David Lynch’s one and to-date only foray into big budget science fiction, his 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sprawling epic Dune, stands now as a strange and wonderful side-trip in the director’s canon.
Much maligned upon its release for not being another Star Wars, Lynch brings his unique sense of narrative structuring to the unwieldy story, and while the results are likely to chafe viewers who want their space opera more straightforward, true Lynch fans will find much to enjoy in the odd voice overs, strange sound design choices and visual non-sequiturs. Kyle MacLachlan, who would later go on to icon status playing Agent Cooper in Lynch’s Twin Peaks, makes his screen debut as Dune’s hero Paul Atreides, the heir-apparent of an intergalactic dynasty who falls victim to a conspiracy when his family colonizes a desert planet that supplies the universe with the much needed “spice” – an all-purpose drug that can bend space and time. Boasting unbelievably detailed production design and a massive cast that features – to name a few – Jose Ferrer, Jurgen Prochnow, Linda Hunt, Sean Young, Dean Stockwell, Virginia Madsen and rock star Sting, David Lynch’s Dune stands as a fascinating and influential cinematic oddity that, despite its flaws, deserves to be re-evaluated for its many virtues, not the least of which is being uniquely Lynchian.
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