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Children Of Dune

2003, Movie, NR, 226 mins

Children Of Dune: Review

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Though endowed with splendid production values and photographed with burnished brilliance, this Sci-FI Channel mini-series is also nearly incomprehensible to viewers unfamiliar with Frank Herbert's post-Dune epics Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. On the desert planet Arrakis, Paul "Muaddib" Atreides (Alex Newman) has dethroned Emperor Shaddam IV, Taken his place and assumed the mantle of a legend. Haunted by visions of the past and future, Emperor Paul feels he's betrayed the very revolution he inspired, so he exiles himself to the desert and predicts that his children with Freman concubine Chani (Barbora Kodetova) will someday restore his followers to the Golden Path. After Chani dies in childbirth, Paul's neglected wife, Irulan (Julie Cox), swallows her pride and takes in Paul's twins, Leto ll (James McAvoy) and Ghanima (Jessica Brooks). As Paul wanders the wilderness, his sister Alia (Daniela Amavia) rules in his stead. To enhance her precognitive powers, Alia indulges in Spice, the mind-altering drug produced by giant sandworms and the cornerstone of both Arakis's economy and the power of the Spacing Guild, whose mutated members can fold time: Whoever controls the Spice controls the universe. Princess Wensicia (Susan Sarandon), who detests the House of Atreides for its iron grip on Spice production, hopes to restore her family, the House of Corrino, to power. If Wensicia can't succeed through assassination, she intends to maneuver her son into an arranged marriage with Ghanima. Wensicia conspires with the mysterious and powerful Bene Gesserit Sisterhood and the Spacing Guild, counting on Alia's erratic behavior to undermine her own power base and alienate the people of Arrakis. Civil War looms, and the responsibility of restoring order falls to young Leto — but does he have the strength and wisdom to pick up where his father left off? The young prince must find the answer by assuming a super-human form in the same desert where Paul himself found enlightenment. This synopsis barely scratches the surface of writer and co-producer John Harrison condensation of Frank Herbert's highbrow fantasy novels (Harrison wrote and directed the Sci-Fi Channel's 2000 DUNE). The taxing result of his efforts is futuristic soap opera stripped of the melodramatic subtext that vitalizes the best tales of dynastic machinations; there's nothing to connect with here, except the lavish sets and costumes. leave a comment --Robert Pardi
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