much within a movie-length feature. I was disappointed in how Baron Harkonnen was portrayed, but otherwise, the movie was fairly satisfying for me. I was happy to have gotten the extended edition, because this one is better than the basic one.

Ok, the special effects are great for the time this movie was made, but that's really all this movie has going for it. I am most disappointed by having to give this a full star rating. The plot is mechanical with a lame voice-over back story. The characters shallow and lacking any legitimate motivations or redeeming quality. Honestly, I can't see what all the hype is about.