• Criticism Dune: the worm that devours cinema

  • Interview: Carolina Yuste, the actress who loves to dance and who shines in the comedy Sevillanas de Brooklyn

Many years have passed since

David Lynch

released his version of

Dune

.

It was in 1984 and it became a resounding commercial failure.

Now that

Denis Villeneuve's

new

Dune

hits theaters, we compare one and the other.

The PROJECT AND the directors

In 1984, David Lynch had not directed

Lost Highway

or the

Twin Peaks

series

, but

Eraser Head

and

The Elephant Man

. His

project to adapt Frank Herbert's original novel

published in 1965 ran into the wishes of its producer, the

mythical Dino De Laurentiis

(

La Strada

,

Serpico

), who wanted a new

Star Wars

just a few years after the success of George Lucas.

He trusted first in Ridley Scott and later in David Lynch. Lynch did not agree with many proposals that the producer threw him and this generated all kinds of differences between them, referring to

problems with the script, financial problems ... and even parallel productions

and new versions that the director rejected.

A failure at the box office (it

only grossed 30 million after having cost 40

) and critics ended up making

Dune

, years later, a rarity to be vindicated in cinephile circles.

Now, Denis Villeneuve (

Sicario

,

Blade Runner 2049

) has had

more support and freedom to put together his new version

, which has cost 165 million ... and hopes to raise at least the same amount.

And, by the way, with Villeneuve himself as executive producer.

THE STAGE

Comparing a blockbuster from the 80s with a current one is complicated and unfair in terms of special effects or technical means.

The special effects used in 1984 were rudimentary

and took a lot of imagination to see a character fly or models that pretended to be ships moving at high speed. Not to mention images with thousands of extras and 70 sets used. Now, the deployment of means used by Villeneuve is overwhelming.

Sequences of

air attacks with a thousand and one explosions, appearances of the worms of the planet Arrakis

or more modest fight scenes is well resolved.

Like the work of Greig Fraser, the cinematographer, who worked on

Rogue One

and

The Mandalorian

series

, and who has recognized that the aesthetics of the new

Dune

and that of

Star Wars

have many similarities.

THE STORY, in one or two parts

The

David Lynch

film

was initially eight hours long, which were reduced to two and a half hours.

Almost like Denis Villeneuve in the new

Dune,

which, if all goes well, will be followed by a second installment.

Hence, I start with the title of Part 1.

That seems to have been

the great success of Villeneuve

, who has been able to take the time necessary to tell the tribulations of young Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), include many flashforwards in which he and Chani (Zendaya) appear while posing action sequences and introduces the characters.

Something that, for some who have seen it,

is redundant and trusts everything to a commitment to visual aesthetics

, extended by the soundtrack of Hans Zimmer.

Despite everything,

the arrival of the Atreides to Arrakis and their subsequent fall from grace

continues to be present in both films, with key moments such as the air raid, the appearance of worms or the attempted assassination of young Paul.

Some cuts in Lynch's tape made character performances incomprehensible if the book had not been read.

THE CAST

An Oscar winner (

Javier Bardem

), an actress revered by moviegoers (

Charlotte Rampling

), established young people like

Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet

and even action movie stars like

Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa

make up a cast ready to triumph over the role in the 2021 version. Each of them has at least one long sequence to show off.

Although

David Lynch

did not fall short either.

In addition to having a

young Sting

, he gave the first great opportunity of his professional life to

Kyle MacLachlan

(who would later collaborate with him on

Blue Velvet

and

Twin Peaks

) and brought together actors as diverse but time-marked as

Max von Sydow, Silviana Mangano, Linda Hunt or José Ferrer.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • cinema

  • culture

The 14 hit movies of this summer

D'Artacán and the three Mosqueperros, Derailed and all the movie premieres of the week

Billboard September 17 Dune, The unemployment club and all the premieres of the week

See links of interest

  • Last News

  • Work calendar

  • Home THE WORLD TODAY

  • Master Investigation Journalism

  • Series

  • Sassuolo - Torino

  • Celta de Vigo - Cádiz

  • Newcastle United - Leeds United

  • Strasbourg - Metz

  • Wolverhampton Wanderers - Brentford