Though the original Dune film adaptation had its fair share of
faults, it still managed to garner a cult following. Still, fans of the
book wished for something better and along those lines a new film was
produced in conjunction with the Sci-Fi Channel. The new movie, titled
Frank Herbert's Dune, premiered on Sci-Fi as a mini-series due to its
6 hour running time. The reviews of this new version were mixed.
Personally I have really nothing to say on the matter specifically since I
have never seen the original film or even read the book. Still, it is an interesting
facet of sci-fi fandom that I have covered with mild curiosity.
The score to the original
Dune was composed by the rock group Toto. It
was surprisingly good for being composed by a rock group, but it wasn't
anything near the quality of a major A-list composer. For this adaptation,
Graeme Revell was hired to provide the score. When I first heard the news,
I was excited. Revell has been responsible for some really good scores
such as The Saint and
Red Planet, and I was really looking
forward to hearing what he could compose for an epic sci-fi film, but
unfortunately this score is less than what I hoped for.
The score is split into
three parts with the first being more traditional scoring in nature, the
second being influenced heavily by Middle Eastern music, and the third
being more action-oriented. The first and last sections are the best
because the Middle Eastern style is so overused in the middle. Now I am a
big fan of Arabian styled music, but I also like the way it is usually
Westernized in many scores. Here, it goes on and on and on and it gets
really boring after a while. It is interesting to listen to at first, but Revell never really does anything with it. The talents of the
generally excellent City of Prague Philharmonic seem wasted here as they
don't do much than provide low brooding string and bass work, and even
that sounds flat a majority of the time. There are only a handful of
tracks where the orchestra is allowed to shine.
There are themes spread out
around the score, but they are usually quite subtle and most of them are
forgettable. A score of this nature really needs an epic main theme to go
with it, and it really cripples this score that Revell did not provide
one. Due to the heavy plot-oriented nature of the film, there are not a
lot of action cues, but the ones that are here are bland and
uninteresting, especially in the last section of the CD (Jihad Begins /
Last Fight). Revell does include a homage to the original Toto
score which I'm sure many fans will be pleased
with.
The last track on the CD
makes things even worse. It is quite a good track and it makes me wish
that the film was scored in the same style. It almost seems out of place
with the rest of the music since it basically addresses all of my concerns
with the score. The Middle Eastern style is well-balanced with the Western
elements, and the orchestra sounds ten times better.
This score does have it's
moments but they are generally dimmed by the loathsome middle section.
Revell fans might have a reason to pick it up, but unless you liked the
music you heard in the film, you probably want to skip on this one and
check out some of the better Revell scores out there instead.
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