Dune (Blu-ray)

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Rating: PG-13

Starring:

Francesca Annis as Lady Jessica

Leonardo Cimino as The Baron’s Doctor

Brad Dourif as Piter De Vries

José Ferrer as Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV

Linda Hunt as Shadout Mapes

Freddie Jones as Thufir Hawat

Richard Jordan as Duncan Idaho

Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides

Virginia Madsen as Princess Irulan

Silvana Mangano as Reverend Mother Ramallo

Everett McGill as Stilgar

Kenneth McMillan as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen

Jack Nance as Nefud

Siân Phillips as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam

Jürgen Prochnow as Duke Leto Atreides

Paul L. Smith as The Beast Rabban

Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck

Sting as Feyd Rautha

Dean Stockwell as Doctor Wellington Yueh

Max von Sydow as Doctor Kynes

Alicia Witt as Alia

Sean Young as Chani

Danny Corkill as Orlop

Honorato Magaloni as Otheym

Judd Omen as Jamis

Molly Wryn as Harah

Directed by David Lynch

Special Features:

Deleted Scenes

Designing Dune

Dune FX

Dune Models & Minatures

Dune Wardrobe Design

D-Box Motion Enabled

Other Info:

Widescreen (2.35:1)

DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

French Language

French and Spanish Subtitles

Running Time: 137 Minutes

The Details:

The following is the official description of the film:

“Dazzling special effects, unforgettable images and powerful performances highlight David Lynch’s stunning film version of Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction epic about an intergalactic warrior’s messianic rise. Starring Kyle MacLachlan, José Ferrer, Max von Sydow, Oscar winner Linda Hunt and Sting, Dune is the ultimate adventure experience that goes beyond the imagination.”

“Dune” is rated PG-13.

The Movie:

“Dune” finally gets the Blu-ray treatment. Unfortunately, “Dune” fans probably aren’t going to be that happy with it. Rather than having the extended version, this only has the theatrical version which is 40 minutes shorter. It’s quite obvious they’re planning for some special edition Blu-ray sometime in the future. The picture has some technical problems, too. I typically don’t notice problems in picture or sound quality, but even I could see specks and scratches in the image. They’re most notable in the desert scenes. So it’s quite apparent this movie needs to be restored.

“Dune” fans will also be unhappy that there are no new bonus features. These are the same ones from the recently released extended edition DVD. If you’re looking for more, you’re out of luck. There’s no commentary and none of the actors contribute to any of the featurettes. However, what remains is decent. A few deleted scenes are introduced by Raffaella De Laurentiis who explains that there was never a 4 hour cut of the film, but they had intended to do a 6 hour version. This is followed by a few deleted scenes. One shows Paul crying for a man he has killed. Another scene shows Kyle MacLachlan as Paul offering himself as a sacrifice to the family’s traitorous assistant. This is followed by him taking on Virginia Madsen who plays Princess Irulan as his wife. The other deleted scenes are less noteworthy. The rest of the extras are featurettes discussing the design of the film, the special effects, the models and miniatures, and the wardrobe. The original artists and crew are interviewed for these pieces. It’s very interesting and you begin to really appreciate the design work that went into the film. It’s a shame it all had to get bogged down by a bad script.

Unfortunately, this Blu-ray is not the definitive edition of the film. If you’re a “Dune” fan, the Extended Edition DVD is still the version to go with. If you’re not a “Dune” fan, then I still think the SCI FI Channel mini-series is a better adaptation of the novel. It’s a lot less weird and convoluted.

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