Warner Bros. released the first official trailer for Dune yesterday. I watched it. Although it is a nice looking trailer, I’m not convinced it will be a great movie or worth going to a movie theater to watch it.
The book in which the movie is based on and shares a name is a science fiction masterpiece. Written by the late Frank Herbert, it was first published in two separate serials in Analog magazine in 1965. It shared the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1966. It also won the first-ever Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966.
I first learned of the book when I was very young. I don’t remember when it was, but it was around the time I was first learning to read. It had to be sometime in the early 1970s. I saw a copy at the Quartz Hill Public Library, and it immediately drew me in.
The art, in retrospect, was quite cheesy. I was drawn to it because it seemed to take place in a desert. I lived in a desert. The people on the cover wore capes. I liked capes. I didn’t understand why it showed giant earthworms, but I was intrigued. I then opened the book. I quickly realized it was not for kids. The book not only contained no pictures, but the words were tiny and packed close together.
I would have to wait to read this book.
Dune (the book) is a masterpiece
I eventually read Dune. I also read Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, the next books in the franchise. Even though there are other books after Children of Dune, I decided not to read them. As I said earlier, Dune is a masterpiece. Dune Messiah was not as good as Dune. Children of Dune was not as good as Dune Messiah. I discovered a pattern. I theorized that if I kept reading the Dune books, with each sequel demonstrably inferior to its predecessor, I would quickly hate the entire franchise. I did not want that to happen, so I stopped.
That’s not to say I won’t ever go back and read all of the books. That may still happen.
Late last year, I bought Dune: Deluxe Edition.
It’s a beautiful book. Like a lot of the books sitting on my shelves, I’ve not gotten around to reading it. Or, in this case, re-reading it. Not only do I love to read science fiction books, but I also love to buy science fiction books. I have books on my shelves I bought years ago that I still haven’t read.
Dune was already turned into a terrible film in 1984. I fail to see why the world needs another terrible Dune movie. Denis Villeneuve directs this upcoming version.
The last film he directed was Blade Runner 2049. I don’t think anyone will ever accuse Blade Runner 2049 of being a better film than the original Blade Runner. At least I hope not. I found Blade Runner 2049 to be slow and boring. Maybe the unnecessary sequel to Blade Runner was bad because Denis Villeneuve was preoccupied with thinking about how awesome his Dune movie was going to be, and because of that, he half-assed Blade Runner 2049.
If you want to watch the official trailer of Dune, here it is:
David Lynch’s attempt to bring Dune to the screen is considerably better than this horrible mess from Villeneuve. Lynch’s Dune had style, gravitas and on the whole great acting. This modern take from Villeneuve has none of these things.