Dune : 1984 vs 2021 - which one is better?

I grew up in the 1980s, in Dundee, Scotland, far flung from my native Baghdad. Not having a particularly enjoyable start to high school, I took refuge in the city's huge library to read Frank Herbert's legendary novel "Dune".

I had seen bits of the 1984 film but really immersed myself in the book, so much so that I ended up reading all 6 books within the series. The Dune universe provided an ideal and vivd escape during those turbulent early teenage years. Even at a young age, I remember the 1984 film version having quite an impact on me.

As I grew older, I had the chance to properly watch, over the course of 30 years or so, the 1984 film adaptation numerous times. Maybe because it was the first proper adaptation of the book, I felt that David Lynch's version absolutely nailed it when it came to capturing the overall feel of the book. Yes, the special effects were terrible in places, but the tone and sincerity of the film was something that I could absolutely relate to. The set design and artistic approach really set the scene for the Dune universe, one that was grand, sprawling and full of depth.

Take for example, one of the first scenes when the Spacing Guild meets the Emperor. This is one of my favourite set pieces in the film and I love the costume design and depiction of the Guild Navigator. Absolutely fantastic and exotic.

Dune has been labelled notoriously difficult to convert to the big screen, for several reasons. It is a hugely expansive work of literature that covers numerous themes such as politics, religion, science and ecology. It runs at just over 600 pages, and is set on numerous alien worlds, some 10,000 years into the future.

I felt David Lynch was a good choice of director, as he has a reputation for being left field and taking an unorthodox approach in his film making. The perfect choice for tackling a seemingly impenetrable subject matters.

I felt that even this film poster manages to capture the serious tone of the novel, understated but focused in it's intent.

So, this was how things were....up until 2021.

Early in the 2020s, when news broke that Denis Villeneuve was working an a new version of the film, I think it was fair to say that both myself and countless other fans of the books, were really excited at this prospect. It had been almost 40 years since the David Lynch version, and to be honest I'm surprised it took that long for a remake to surface.

Some leaks of possible trailers began to surface on YouTube, around a year before the official trailer was released. From what I could see, I was quite tantalised at the possibilities as to what a fresh reboot of the Dune world could bring to the table. When the first official trailer came out, I think most people, including myself, were blown away by the big budget visuals that were absent in the first film :

Despite all this however, I had a niggling doubt in my mind, that the trailer gave the impression of a film that seemed a bit too "corporate" for my liking, eschewing the more nuanced art house approach of the '84 version. It seemed almost like a Disney film, not exactly my take on Frank Herbert's universe.  Trailers can be notoriously misleading, so I thought I would reserve judgement until the actual theatrical release.

I went to see the film towards the end of 2021, when it was released here in the UK. My initial impressions were that while visually stunning, and brimming with modern up to date interpretations of the book, I came away feeling a bit disappointed. Just to make sure I wasn't overreacting, I then watched the film again at home in December 2022, nearly a year later. My views however, had not changed much.

Essentially, my initial fears garnered from the trailer proved to be accurate. To me, the film felt a bit hollow in many places. No amount of special effects wizardry could substitute for a lack of depth that pervaded much of the film.

Let's talk about the acting first. I felt that Timothee Chalamet was the wrong choice to play Paul Atreides. Timothee just did not have the screen presence to carry off such a pivotal character onto the big screen. A thin wisp of a man, both physically and figuratively, he did not come across as a messiah in waiting, but more moody teenager.

Contrast this to Kyle Maclachlan, who I felt managed to capture the very serious nature of the kwisatz haderach. His performance as Paul Atreides perfectly balanced the coming of age of a talented young man thrust into the maelstrom of intergalactic politics.  

Next up is the Baron Harkonnen, this time played by Stellan Skarsgård. Again, this was a poor choice of actor to play the role of the menacing Baron. He had very few lines to say within the film, and displayed absolutely none of the stomach churning charm that the '84 version had. It was a very unconvincing, pantomime like depiction of a supposedly sadistic person.

In fact it was that bad, that it reminds me of an old age pensioner with a chronic long term illness. Hardly the stuff of nightmares.

Contrast this with the fantastic Kenneth McMillan version, which was brilliantly evil, deviant and physical - all at once. I remember watching him as a youngster and thinking, this guy is one nasty piece of work.

His depiction was very real, and also very relatable. He was as I imagined him to be in the book.

I can go on and on about how weak much of the acting was. Dr Yueh, was unfortunately again, a real let down. A mere shadow of the previous version played by Dean Stockwell. The 2021 version was played by Chang Chen, and to be fair, he did at least look the part to some degree. However his delivery of his lines were anaemic and did not feel as if they had any real weight to them. In the 1984 version, we see Dr Yueh crying his heart out after he betrayed the Duke, knowing full well that he had made a deal with the devil. There was nothing of the sort of this type of emotional punch in this version.

For one last example, let's just mention the twisted mentat, Piter de Vries. I really don't know who was in charge of the casting, but they dropped another clanger with this one. David Dastmalchian, looked more like a wet lettuce than a scheming genius. Very understated and unconvincing. Again, compare this with the masterful Brad Dourif, who really captured the unhinged brilliance of the renegade mentat.

I'll not go on about the other characters that I felt were given short shrift by poor acting/casting choices. You get my point.

It wasn't all bad. David Bautista was well cast and played the part of Glossu Rabban, but I still felt his 1984 version was superior.

To me, the visuals of the film, while stunning, seemed to dominate, and the acting took a back seat. The opposite could be said for the 1984 version. Give me convincing acting any day over glitzy special effects, otherwise you get something that feels a bit shallow and manufactured, as if put together by a committee.

I did like some of the attention to detail in some of the scenes. The depiction of the Voice was particularly satisfying, more so than the David Lynch interpretation.

I am grateful to Denis Villeneuve for having the courage to take on this project, and his decision to split the film into two parts was a good one. I've got a feeling part 2 might be a bit better, in that it may well be a bit more believable. I'm hoping they give the actors a bit more breathing room to actually bring the characters to life, rather than being some flat two dimensional shadows.

For me, the original 1984 film was simply superior. Despite the special effects being dire in places, some of the set designs and set pieces were totally believable. More importantly, the cast was extremely well chosen and delivered their parts with a passion and a realism that oozes out of the celluloid. You really felt as if this was a monumental event within the Universe, and a new Messiah had risen to lead the people.

What's even more amazing is that Lynch managed to tell the story in just over two hours. No mean feat.

While Dune Part 1 was a bit of a disappointment to some die hard fans like myself, I was so glad the book finally got the big budget treatment it deserves. Oh, and the soundtrack by the omnipresent Hans Zimmer was very good in my opinion. A lot of work was clearly put into making this version, and the attention to detail has to be commended. Indeed, it won 6 Oscars in 2022, despite all my misgivings.

I really liked the last ten minutes of Part 1, it really sets up the sequel very well indeed. Walking into the desert, and the film fading out at that point was a great piece of directing.

I'm absolutely looking forward to Part 2, and I know I'll enjoy it, regardless of my thoughts on part 1. Denis Villeneuve doesn't do things by half, and he will pull out all the stops to ensure the story has a fitting ending.

It will be a finale to watch out for, no doubt about it.