Brian Earl Spilner said:
I started David Lynch's Dune last night on Max (I'm about halfway through so far), and I have to say it's much more enjoyable than I was expecting going in. Sure, there's some incredibly dated and often laughable effects at times, but it's also really interesting seeing a completely different but equally cool production design that feels very much of its time. (I really like 80's sci-fi.) In that sense, it's pretty fun.
Then again, it also cements how amazing the new movies are when a lot of the stuff that's great about them are missing here. (The amazing sound design, the awesome designs for stuff like the ornithopters, the incredible Zimmer score, etc.)
But on the other hand, there's some extra detail here that's never shown in the DV version. (How exactly they travel in space by folding space, etc..)
Will post more thoughts once I finish it.
Some thoughts from the second half:
Pretty much feels like you're watching the last hour of Part 1 and all of Part 2 at 4x speed. Glossing over huge chunks of time.
It's hilarious how all of Paul and Chani's relationship is skipped over. They meet, Chani literally has two lines of dialogue with him, and the next scene is them madly in love.
The weirding modules are straight up dumb. Destroying stuff with their voices does not look cool.
Paul riding the worm looked laughable, especially compared to how epic it was in DV's version.
The guy playing the Baron is terrible.
But, I did learn that the spice is a byproduct of the worms. This is another neat detail that DV never gives us. (Assuming the same is true in the book?)
All that said, I'm still glad I watched it. As an 80's B-movie, it's certainly enjoyable.