Opening

87% Star Trek Into Darkness May 16
22% Erased May 17
91% Frances Ha May 17
44% The English Teacher May 17
42% Black Rock May 17
77% Pieta May 17
—— Populaire May 17
21% 33 Postcards May 17

Top Box Office

78% Iron Man 3 $72.5M
50% The Great Gatsby $50.1M
47% Pain & Gain $5.0M
37% Peeples $4.6M
77% 42 $4.6M
56% Oblivion $4.1M
69% The Croods $3.6M
98% Mud $2.5M
8% The Big Wedding $2.5M
60% Oz the Great and Powerful $1.1M

Coming Soon

—— The Hangover Part III May 23
77% Fast & Furious 6 May 24
—— Epic May 24
94% Before Midnight May 24

Dune (1984)

tomatometer

33

Average Rating: 2.2/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 4

No consensus yet.

audience

65

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 68,622

My Rating

Movie Info

David Lynch wades through dark waters in his adaptation of Frank Herbert's cult science fiction novel. In condensing Herbert's rambling and complex book by eliminating characters and compacting events, Lynch succeeds in rendering the story incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the novel and making the film look like a sketchy greatest hits collection of the book for Herbert fans. The story takes place in the year 10,191. The universe is governed through a system of feudal rule, presided over

PG-13,

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Mar 16, 1998

MCA Universal Home Video

Watch It Now

Cast

ADVERTISEMENT

All Critics (40) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (18) | DVD (35)

Most sci-fi movies offer escape, a holiday from homework, but Dune is as difficult as a final exam. You have to cram for it.

July 18, 2011 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The problem is that the imagery isn't rooted in any story impulse, and so its power dissipates quickly.

July 18, 2011 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comments (3)
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Dune is a huge, hollow, imaginative and cold sci-fi epic.

March 26, 2009 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Lynch's third feature may have been a commercial disaster, but it gets under your skin and is marked by unforgettable images and an extraordinary soundtrack.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This movie is a real mess, an incomprehensible, ugly, unstructured, pointless excursion into the murkier realms of one of the most confusing screenplays of all time.

October 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comments (19)
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Several of the characters in Dune are psychic, which puts them in the unique position of being able to understand what goes on in the movie.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comments (6)
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Critics at the time labeled it "confusing"; I don't see how, considering that you hear what everyone is thinking, all the time, and they repeat their key thoughts constantly so that their actual acting never has to do the job of telling the story.

January 7, 2013 Full Review Source: Topless Robot

There's not a shred of humor in it, and it's a bleak look at humanity's future. But I was swept into the fantastic world.

July 30, 2012 Full Review Source: 7M Pictures
7M Pictures

What we get, at best, are enthralling shots. At worst, most scenes seem out of a stilted chamber-drama, with backstory-burdened dialogue and stiff lines. A soporific languor often takes hold. Certain moments just come off as kitschy.

July 24, 2012 Full Review Source: Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

Misconceived, incomprehensible, and only decently executed, Dune is arguably Lynch's weakest film in an otherwise brilliant output.

April 13, 2012 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com
EmanuelLevy.Com

It's not for everyone, but if you don't mind the brain-bending confusion of the plot and occasional feeling of '80s high camp, this isn't as bad as its detractors would have it.

July 18, 2011 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine

Mammoth, unwieldy and completely ahead of its time.

July 18, 2011 Full Review Source: Film4
Film4

Visually delightful but choppy, confusing, and overloaded with exposition.

July 18, 2011 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Anyone looking for a satisfying and coherent science fiction epic will have to look elsewhere.

April 25, 2010 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid
Combustible Celluloid

Now, in a far less Star Wars saturated landscape, Dune can be viewed as what it is: a brilliant mistake, misguided from the start but still aesthetically satisfying.

April 18, 2010 Full Review Source: PopMatters
PopMatters

The movie is insane; it's textbook Lynch.

July 30, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comments (2)
eFilmCritic.com

Lynch's most glaring failure.

June 1, 2007 | Comments (6)
ColeSmithey.com

If you think David Lynch is the Kwisatz Haderach, baby, have I got a movie for you.

February 22, 2006 Full Review Source: Film Freak Central
Film Freak Central

It's like watching a Reader's Digest synopsis of the novel.

February 11, 2006 Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page
Sci-Fi Movie Page

Audience Reviews for Dune

Very underrated film adaptation from Frank Herbert's majestic science fiction epic. Here is a interesting work of art which is most certainly a flawed but interesting work from it's talented director David Lynch.
Dune is a rare film that mixes more commercial touches into dreamy and surreal moments with resulting a oddly fascinating whole and world. In it's core Dune is pure Lynch. There are moments of hypnotic brilliance here and from the very beginning it pulls you in into it's fantastical world where anything feels possible.
Dune has often noted as a failure in Lynch's filmography but i find it as one of his most interesting works. This film is actually much more accomplished than his own Eraserhead or the very overrated Blue Velvet. Maybe it is the clash of production clan of Laurentiis and Lynch that makes this so damn interesting to watch. There ae so many elements, so many fascinating characters and most of all so many great ideas at work here that Dune should be seen more than once. It is a film that needs to be seen at least twice.
Dune is also film with great production design by Anthony Masters and cinematography by Freddie Francis is something to behold also.
I just love Dune's atmosphere. Lynch has turned Herbert's world into beautiful dreamland with majestic dunes, dangerous sandworms and endless deserts that make even David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia to pale in comparision.
Dune is one of the most fascinating and best films of 80's. It is flawed and has too many ideas in it, but overall this is one gorgeous film to look and listen at. For the fans of science fiction and Lynch, Dune is a must see.
January 7, 2012
emilkakko

Super Reviewer

Ehhhhhh, its a decent sci-fi story. Its no eraserhead though and docent have the grittiness of blue velvet.
March 5, 2012
paul o.
paul oh

Super Reviewer

    1. Baron Vladimir Harkonnen: I want to spit, once, on your head.
    – Submitted by Donald K (3 months ago)
    1. Duke Leto Atreides: The sleeper must awaken.
    – Submitted by Asri S (14 months ago)
    1. Lady Jessica: A million deaths is not enough for Yueh.
    – Submitted by Asri S (14 months ago)
    1. Stilgar: Usually, we have wormsigns the likes of which even God have never seen.
    – Submitted by Asri S (14 months ago)
    1. Paul Atreides: I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
    – Submitted by Adrian G (19 months ago)

Discussion Forum

There are no discussion threads for Dune yet.

Latest News on Dune

June 6, 2008:
Zetumer in Talks to Pen New Dune
Josh Zetumer is in negotiations to write the screenplay of the upcoming Peter Berg-directed...

March 19, 2008:
Paramount Confirms Peter Berg as New Dune Director
It's official: Peter Berg is headed into the desert to take a crack at getting filmgoers excited...

December 28, 2007:
The Weekly Ketchup: Marvel Madness, Dune Gets its Director, Bruckheimer Makes Promises to Persia
In this week's Ketchup, we have two tidbits of Marvel madness, major progress on the Dune...

Foreign Titles

  • Dune - Der Wüstenplanet (DE)
  • Dune (1984) (CA)
Help | About | Jobs | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Mobile