diff --git "a/1ab0e558-0ace-4264-b248-36161677cff9.json" "b/1ab0e558-0ace-4264-b248-36161677cff9.json" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/1ab0e558-0ace-4264-b248-36161677cff9.json" @@ -0,0 +1,40 @@ +{ + "interaction_id": "1ab0e558-0ace-4264-b248-36161677cff9", + "search_results": [ + { + "page_name": "Dune (2021) vs. Dune (1984): What Are the Differences? | Den of Geek", + "page_url": "https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/dune-2021-vs-dune-1984-the-differences/", + "page_snippet": "Frank Herbert\u2019s classic Dune has been adapted by both Denis Villeneuve and David Lynch, and the results are strikingly different.To return to the music, it can be as telling as the fact that instead of going for a pop rock band to score the main theme, Villeneuve tapped Hans Zimmer to \u201cinvent\u201d new instruments and sounds for the Fremen culture. One approach will likely appeal to you more than the other. So long as the spice still flows, either way you get to Arrakis is worth a go. No? ... Dune (2021) is in theaters, and both movies are on HBO Max. It also led to bold choices in the Dune (2021) production design with Paul\u2019s home world being filled with stone masonry and heavy wooden furniture. It underscores the feudal quality of this society, and the long history of Paul\u2019s family. By contrast, the technology and look of House Atreides in Dune (1984) is more traditional 1980s sci-fi movie aesthetics. The pacing and storytelling structure is so top-heavy and unwieldy that it makes the plot impenetrable to most newcomers. It\u2019s one of the key reasons Gene Siskel and Robert Ebert famously declared Dune to be among the worst movies of 1984, with Siskel calling it an \u201cunintelligible gross out.\u201d It\u2019s also worth noting how after Madsen explains the general setup of Dune (1984) in the movie\u2019s prologue the film then transitions to Kaitain\u2014a planet never seen in the original Dune novel\u2014to then introduce the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV (Jos\u00e9 Ferrer) and his daughter Irulan conspiring with a fish-person.", + "page_result": "\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\n\n\n\t\n\tDune (2021) vs. Dune (1984): What Are the Differences? | Den of Geek\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
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Dune (2021) vs. Dune (1984): What Are the Differences?

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Frank Herbert\u2019s classic Dune has been adapted by both Denis Villeneuve and David Lynch, and the results are strikingly different.

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This article contains spoilers for Dune. Both of them.

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For miles stretching as far as the eye can see, oceans of sand slumber beneath two moons. In the distance, a pair of figures, a mother and son, cross this vast chasm of dunes on their quest to find those blue-eyed devils they call the Fremen. Yet as Paul Atreides and Lady Jessica move through the harsh landscape, they realize a creature\u2014a monstrous Sandworm the size of a skyscraper\u2014is headed straight for them.

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Am I describing Denis Villeneuve\u2019s new adaptation of Frank Herbert\u2019s literary masterpiece, Dune, or David Lynch\u2019s previous 1984 stab at the same material? Honestly, in moments like these, they\u2019re surprisingly similar: intended epics made by filmmakers committed to doing justice to what many believe is the finest science fiction novel ever written. And yet, more often than not, the differences are as colossal as the desert of Arrakis itself.

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Largely hated and dismissed in its time by critics and general audiences\u2014even its director isn\u2019t too fond of the finished product, taking his name off extended television cuts\u2014Lynch\u2019s Dune has developed a cult classic status in recent years. Indeed, you\u2019ve likely already seen spicy hot takes on social media where folks declare the once reviled adaptation produced by Dino De Laurentiis to be superior to the modern Hollywood spectacle helmed by the Oscar-winning auteur behind Arrival and Blade Runner 2049.

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Well, we\u2019re not here to tell you which you should prefer (although we have a clear preference). Rather the two films offer a fascinating case study in how the different choices made by different filmmakers, even while working toward the same goal and with the same source material, can produce vastly different results. Below are the variances, great and small, that when added together create viscerally diverging interpretations of a tale about a boy, a desert, and the spice melange\u2026.

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How the Dune Saga is Framed

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The biggest difference between the two films is that Villeneuve\u2019s movie is not an adaptation of the whole 1965 novel. In fact, it only covers about half the book, ending at a midway point where Paul Atreides (Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet) and his mother, the Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), have been cautiously accepted by a Fremen leader after Paul slew one of their men in holy combat.

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All the elements of Paul being fully embraced by the Fremen, leading them into a coordinated uprising against House Harkonnen, his fateful meeting with the Padishah Emperor, and even earning the name Muad\u2019Dib have been left for a second movie. As such, we won\u2019t be comparing the elements left to a second film beyond this point. However, the choice by Villeneuve to cut Dune into two movies already appears to be a prudent one by simple comparison with Lynch\u2019s movie.

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While the Lynch film has its fans, even the most ardent admirer will concede the back half of the picture, particularly the third act, is a dizzying narrative cluster where one damn thing happens after another. The pacing and storytelling structure is so top-heavy and unwieldy that it makes the plot impenetrable to most newcomers. It\u2019s one of the key reasons Gene Siskel and Robert Ebert famously declared Dune to be among the worst movies of 1984, with Siskel calling it an \u201cunintelligible gross out.\u201d

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Beyond not attempting to squeeze Herbert\u2019s whole sprawling yarn into two or even three hours, another fascinating choice made by Villeneuve\u2019s Dune is how it jettisons the framing device of the novel, where many of the chapters\u2019 events are foreshadowed with an excerpt from a history text written by the character Princess Irulan in the distant future. While Herbert frames the events of Dune as significant historical events among the ruling patrician classes of his intergalactic \u201cImperium,\u201d with a literal princess recording the events for posterity, Villeneuve\u2019s Dune begins with Zendaya\u2019s Fremen character Chani as the narrator.

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Immediately, we are asked to consider the events of Dune not through the gaze of the wealthy and elite that history so often memorializes, but from the vantage of the oppressed and forgotten, such as the Fremen freedom fighters who have already drawn blood from the villainous House Harkonnen\u2014the villains of the piece exploiting Arrakis when the movie(s) begin. Since this is ultimately a story about how the powerful exploit and manipulate large populations of people for natural resources, viewing it from the perspective of those who already have the boot on their face gives an instantly more visceral feeling to the material. It also causes the viewer to question the intentions of the film\u2019s protagonists, the more kind-hearted Atreides household who is still coming to Arrakis as stewards and rulers of the colonized, indigenous population.

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Lynch, by contrast, introduces his version of this universe with an exposition dump. It\u2019s actually accurate to the novel to have the exposition be narrated by Princess Irulan (Virginia Madsen), but the dialogue is clunky and heavy-handed, likely due to the awkward close-up of Madsen in front of a starry sky (but really an obvious blue screen), the result of a note from the producers after test screenings. These were the same notes that led to the disastrous postproduction choice of having nearly every character\u2019s inner-monologue narrated by the actors in scenes where it was never warranted.

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It\u2019s also worth noting how after Madsen explains the general setup of Dune (1984) in the movie\u2019s prologue the film then transitions to Kaitain\u2014a planet never seen in the original Dune novel\u2014to then introduce the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV (Jos\u00e9 Ferrer) and his daughter Irulan conspiring with a fish-person. If you haven\u2019t read Dune Messiah (1969), Herbert\u2019s second novel, you would have no foreknowledge that the Spacing Guild\u2019s navigators have mutated into fish creatures by sucking on too much spice melange. And if you missed a dropped line in Madsen\u2019s exposition dump a minute earlier about this fact (which many did), this scene is totally incomprehensible sci-fi gibberish, and a fairly awkward way to introduce us to the narrative.

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It\u2019s for this reason that we again give credit to the elegance of Villeneuve\u2019s approach which after a voiceover prologue that was light on jargon, Dune (2021) then gradually introduces you to its sci-fi concepts, just as our protagonist Paul Atreides becomes acquainted with them. It\u2019s actually how Herbert did it in the novel, and makes for a better approach than throwing viewers headfirst into the deep end.

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Caladan, House Atreides, and Paul

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Both films make similar choices in how they depict Caladan as a landscape and birthplace for Paul. If Arrakis, the desert planet where we spend most of the story, is horrifying for its blazing sun and merciless dry heat, then it is apt to highlight the wetness and greenery of Caladan. Each film depicts Caladan as perpetually overcast with gray clouds filled with moisture.

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And it is there we meet Paul and the people who raised him. Both Chalamet and Kyle MacLachlan do solid work as the young boy hero, although MacLachlan\u2019s interpretation more heavily emphasizes said heroism. Produced one year after Return of the Jedi, Lynch\u2019s Dune more openly presents Paul as a Luke Skywalker type with a gung-ho spirit that\u2019s ready for an adventure. He has a pretty lighthearted relationship with all of his father\u2019s men, including Gurney Halleck (Patrick Stewart), Thufir Hawat (Freddie Jones), and Duncan Idaho (Richard Jordan).

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Chalamet\u2019s Paul is more visibly brooding and introverted than MacLachlan\u2019s. While he is anxious to begin his life on Arrakis, and can still bust Josh Brolin\u2019s Gurney Halleck\u2019s chops, he also wears his responsibility more heavily. It is worth considering if this also has something to do with the direction of the characters\u2019 journey. Whereas Dune (1984) feels like a traditional hero\u2019s journey (more on that below), Villeneuve\u2019s variation embraces early on the faint tragic quality of the literary Paul, which will presumably be heightened if and when Villeneuve makes any sequels.

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Similarly, there is a stark funereal quality to how Villeneuve depicts the Atreides culture on Caladan. With most characters wearing blacks and grays, these appear to be an austere people. It also led to bold choices in the Dune (2021) production design with Paul\u2019s home world being filled with stone masonry and heavy wooden furniture. It underscores the feudal quality of this society, and the long history of Paul\u2019s family. By contrast, the technology and look of House Atreides in Dune (1984) is more traditional 1980s sci-fi movie aesthetics. With that said, the costuming is quite interesting in Lynch\u2019s film, with House Atreides resembling a kind of 19th century European militaristic society worthy of Prussia or the Ottoman Empire on their homeworld, and then looking more like a late 20th century Middle Eastern dictatorship when the Atreides arrive on Arrakis.

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The actual Atreides family and their courtiers are also notably different. Both Jurgen Prochnow and Oscar Isaac bring a bearded weariness to Duke Leto Atreides, however Rebecca Ferguson\u2019s Lady Jessica enjoys a much more domineering and authoritative quality over her household than Francesca Annis\u2019 version of the same character. The Lady Jessica of Dune (1984), like many of the female characters in that version, is often a passive observer of events instead of a major participant. It\u2019s an odd choice since Jessica is with Paul for his entire journey in the first novel, which is perhaps why the first time we see Paul not dreaming in Dune (2021), he\u2019s being instructed by his mother first in the witchy ways of the Bene Gesserit, establishing their unusual mother/son dynamic before we see him interact with anyone else.

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Villeneuve also does superb work making the Areides retainers more individually interesting. This is most apparent in the case of Duncan Idaho, who is supposed to be Paul\u2019s surrogate big brother and uber cool role model. Despite being played by a great character actor in the \u201984 version, Duncan Idaho is almost a nonentity in the movie and may have been a casualty of heavy reedits in post-production. Meanwhile Villeneuve cast the most swaggering superhero actor of the last few years with Jason Momoa, who has charisma as hot as any desert. His Duncan is so larger than life, he actually becomes the movie\u2019s one source of typical blockbuster fun\u2014making his death mean more later in the picture.

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House Harkonnen and the Baron

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Here is where the differences between both versions of Dune start becoming eye-popping. And for many, the loss of sight might\u2019ve been preferable to how the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is depicted by actor Kenneth McMillan and the legion of prosthetics applied to him by Lynch\u2019s makeup artists. The character of Baron Harkonnen is described as a grotesque, obese, and lascivious old man in Herbert\u2019s novel, and Lynch revels in that image and then amplifies its implied ugliness.

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In addition to emphasizing the character\u2019s size by putting him in a form-fitting suit that looks like an overgrown diaper, Lynch also gives the character repulsive lesions on his face, as if he had bad acne as a child and let it fester into a veritable parasite. The character\u2019s repellent lustfulness for young boys in the book is likewise heightened by Lynch, who makes a big set-piece out of the Baron seemingly raping a young male slave while holding court with his nephews, and then visibly killing the boy by bleeding him to death\u2014it was a Lynchian flourish that the Baron would force everyone under his control (including inexplicably himself?) to have their nipples turned into glorified wine corks, which when pulled would bleed the victim to death in an instant.

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Yet for all this grossness, Lynch and McMillian\u2019s interpretation of the villain is so luridly over-the-top and cartoonish that he ultimately resembles a disgusting clown instead of an evil mastermind\u2014a character who spends more time cackling about his vileness than displaying any sort of cold Machiavellian ruthlessness capable of slaughtering an entire family.

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Which could explain Villeneuve\u2019s determination to distance himself from that kind of villainy. Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd\u2019s Baron Harkonnen is still wildly overweight and reliant on anti-gravity technology to move his girth from Point A to Point B. However, his immensity is often obscured or merely hinted at, with Skarsg\u00e5rd underplaying the character as restrained and calculating in extreme close-up. Kind of like a latter day Brando, this Baron is quiet but still inexplicably larger than life, looming over anyone else in the scene.

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Villeneuve and company also perhaps wisely removed the homophobic and pedophilic elements of the character, which are present in the novel. In fact, the apple of the Baron\u2019s eye, his own golden boy nephew Feyd-Rautha (memorably played by rock star Sting in the 1984 movie) is totally removed for Villeneuve\u2019s first volume. Instead the filmmaker basks in the oppressive gloom of the Baron\u2019s world, seemingly evoking H.R. Giger in the menacing production design. Giger famously was supposed to design the Baron\u2019s world in Alejandro Jodorowsky\u2019s Dune movie which never got made. So Giger instead designed the title creature and alien spacecraft in Ridley Scott\u2019s Alien (1979).

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Frankly, there is no universe where Villeneuve\u2019s version of the Baron and his Giedi Prime is not superior to Lynch\u2019s, although I admittedly like the green fire pits Lynch uses in one matte painting establishing shot.

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The Bene Gesserit, Mentats, and World Building

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But if the Baron is the first significantly eye-catching distinction between the two Dune movies, it is also just one of many choices that distinguish the approaches between Villeneuve and Lynch\u2019s interpretations. And like the Baron, time and again the impulses seem to be divided between regal restraint and an almost comical grandiosity.

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Some of this is due simply to the difference of special effects, which after nearly 40 years of advancement seem almost unfair to compare. For instance, the forcefield shields that the richest members of House Atreides and Harkonnen use look much better in 2021, as a translucent second skin as opposed to an optical blob inserted on top of the film print. But that is partially due to the differences in technology, as well as Villeneuve having a major Hollywood budget, and Lynch being forced to deal with the relatively more limited means that comes with working outside the then-big six studios. (With that said, it was a cunning instinct by Villeneuve to have the shields glow blue when they deflect an object and red when they don\u2019t, making it easier to signal the difference to uninitiated viewers about how they\u2019re supposed to work.)

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Perhaps the best way to appreciate these aesthetics is to consider how the weirdness of Herbert\u2019s universe is built and developed between the two films. In Lynch\u2019s Dune, everything is broadly drawn to almost caricature levels. Mentats, the people raised to be essentially human supercomputers since birth, have wild hair and makeup designs which make them look like glam metal rockers who developed a bad case of syphilis. Whereas Villeneuve gives Stephen McKinley Henderson the faintest of makeup markings on his lips and an occasional digital eye effect to suggest an otherworldliness. Henderson also is asked to play a mentat as a wise, grandfatherly character instead of like a broad Dickensian portrait of snobbery.

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In the same vein, the Bene Gesserit appears radically different even while functioning the same in the story. In Lynch\u2019s film, most of the high-ranking members lean into the visual space oddity vibe of Baron Harkonnen. Silvana Mangano\u2019s Reverend Mother Mohiam particularly looks designed to suggest an androgynous, asexual aesthetic with the dark costume drawing attention to her starkly bald head. Even the eyebrows are shaved. Lady Jessica also adopts this look after becoming the Reverend Mother for the Fremen tribe on Arrakis. And yet, there is something regressively antiquated about this. It seems to suggest that in order to gain power, Jessica must give up her traditional femininity, as characterized by the loss of her hair. Lynch also seems to link sexuality to this trade, hence his greater focus on Jessica\u2019s concubine status with Duke Leto and (like the book) having her rely on her sensuality as much as \u201cthe Voice\u201d to manipulate and escape the Baron\u2019s men after she and Paul have been captured.

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Villeneuve\u2019s Bene Gesserit, by contrast, also lean into the weird, metaphysical side of Herbert\u2019s world-building. However, rather than relying on physical appearances or sexuality (or a lack thereof), Dune (2021) emphasizes these characters\u2019 witchiness as understood by the folk horror tradition out of European culture. When the Reverend Mother Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling) arrives on Caladan in the new adaptation, she and her former pupil, Jessica, are clad in flowing black cloaks and headdresses which recall a faint collective memory of how the fictional concept of a witch has been drawn for centuries. Even Hans Zimmer\u2019s score in these scenes resembles the chanting heard at the end of Robert Eggers\u2019 The Witch (2016).

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And when Ferguson\u2019s Lady Jessica uses the Voice, there isn\u2019t anything seductive or suggestive about it. It is, in fact, quite creepy how her voice develops a scratchy demonic quality, as if her vocal cords are being stretched along a violin\u2019s string. And when she uses it to escape from the Harkonnens\u2019 grasp, it is with the harshness of C.S. Lewis\u2019 White Witch that she commands her prey to \u201ckill him… Give me the knife.\u201d

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All of which provides the world in Villeneuve\u2019s Dune an ancient, foreboding quality, as if it\u2019s existed for millennia with eons of history and lore we\u2019ll never know. Lynch\u2019s world conversely seems to only exist in the frame of the story it is currently telling; it\u2019s operatic and melodramatic, but only makes as much sense in the moment it\u2019s occurring. Don\u2019t think too hard about why the Baron created an instant-kill switch on his own body, or how anyone can take these Mentats seriously. It\u2019s meant to be a big and gaudy \u201csci-fi movie,\u201d okay?

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The Fremen and Their Messiah

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It is somewhat ironic that the culture which is vital to the narrative of Herbert\u2019s literary Dune has yet to be fully explored on the big screen. In the case of Villeneuve, he left that for a potential \u201cPart Two,\u201d which may or may not ever come. And in the case of Lynch, the Fremen were largely left on the cutting room floor or out of the screenplay since in the theatrical, 130-minute version of the movie, they don\u2019t even really enter the plot until the 90-minute mark.

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Nonetheless, what little we see of both movies\u2019 Fremen indicates, again, a different set of priorities. In both films, the Fremen\u2019s presence is mostly teased out by Paul\u2019s visions and the character of Dr. Liet Kynes. In Lynch\u2019s film, as well as the novel, Dr. Kynes is an old male retainer from the imperial court who has gone native after living on Arrakis for 20 years. He is ably played by Max von Sydow in that movie, but due to the rushed narrative of the film\u2019s second half, he more or less vanishes from the picture after being condemned to death by the Baron. Sharon Duncan-Brewster\u2019s Dr. Kynes has been gender-flipped, and is also played by a Black woman, yet gets to develop more of the character\u2019s inherent authority and compassion from the book.

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We see Duncan-Brewster\u2019s Kynes struggle with ignoring the plight of House Atreides and then eventually agree to aid young Paul and his mother after they\u2019ve become exiles in the desert. Her death also has more weight than how Kynes dies off-screen in Lynch\u2019s film or in even the book, with this Kynes summoning a Sandworm to devour her and her killers. The thoughtfulness of this revision speaks to how the Fremen culture has been subtly reimagined overall in the 2021 film.

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In terms of appearance, the characters are more multicultural as opposed to the seemingly Caucasian descriptions of the Fremen in the book, and the outright whiteness of the whole cast in the 1984 movie. But then that\u2019s also a movie that casts a white man even in the one definitely non-white role from the book, Dr. Yeuh. In addition to the first significant Fremen characters in the 2021 film being played by actors of various backgrounds, including Javier Bardem, Zendaya, and Babs Olusanmokun, the new Fremen tribe feels more developed and foreign from Paul and Jessica\u2019s understanding of the world.

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Villeneuve embraces the Middle Eastern influences on Herbert\u2019s vision for the Fremen. While his movie noticeably avoids the word \u201cjihad,\u201d which is used freely by the Fremen and Paul in both the book and 1984 movie, more Arab-inspired words make it into the script, as do hints of an Islamic-inspired religious culture on Arrakis when we first arrive in the city of Arrakeen and witness the daily prayers.

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Most of all, however, the Fremen characters have much more agency in the 2021 film. While we\u2019ve only seen a hint of their culture teased, there is a greater deal of reluctance from Stilgar and his fellow Fremen to actually believe that Paul is a messianic figure. Jamis even challenges Paul to a duel, which is absent in the 1984 movie. Zendaya\u2019s Chani is likewise warier of this Paul Atreides kid. This is a noticeable departure from Sean Young\u2019s Chani, who like many of the female parts in the original adaptation is underwritten and vacant\u2014waiting to be swept off her feet.

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But that description could apply to the Fremen themselves, who eagerly accept Paul\u2019s leadership in 1984, including via tutelage in a vocal sonic weapon Lynch invented for his movie. And at the end of the film, they\u2019re more or less justified for idolatry since the denouement reveals Paul to truly be a magical messiah figure, even bringing rain to the desert.

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While we haven\u2019t yet seen how Chalamet\u2019s Paul will win the Fremen over, we imagine it will have a lot more room to breathe\u2014and it won\u2019t need to rely on feats of Christlike miracle either.

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Whatever Kind of Spice You Like

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It\u2019s probably clear if you\u2019ve read this far that I lean in favor of the 2021 film more than its \u201984 predecessor. Nonetheless, there are charms to be found in both films. Lynch\u2019s movie is the product of a B-production with A-picture aspirations being greenlit in the wake of Star Wars. The grandness of Lynch\u2019s ideas and images colliding with the limitations of his era creates an endearing, kitschy juxtaposition for many. Plus, there is something comfortingly nostalgic about \u201880s special effects and that wonderful theme by Toto, isn\u2019t there?

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Villeneuve has more advanced technology and the backing of a bigger budget to realize his own \u201cvisions,\u201d and he had the ability to learn from Lynch\u2019s mistakes and not attempt to squeeze an overabundance of story into a conventional running time. There is a bombast to his gargantuan IMAX photography as well, but there\u2019s also a subtlety that some will probably find pretentious. To return to the music, it can be as telling as the fact that instead of going for a pop rock band to score the main theme, Villeneuve tapped Hans Zimmer to \u201cinvent\u201d new instruments and sounds for the Fremen culture. One approach will likely appeal to you more than the other. So long as the spice still flows, either way you get to Arrakis is worth a go. No?

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Dune (2021) is in theaters, and both movies are on HBO Max.

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Tags: David LynchDenis VilleneuveDuneRebecca FergusonSci-fiTimoth\u00e9e Chalamet
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Written by

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\n\t\t\t\tDavid Crow\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\tDavid Crow is the movies editor at Den of Geek. He has long been proud of his geek credentials. Raised on cinema classics that ranged from…\t

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\n\t\n\n", + "page_last_modified": "" + }, + { + "page_name": "27 Differences Between The New \"Dune\" Movie And The One From 1984", + "page_url": "https://www.buzzfeed.com/evelinamedina/dune-differences-between-2021-1984", + "page_snippet": "The sleeper (me) has awakened, and all I wanna do is discuss Dune.The 1984 movie saw Leto paralyzed and strapped to a gurney while Baron Harkonnen gloated over him. He then released poison gas that he was hiding in a fake tooth, which only wounded Harkonnen but killed Leto himself. This is what happens in the 2021 movie, except that Leto is naked and seated at his own table, surrounded by Harkonnens who had just infiltrated his house. In the 1984 movie, they were accepted by the Fremen right away. However, there was a deleted scene in which Paul fought and killed Jamis, just as he does in the 2021 version. The 1984 movie actually has a lot of deleted scenes that you can find on YouTube, including a completely different ending. The baron's preferred method of movement is still floating around like a balloon, but I'll admit that the 2021 version makes it look a little more menacing and a little less accidentally humorous. This movie also ditched the signature bright orange hair of House Harkonnen, making its members bald instead. ... Maybe this is because I heard it first, but I personally prefer the 1984 pronunciation. This is what happens in the 2021 movie, except that Leto is naked and seated at his own table, surrounded by Harkonnens who had just infiltrated his house. He manages to kill all of them but the baron with his poisoned tooth, but the scene really illustrates just how badly Leto has been defeated. ... In the original movie, they were found by the Fremen right away, and Jessica was so hysterical over Leto's death that Paul had to keep them alive on his own. In the 1984 movie, they were accepted by the Fremen right away.", + "page_result": "27 Differences Between Dune 2021 And Dune 1984
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    27 Differences Between The New \"Dune\" Movie And The One From 1984

    The sleeper (me) has awakened, and all I wanna do is discuss Dune.

    \"Evelina
    by Evelina Zaragoza Medina

    BuzzFeed Staff

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    \n \n\n \n After an eternally long wait, Denis Villeneuve's Dune is FINALLY HERE.\n \n

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    Whatever you say, Lady Jessica.

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    \n \n\n \n This is the second attempt at a film adaptation of the novel Dune by Frank Herbert. The first one was released in 1984, directed by David Lynch, and starred Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides.\n \n

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    It was originally intended to have at least one sequel, but poor critical reception and box office performance nixed those plans. Between then and now, people are starting to acknowledge that it really wasn't that bad.

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    \n \n\n \n Here, for your own critical comparison, are all the differences between Lynch's Dune movie from 1984 and Villeneuve's from 2021:\n \n

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    \n \n 1.\n \n\n \n Villeneuve got rid of one of my least favorite aspects of the original Dune: the audible internal monologue for every major character. Thank you, Denis!\n \n

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    Hearing every single thought the characters had was unnecessary exposition and ultimately disrupted the action more than it helped explain anything.\u00a0\u00a0

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    \n \n 2.\n \n\n \n Even though narration is nowhere near as prominent in Villeneuve's movie, there is still an opening narration \u2014 but this time, it's delivered by Zendaya's Chani instead of Princess Irulan.\n \n

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    Chani's opening monologue is part of one of Paul's dreams, whereas Princess Irulan's in 1984 was just direct exposition delivered to the audience.\u00a0

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    \n \n 3.\n \n\n \n The Atreides family had a sweet little pug in the 1984 version. There is no pug in 2021's Dune, but there are adorable desert mice.\n \n

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    \n \n 4.\n \n\n \n Paul has a closer relationship with both his parents in the 2021 film, which is demonstrated by a couple of extra scenes that weren't in the original.\n \n

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    For example, Paul's conversation with Leto on the cliffs of Caladan, and Jessica's visible anguish while Gaius Helen Mohiam tested Paul, were welcome additions to the movie.

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    \n \n 5.\n \n\n \n Speaking of Paul's parents, Lady Jessica? She's an absolute BADASS now.\n \n

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    Not that 1984's Jessica was a slouch, but she was certainly a more passive character than this new version. Rebecca Ferguson absolutely nails it as a more powerful, aggressive, and straight-up cool version of the character.\u00a0

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    \n \n 6.\n \n\n \n The 2021 movie is sliiiightly funnier than the original.\n \n

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    I only counted about three jokes, and two of them came from Jason Momoa, but it's more than the original had!\u00a0

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    \n \n 7.\n \n\n \n Thankfully, Baron Harkonnen looks different than he did in 1984.\n \n

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    He's still pretty sinister to look at, but the absence of pustules is a huge improvement. The baron's preferred method of movement is still floating around like a balloon, but I'll admit that the 2021 version makes it look a little more menacing and a little less accidentally humorous. This movie also ditched the signature bright orange hair of House Harkonnen, making its members bald instead.

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    \n \n 8.\n \n\n \n On the subject of the Harkonnens, one change that really scrambled my brain was the fact that the movies pronounce the name differently.\n \n

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    1984: Har-KO-nnen

    2021: HAR-ko-nnen

    Maybe this is because I heard it first, but I personally prefer the 1984 pronunciation.

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    \n \n 9.\n \n\n \n Dr. Wellington Yueh is played by Taiwanese actor Chang Chen.\n \n

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    Even though the name Yueh is Chinese, the character was white in both the 1984 movie and the 2000 miniseries.

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    \n \n 10.\n \n\n \n The 2021 movie uses a few different languages, while the 1984 movie used only English.\n \n

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    Dr. Yueh and Paul speak Mandarin to each other, Jessica uses a type of sign language to communicate covertly, and the Fremen use a language called Chakobsa.

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    \n \n 11.\n \n\n \n Stilgar shows up much earlier, which we should all be thankful for because he is played by Javier Bardem.\n \n

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    He comes to visit the Atreideses when they move to Arrakeen, instead of showing up for the first time near the end, as he does in the 1984 version.

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    \n \n 12.\n \n\n \n The 2021 version really emphasizes the harsh conditions on Arrakis and how much the Atreideses have to adapt when they get there.\n \n

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    The 1984 movie made it clear that Arrakis was a desert planet, but not how dangerous it was to be outside for even a single moment without a stillsuit.

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    \n \n 13.\n \n\n \n Dr. Liet-Kynes is a woman in the new movie, portrayed by Sharon Duncan-Brewster.\n \n

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    The character is a man in the novel and was played by Max von Sydow in the original movie.

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    \n \n 14.\n \n\n \n Her death plays out differently than in the 1984 movie.\n \n

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    In the 1984 movie, Dr. Kynes was killed by the Harkonnens. In this movie, she sacrifices herself to give Paul and Jessica time to escape the\u00a0Sardaukar army. She does this by summoning the sandworm to come eat her and the\u00a0Sardaukar surrounding her.

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    \n \n 15.\n \n\n \n Obviously, the quality of CGI has improved drastically since 1984. As a result, everything in 2021's Dune looks much more realistic and expansive.\n \n

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    It seems almost unnecessary to mention this, but the dragonfly ships in the new movie are just too cool to ignore. With that said, the 1984 movie was really impressive at the time.

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    \n \n 16.\n \n\n \n Paul's visions are really, really different in both movies.\n \n

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    My apologies to Lynch, but I did not understand Paul's visions in the 1984 movie at all. They were full of metaphors and symbolism that, without the necessary context of the book, were more confusing than explanatory. Villeneuve's take on the visions was more literal and showed actual events and conversations that Paul might experience in the future. The visions/dreams also make up about 80% of Zendaya's screentime.

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    \n \n 17.\n \n\n \n Duncan Idaho has a much bigger role this time around, and Momoa is great in it.\n \n

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    1984's Duncan had a close relationship with Paul, but Momoa and Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet have great chemistry and more scenes together that really cement the bond between the characters. Duncan also died earlier in the 1984 version, but in this movie he survived the attack on Arrakeen and saved Paul and Jessica in the desert before going out in a sacrificial blaze of glory against the\u00a0Sardaukar. No one does a battle cry quite like Momoa, and Duncan's final moments gave me chills.

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    \n \n 18.\n \n\n \n The new movie had more combat scenes, which is always cool.\n \n

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    Duncan, Gurney, Paul, and Lady Jessica (!!) all kick major butt in this movie.

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    \n \n 19.\n \n\n \n Leto's death scene follows the same plot as the original movie but is different visually.\n \n

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    The 1984 movie saw Leto paralyzed and strapped to a gurney while Baron Harkonnen gloated over him. He then released poison gas that he was hiding in a fake tooth, which only wounded Harkonnen but killed Leto himself. This is what happens in the 2021 movie, except that Leto is naked and seated at his own table, surrounded by Harkonnens who had just infiltrated his house. He manages to kill all of them but the baron with his poisoned tooth, but the scene really illustrates just how badly Leto has been defeated.

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    \n \n 20.\n \n\n \n Paul and Jessica spend a much longer time lost in the desert after escaping Arrakeen and work together to survive.\n \n

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    In the original movie, they were found by the Fremen right away, and Jessica was so hysterical over Leto's death that Paul had to keep them alive on his own.

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    \n \n 21.\n \n\n \n Jessica and Paul are not immediately accepted by the Fremen, and Paul must fight a duel to the death before they are able to join them.\n \n

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    In the 1984 movie, they were accepted by the Fremen right away. However, there was a deleted scene in which Paul fought and killed Jamis, just as he does in the 2021 version. The 1984 movie actually has a lot of deleted scenes that you can find on YouTube, including a completely different ending.\u00a0

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    \n \n 22.\n \n\n \n Zendaya is only in seven minutes of Dune, and I know we're all upset about it, but I have to tell you: Her character, Chani, is already doing more than she did in the 1984 version.\n \n

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    In just a few shots, 2021's Chani seems knowledgeable, tough, and entirely unimpressed by Paul. 1984's Chani had maybe five lines and was shown doing little besides kissing Paul.

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    \n \n 23.\n \n\n \n There are a few characters from the 1984 movie that aren't in the 2021 movie, including the Emperor and Alia Atreides.\n \n

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    The Emperor is mentioned in the movie, and his desire to kill the Atreideses is what drives the movie's conflict, but we never actually see him. Alia is technically mentioned when we learn that Lady Jessica is pregnant, but at the end of the movie, she isn't born yet. Princess Irulan and Feyd-Rautha (who was played by Sting!) are also not in the new movie. The Emperor, Alia, and Irulan are likely to show up in Part 2\u00a0\u2014 that's just my assumption, since they're pretty important in the book \u2014 but who knows if we'll see another rock star embody Feyd.

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    \n \n 24.\n \n\n \n \"The sleeper has awakened\" was an oft-repeated line in the original movie, but nobody says it once in the 2021 movie.\n \n

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    It's not in the novel, either! But it's a meaningful line for Leto and Paul in the 1984 movie, so I was surprised not to hear it at all in the new one.

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    \n \n 25.\n \n\n \n Paul is resentful of the Bene Gesserit prophecy and even lashes out at Jessica because of it, which didn't happen in the 1984 movie.\n \n

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    In the 1984 movie, Paul was worried that he wouldn't live up to the prophecy, but this version of the character dismisses the prophecy as a myth and doesn't believe in it until the very end of the movie. Paul is also tormented by his prophetic dreams and worries that power will corrupt him.

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    \n \n 26.\n \n\n \n The plot of both movies is actually really similar until the ending.\n \n

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    In the 1984 version, there was a two-year time jump after Paul and Jessica are accepted as members of the Fremen. During this time, Alia is born, Jessica becomes the reverend mother of the Fremen, Paul and Chani begin their romantic relationship, and Paul drinks the Water of Life, which gives him powers and the ability to control the giant sandworms. He then reunites with Gurney Halleck and leads the Fremen in a final battle against the Harkonnens and the Emperor, during which Alia kills Baron Harkonnen and Paul defeats the Emperor. Finally, he uses his psychic powers to make it rain on Arrakis and is accepted as the\u00a0Kwisatz Haderach. On the other hand, the 2021 movie ends when Paul and Jessica join the Fremen.\u00a0

    Ultimately, Villeneuve's movie is clearly set up to have a sequel, while Lynch's movie had more of a conclusion.

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    \n \n 27.\n \n\n \n And finally, Jessica says the \"Fear is the mind killer\" monologue instead of Paul.\n \n

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    She repeats it like a sort of prayer whenever she's under duress, such as when her son is being tortured or the aircraft she's riding in is crashing into the sand.

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    \n \n\n \n Did you like the new Dune? Did you like it less or more than the original? Discuss below, please!\n \n

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    Share This Article

    ", + "page_last_modified": "" + }, + { + "page_name": "Dune: 4 Things The 1984 Movie Got Right (& 6 Things The 2021 Version ...", + "page_url": "https://screenrant.com/dune-1984-2021-comparison/", + "page_snippet": "Denis Villeneuve's re-adaptation of Dune was praised as a vast improvement over the David Lynch version from 1984, but that movie had its moments.Denis Villeneuve's re-adaptation of Dune was praised as a vast improvement over the David Lynch version from 1984, but that movie had its moments. When Denis Villeneuve\u2019s re-adaptation of Dune hit theaters last summer, it was instantly praised by critics as a vast improvement over David Lynch\u2019s previous attempt from 1984. The 1984 original featured Toto\u2019s first and only film score. Suffice to say, Zimmer\u2019s Dune music is more striking. As usual, he uses atmospheric noises and a wall of sound to engage the audience with the visuals. Zimmer\u2019s score is just as immersive as Fraser\u2019s cinematography. NEXT: 5 Ways Dune Is Denis Villeneuve's Best Movie (& 5 Alternatives) While the 2021 version of Dune is an undoubtedly better film than the 1984 version, Lynch\u2019s movie isn\u2019t a complete disaster. It\u2019s let down by its futile bid to cram the entire Frank Herbert opus into a single film, but at least it\u2019s well-acted and visually stunning. Villeneuve gave the seminal Frank Herbert novel the Lord of the Rings treatment, introducing moviegoers to its rich, complex, sprawling universe and its compelling cast of characters with promises of more exciting things to come. RELATED: Who Played Each Role Best In Dune 1984 Vs 2021?", + "page_result": "", + "page_last_modified": "" + }, + { + "page_name": "r/dune on Reddit: Dune 1984 was better than Dune 2021", + "page_url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/dune/comments/q775he/dune_1984_was_better_than_dune_2021/", + "page_snippet": "But the 80s were Huge for cinema ... marvel movies rule the world making something look pretty doesn't male up for depth which dune could have done better ... I watched the 2021 version tonight and immediately watched the 1984 version afterward. I found the new one to be emotionless and hollow. I adore BR2049 but I am ferociously disappointed in the lack of gravitas in this new Dune. I never quite realized how important the music and sound ...But the 80s were Huge for cinema might have been less special effects full of corny one liners and production value was way lower but I think today's movies are much more sterile which is why marvel movies rule the world making something look pretty doesn't male up for depth which dune could have done better ... I watched the 2021 version tonight and immediately watched the 1984 version afterward. I found the new one to be emotionless and hollow. I adore BR2049 but I am ferociously disappointed in the lack of gravitas in this new Dune. I never quite realized how important the music and sound design were to the creepy otherworldly feel. I adore BR2049 but I am ferociously disappointed in the lack of gravitas in this new Dune. I never quite realized how important the music and sound design were to the creepy otherworldly feel. 2021 is missing all of that. I can\u2019t even say the acting is any better in the new one. Visual effects go without saying, but I honestly think I prefer the 1984 edition. ... Completely agree - I kept waking up during the 2021 movie waiting for it to have some sense of importance but it kept droning on like an old professor who is so absorbed in his (regardedly brilliant) source material that he can't see past his solipsistic chimeric void of a 'vision' I watched the 2021 version tonight and immediately watched the 1984 version afterward. I found the new one to be emotionless and hollow. I adore BR2049 but I am ferociously disappointed in the lack of gravitas in this new Dune. I never quite realized how important the music and sound design were to the creepy otherworldly feel. 2021 is missing all of that. Lady Jessica was incredible in 2021, but I'll take Kyle any day. ... Seriously is was 1984 show me a actor that wasn't cheesy. The new dune is much easier to watch now but in 1984 you wouldn't have called it cheesy at all. Hearing what the characters are thinking would have given character development more depth but they wanted to highlight the cinematography. You can't compare a movie the dialogue or the technology from 1984 to now it's never going to match up we have come along way.", + "page_result": "\n \n \n \n Dune 1984 was better than Dune 2021 : r/dune\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n

    Your user agent facebookexternalhit/1.1 (+http://www.facebook.com/externalhit_uatext.php) has been identified as a social crawler. If this is not the\n case, please\n submit a bug report

    \n \n \n \n \n ", + "page_last_modified": "" + }, + { + "page_name": "Dune (2021) vs. Dune (1984): What Are the Differences? | Den of Geek", + "page_url": "https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/dune-2021-vs-dune-1984-the-differences/", + "page_snippet": "Frank Herbert\u2019s classic Dune has been adapted by both Denis Villeneuve and David Lynch, and the results are strikingly different.To return to the music, it can be as telling as the fact that instead of going for a pop rock band to score the main theme, Villeneuve tapped Hans Zimmer to \u201cinvent\u201d new instruments and sounds for the Fremen culture. One approach will likely appeal to you more than the other. So long as the spice still flows, either way you get to Arrakis is worth a go. No? ... Dune (2021) is in theaters, and both movies are on HBO Max. It also led to bold choices in the Dune (2021) production design with Paul\u2019s home world being filled with stone masonry and heavy wooden furniture. It underscores the feudal quality of this society, and the long history of Paul\u2019s family. By contrast, the technology and look of House Atreides in Dune (1984) is more traditional 1980s sci-fi movie aesthetics. The pacing and storytelling structure is so top-heavy and unwieldy that it makes the plot impenetrable to most newcomers. It\u2019s one of the key reasons Gene Siskel and Robert Ebert famously declared Dune to be among the worst movies of 1984, with Siskel calling it an \u201cunintelligible gross out.\u201d It\u2019s also worth noting how after Madsen explains the general setup of Dune (1984) in the movie\u2019s prologue the film then transitions to Kaitain\u2014a planet never seen in the original Dune novel\u2014to then introduce the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV (Jos\u00e9 Ferrer) and his daughter Irulan conspiring with a fish-person.", + "page_result": "\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\n\n\n\t\n\tDune (2021) vs. Dune (1984): What Are the Differences? | Den of Geek\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
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    Dune (2021) vs. Dune (1984): What Are the Differences?

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    Frank Herbert\u2019s classic Dune has been adapted by both Denis Villeneuve and David Lynch, and the results are strikingly different.

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    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\n\t\t\t\t\tBy David Crow | | | \n\t\t\tComments count:0\t\t\t\t
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    This article contains spoilers for Dune. Both of them.

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    For miles stretching as far as the eye can see, oceans of sand slumber beneath two moons. In the distance, a pair of figures, a mother and son, cross this vast chasm of dunes on their quest to find those blue-eyed devils they call the Fremen. Yet as Paul Atreides and Lady Jessica move through the harsh landscape, they realize a creature\u2014a monstrous Sandworm the size of a skyscraper\u2014is headed straight for them.

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    Am I describing Denis Villeneuve\u2019s new adaptation of Frank Herbert\u2019s literary masterpiece, Dune, or David Lynch\u2019s previous 1984 stab at the same material? Honestly, in moments like these, they\u2019re surprisingly similar: intended epics made by filmmakers committed to doing justice to what many believe is the finest science fiction novel ever written. And yet, more often than not, the differences are as colossal as the desert of Arrakis itself.

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    Largely hated and dismissed in its time by critics and general audiences\u2014even its director isn\u2019t too fond of the finished product, taking his name off extended television cuts\u2014Lynch\u2019s Dune has developed a cult classic status in recent years. Indeed, you\u2019ve likely already seen spicy hot takes on social media where folks declare the once reviled adaptation produced by Dino De Laurentiis to be superior to the modern Hollywood spectacle helmed by the Oscar-winning auteur behind Arrival and Blade Runner 2049.

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    Well, we\u2019re not here to tell you which you should prefer (although we have a clear preference). Rather the two films offer a fascinating case study in how the different choices made by different filmmakers, even while working toward the same goal and with the same source material, can produce vastly different results. Below are the variances, great and small, that when added together create viscerally diverging interpretations of a tale about a boy, a desert, and the spice melange\u2026.

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    How the Dune Saga is Framed

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    The biggest difference between the two films is that Villeneuve\u2019s movie is not an adaptation of the whole 1965 novel. In fact, it only covers about half the book, ending at a midway point where Paul Atreides (Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet) and his mother, the Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), have been cautiously accepted by a Fremen leader after Paul slew one of their men in holy combat.

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    All the elements of Paul being fully embraced by the Fremen, leading them into a coordinated uprising against House Harkonnen, his fateful meeting with the Padishah Emperor, and even earning the name Muad\u2019Dib have been left for a second movie. As such, we won\u2019t be comparing the elements left to a second film beyond this point. However, the choice by Villeneuve to cut Dune into two movies already appears to be a prudent one by simple comparison with Lynch\u2019s movie.

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    While the Lynch film has its fans, even the most ardent admirer will concede the back half of the picture, particularly the third act, is a dizzying narrative cluster where one damn thing happens after another. The pacing and storytelling structure is so top-heavy and unwieldy that it makes the plot impenetrable to most newcomers. It\u2019s one of the key reasons Gene Siskel and Robert Ebert famously declared Dune to be among the worst movies of 1984, with Siskel calling it an \u201cunintelligible gross out.\u201d

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    Beyond not attempting to squeeze Herbert\u2019s whole sprawling yarn into two or even three hours, another fascinating choice made by Villeneuve\u2019s Dune is how it jettisons the framing device of the novel, where many of the chapters\u2019 events are foreshadowed with an excerpt from a history text written by the character Princess Irulan in the distant future. While Herbert frames the events of Dune as significant historical events among the ruling patrician classes of his intergalactic \u201cImperium,\u201d with a literal princess recording the events for posterity, Villeneuve\u2019s Dune begins with Zendaya\u2019s Fremen character Chani as the narrator.

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    Immediately, we are asked to consider the events of Dune not through the gaze of the wealthy and elite that history so often memorializes, but from the vantage of the oppressed and forgotten, such as the Fremen freedom fighters who have already drawn blood from the villainous House Harkonnen\u2014the villains of the piece exploiting Arrakis when the movie(s) begin. Since this is ultimately a story about how the powerful exploit and manipulate large populations of people for natural resources, viewing it from the perspective of those who already have the boot on their face gives an instantly more visceral feeling to the material. It also causes the viewer to question the intentions of the film\u2019s protagonists, the more kind-hearted Atreides household who is still coming to Arrakis as stewards and rulers of the colonized, indigenous population.

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    Lynch, by contrast, introduces his version of this universe with an exposition dump. It\u2019s actually accurate to the novel to have the exposition be narrated by Princess Irulan (Virginia Madsen), but the dialogue is clunky and heavy-handed, likely due to the awkward close-up of Madsen in front of a starry sky (but really an obvious blue screen), the result of a note from the producers after test screenings. These were the same notes that led to the disastrous postproduction choice of having nearly every character\u2019s inner-monologue narrated by the actors in scenes where it was never warranted.

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    It\u2019s also worth noting how after Madsen explains the general setup of Dune (1984) in the movie\u2019s prologue the film then transitions to Kaitain\u2014a planet never seen in the original Dune novel\u2014to then introduce the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV (Jos\u00e9 Ferrer) and his daughter Irulan conspiring with a fish-person. If you haven\u2019t read Dune Messiah (1969), Herbert\u2019s second novel, you would have no foreknowledge that the Spacing Guild\u2019s navigators have mutated into fish creatures by sucking on too much spice melange. And if you missed a dropped line in Madsen\u2019s exposition dump a minute earlier about this fact (which many did), this scene is totally incomprehensible sci-fi gibberish, and a fairly awkward way to introduce us to the narrative.

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    It\u2019s for this reason that we again give credit to the elegance of Villeneuve\u2019s approach which after a voiceover prologue that was light on jargon, Dune (2021) then gradually introduces you to its sci-fi concepts, just as our protagonist Paul Atreides becomes acquainted with them. It\u2019s actually how Herbert did it in the novel, and makes for a better approach than throwing viewers headfirst into the deep end.

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    \"Oscar
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    Caladan, House Atreides, and Paul

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    Both films make similar choices in how they depict Caladan as a landscape and birthplace for Paul. If Arrakis, the desert planet where we spend most of the story, is horrifying for its blazing sun and merciless dry heat, then it is apt to highlight the wetness and greenery of Caladan. Each film depicts Caladan as perpetually overcast with gray clouds filled with moisture.

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    And it is there we meet Paul and the people who raised him. Both Chalamet and Kyle MacLachlan do solid work as the young boy hero, although MacLachlan\u2019s interpretation more heavily emphasizes said heroism. Produced one year after Return of the Jedi, Lynch\u2019s Dune more openly presents Paul as a Luke Skywalker type with a gung-ho spirit that\u2019s ready for an adventure. He has a pretty lighthearted relationship with all of his father\u2019s men, including Gurney Halleck (Patrick Stewart), Thufir Hawat (Freddie Jones), and Duncan Idaho (Richard Jordan).

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    Chalamet\u2019s Paul is more visibly brooding and introverted than MacLachlan\u2019s. While he is anxious to begin his life on Arrakis, and can still bust Josh Brolin\u2019s Gurney Halleck\u2019s chops, he also wears his responsibility more heavily. It is worth considering if this also has something to do with the direction of the characters\u2019 journey. Whereas Dune (1984) feels like a traditional hero\u2019s journey (more on that below), Villeneuve\u2019s variation embraces early on the faint tragic quality of the literary Paul, which will presumably be heightened if and when Villeneuve makes any sequels.

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    Similarly, there is a stark funereal quality to how Villeneuve depicts the Atreides culture on Caladan. With most characters wearing blacks and grays, these appear to be an austere people. It also led to bold choices in the Dune (2021) production design with Paul\u2019s home world being filled with stone masonry and heavy wooden furniture. It underscores the feudal quality of this society, and the long history of Paul\u2019s family. By contrast, the technology and look of House Atreides in Dune (1984) is more traditional 1980s sci-fi movie aesthetics. With that said, the costuming is quite interesting in Lynch\u2019s film, with House Atreides resembling a kind of 19th century European militaristic society worthy of Prussia or the Ottoman Empire on their homeworld, and then looking more like a late 20th century Middle Eastern dictatorship when the Atreides arrive on Arrakis.

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    The actual Atreides family and their courtiers are also notably different. Both Jurgen Prochnow and Oscar Isaac bring a bearded weariness to Duke Leto Atreides, however Rebecca Ferguson\u2019s Lady Jessica enjoys a much more domineering and authoritative quality over her household than Francesca Annis\u2019 version of the same character. The Lady Jessica of Dune (1984), like many of the female characters in that version, is often a passive observer of events instead of a major participant. It\u2019s an odd choice since Jessica is with Paul for his entire journey in the first novel, which is perhaps why the first time we see Paul not dreaming in Dune (2021), he\u2019s being instructed by his mother first in the witchy ways of the Bene Gesserit, establishing their unusual mother/son dynamic before we see him interact with anyone else.

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    Villeneuve also does superb work making the Areides retainers more individually interesting. This is most apparent in the case of Duncan Idaho, who is supposed to be Paul\u2019s surrogate big brother and uber cool role model. Despite being played by a great character actor in the \u201984 version, Duncan Idaho is almost a nonentity in the movie and may have been a casualty of heavy reedits in post-production. Meanwhile Villeneuve cast the most swaggering superhero actor of the last few years with Jason Momoa, who has charisma as hot as any desert. His Duncan is so larger than life, he actually becomes the movie\u2019s one source of typical blockbuster fun\u2014making his death mean more later in the picture.

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    \"Baron
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    House Harkonnen and the Baron

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    Here is where the differences between both versions of Dune start becoming eye-popping. And for many, the loss of sight might\u2019ve been preferable to how the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is depicted by actor Kenneth McMillan and the legion of prosthetics applied to him by Lynch\u2019s makeup artists. The character of Baron Harkonnen is described as a grotesque, obese, and lascivious old man in Herbert\u2019s novel, and Lynch revels in that image and then amplifies its implied ugliness.

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    In addition to emphasizing the character\u2019s size by putting him in a form-fitting suit that looks like an overgrown diaper, Lynch also gives the character repulsive lesions on his face, as if he had bad acne as a child and let it fester into a veritable parasite. The character\u2019s repellent lustfulness for young boys in the book is likewise heightened by Lynch, who makes a big set-piece out of the Baron seemingly raping a young male slave while holding court with his nephews, and then visibly killing the boy by bleeding him to death\u2014it was a Lynchian flourish that the Baron would force everyone under his control (including inexplicably himself?) to have their nipples turned into glorified wine corks, which when pulled would bleed the victim to death in an instant.

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    Yet for all this grossness, Lynch and McMillian\u2019s interpretation of the villain is so luridly over-the-top and cartoonish that he ultimately resembles a disgusting clown instead of an evil mastermind\u2014a character who spends more time cackling about his vileness than displaying any sort of cold Machiavellian ruthlessness capable of slaughtering an entire family.

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    Which could explain Villeneuve\u2019s determination to distance himself from that kind of villainy. Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd\u2019s Baron Harkonnen is still wildly overweight and reliant on anti-gravity technology to move his girth from Point A to Point B. However, his immensity is often obscured or merely hinted at, with Skarsg\u00e5rd underplaying the character as restrained and calculating in extreme close-up. Kind of like a latter day Brando, this Baron is quiet but still inexplicably larger than life, looming over anyone else in the scene.

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    Villeneuve and company also perhaps wisely removed the homophobic and pedophilic elements of the character, which are present in the novel. In fact, the apple of the Baron\u2019s eye, his own golden boy nephew Feyd-Rautha (memorably played by rock star Sting in the 1984 movie) is totally removed for Villeneuve\u2019s first volume. Instead the filmmaker basks in the oppressive gloom of the Baron\u2019s world, seemingly evoking H.R. Giger in the menacing production design. Giger famously was supposed to design the Baron\u2019s world in Alejandro Jodorowsky\u2019s Dune movie which never got made. So Giger instead designed the title creature and alien spacecraft in Ridley Scott\u2019s Alien (1979).

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    Frankly, there is no universe where Villeneuve\u2019s version of the Baron and his Giedi Prime is not superior to Lynch\u2019s, although I admittedly like the green fire pits Lynch uses in one matte painting establishing shot.

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    \"Lady
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    The Bene Gesserit, Mentats, and World Building

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    But if the Baron is the first significantly eye-catching distinction between the two Dune movies, it is also just one of many choices that distinguish the approaches between Villeneuve and Lynch\u2019s interpretations. And like the Baron, time and again the impulses seem to be divided between regal restraint and an almost comical grandiosity.

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    Some of this is due simply to the difference of special effects, which after nearly 40 years of advancement seem almost unfair to compare. For instance, the forcefield shields that the richest members of House Atreides and Harkonnen use look much better in 2021, as a translucent second skin as opposed to an optical blob inserted on top of the film print. But that is partially due to the differences in technology, as well as Villeneuve having a major Hollywood budget, and Lynch being forced to deal with the relatively more limited means that comes with working outside the then-big six studios. (With that said, it was a cunning instinct by Villeneuve to have the shields glow blue when they deflect an object and red when they don\u2019t, making it easier to signal the difference to uninitiated viewers about how they\u2019re supposed to work.)

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    Perhaps the best way to appreciate these aesthetics is to consider how the weirdness of Herbert\u2019s universe is built and developed between the two films. In Lynch\u2019s Dune, everything is broadly drawn to almost caricature levels. Mentats, the people raised to be essentially human supercomputers since birth, have wild hair and makeup designs which make them look like glam metal rockers who developed a bad case of syphilis. Whereas Villeneuve gives Stephen McKinley Henderson the faintest of makeup markings on his lips and an occasional digital eye effect to suggest an otherworldliness. Henderson also is asked to play a mentat as a wise, grandfatherly character instead of like a broad Dickensian portrait of snobbery.

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    In the same vein, the Bene Gesserit appears radically different even while functioning the same in the story. In Lynch\u2019s film, most of the high-ranking members lean into the visual space oddity vibe of Baron Harkonnen. Silvana Mangano\u2019s Reverend Mother Mohiam particularly looks designed to suggest an androgynous, asexual aesthetic with the dark costume drawing attention to her starkly bald head. Even the eyebrows are shaved. Lady Jessica also adopts this look after becoming the Reverend Mother for the Fremen tribe on Arrakis. And yet, there is something regressively antiquated about this. It seems to suggest that in order to gain power, Jessica must give up her traditional femininity, as characterized by the loss of her hair. Lynch also seems to link sexuality to this trade, hence his greater focus on Jessica\u2019s concubine status with Duke Leto and (like the book) having her rely on her sensuality as much as \u201cthe Voice\u201d to manipulate and escape the Baron\u2019s men after she and Paul have been captured.

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    Villeneuve\u2019s Bene Gesserit, by contrast, also lean into the weird, metaphysical side of Herbert\u2019s world-building. However, rather than relying on physical appearances or sexuality (or a lack thereof), Dune (2021) emphasizes these characters\u2019 witchiness as understood by the folk horror tradition out of European culture. When the Reverend Mother Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling) arrives on Caladan in the new adaptation, she and her former pupil, Jessica, are clad in flowing black cloaks and headdresses which recall a faint collective memory of how the fictional concept of a witch has been drawn for centuries. Even Hans Zimmer\u2019s score in these scenes resembles the chanting heard at the end of Robert Eggers\u2019 The Witch (2016).

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    And when Ferguson\u2019s Lady Jessica uses the Voice, there isn\u2019t anything seductive or suggestive about it. It is, in fact, quite creepy how her voice develops a scratchy demonic quality, as if her vocal cords are being stretched along a violin\u2019s string. And when she uses it to escape from the Harkonnens\u2019 grasp, it is with the harshness of C.S. Lewis\u2019 White Witch that she commands her prey to \u201ckill him… Give me the knife.\u201d

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    All of which provides the world in Villeneuve\u2019s Dune an ancient, foreboding quality, as if it\u2019s existed for millennia with eons of history and lore we\u2019ll never know. Lynch\u2019s world conversely seems to only exist in the frame of the story it is currently telling; it\u2019s operatic and melodramatic, but only makes as much sense in the moment it\u2019s occurring. Don\u2019t think too hard about why the Baron created an instant-kill switch on his own body, or how anyone can take these Mentats seriously. It\u2019s meant to be a big and gaudy \u201csci-fi movie,\u201d okay?

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    \"Chani
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    The Fremen and Their Messiah

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    It is somewhat ironic that the culture which is vital to the narrative of Herbert\u2019s literary Dune has yet to be fully explored on the big screen. In the case of Villeneuve, he left that for a potential \u201cPart Two,\u201d which may or may not ever come. And in the case of Lynch, the Fremen were largely left on the cutting room floor or out of the screenplay since in the theatrical, 130-minute version of the movie, they don\u2019t even really enter the plot until the 90-minute mark.

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    Nonetheless, what little we see of both movies\u2019 Fremen indicates, again, a different set of priorities. In both films, the Fremen\u2019s presence is mostly teased out by Paul\u2019s visions and the character of Dr. Liet Kynes. In Lynch\u2019s film, as well as the novel, Dr. Kynes is an old male retainer from the imperial court who has gone native after living on Arrakis for 20 years. He is ably played by Max von Sydow in that movie, but due to the rushed narrative of the film\u2019s second half, he more or less vanishes from the picture after being condemned to death by the Baron. Sharon Duncan-Brewster\u2019s Dr. Kynes has been gender-flipped, and is also played by a Black woman, yet gets to develop more of the character\u2019s inherent authority and compassion from the book.

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    We see Duncan-Brewster\u2019s Kynes struggle with ignoring the plight of House Atreides and then eventually agree to aid young Paul and his mother after they\u2019ve become exiles in the desert. Her death also has more weight than how Kynes dies off-screen in Lynch\u2019s film or in even the book, with this Kynes summoning a Sandworm to devour her and her killers. The thoughtfulness of this revision speaks to how the Fremen culture has been subtly reimagined overall in the 2021 film.

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    In terms of appearance, the characters are more multicultural as opposed to the seemingly Caucasian descriptions of the Fremen in the book, and the outright whiteness of the whole cast in the 1984 movie. But then that\u2019s also a movie that casts a white man even in the one definitely non-white role from the book, Dr. Yeuh. In addition to the first significant Fremen characters in the 2021 film being played by actors of various backgrounds, including Javier Bardem, Zendaya, and Babs Olusanmokun, the new Fremen tribe feels more developed and foreign from Paul and Jessica\u2019s understanding of the world.

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    Villeneuve embraces the Middle Eastern influences on Herbert\u2019s vision for the Fremen. While his movie noticeably avoids the word \u201cjihad,\u201d which is used freely by the Fremen and Paul in both the book and 1984 movie, more Arab-inspired words make it into the script, as do hints of an Islamic-inspired religious culture on Arrakis when we first arrive in the city of Arrakeen and witness the daily prayers.

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    Most of all, however, the Fremen characters have much more agency in the 2021 film. While we\u2019ve only seen a hint of their culture teased, there is a greater deal of reluctance from Stilgar and his fellow Fremen to actually believe that Paul is a messianic figure. Jamis even challenges Paul to a duel, which is absent in the 1984 movie. Zendaya\u2019s Chani is likewise warier of this Paul Atreides kid. This is a noticeable departure from Sean Young\u2019s Chani, who like many of the female parts in the original adaptation is underwritten and vacant\u2014waiting to be swept off her feet.

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    But that description could apply to the Fremen themselves, who eagerly accept Paul\u2019s leadership in 1984, including via tutelage in a vocal sonic weapon Lynch invented for his movie. And at the end of the film, they\u2019re more or less justified for idolatry since the denouement reveals Paul to truly be a magical messiah figure, even bringing rain to the desert.

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    While we haven\u2019t yet seen how Chalamet\u2019s Paul will win the Fremen over, we imagine it will have a lot more room to breathe\u2014and it won\u2019t need to rely on feats of Christlike miracle either.

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    Whatever Kind of Spice You Like

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    It\u2019s probably clear if you\u2019ve read this far that I lean in favor of the 2021 film more than its \u201984 predecessor. Nonetheless, there are charms to be found in both films. Lynch\u2019s movie is the product of a B-production with A-picture aspirations being greenlit in the wake of Star Wars. The grandness of Lynch\u2019s ideas and images colliding with the limitations of his era creates an endearing, kitschy juxtaposition for many. Plus, there is something comfortingly nostalgic about \u201880s special effects and that wonderful theme by Toto, isn\u2019t there?

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    Villeneuve has more advanced technology and the backing of a bigger budget to realize his own \u201cvisions,\u201d and he had the ability to learn from Lynch\u2019s mistakes and not attempt to squeeze an overabundance of story into a conventional running time. There is a bombast to his gargantuan IMAX photography as well, but there\u2019s also a subtlety that some will probably find pretentious. To return to the music, it can be as telling as the fact that instead of going for a pop rock band to score the main theme, Villeneuve tapped Hans Zimmer to \u201cinvent\u201d new instruments and sounds for the Fremen culture. One approach will likely appeal to you more than the other. So long as the spice still flows, either way you get to Arrakis is worth a go. No?

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    Dune (2021) is in theaters, and both movies are on HBO Max.

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    Comment:

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    Tags: David LynchDenis VilleneuveDuneRebecca FergusonSci-fiTimoth\u00e9e Chalamet
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    \n\t\t\"David\n\t\t
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    Written by

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    \n\t\t\t\tDavid Crow\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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    \n\t\tDavid Crow is the movies editor at Den of Geek. He has long been proud of his geek credentials. Raised on cinema classics that ranged from…\t

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