4K Ultra HD – UK Edition – Arrow Films – 137 min – 30 August 2021
Video format
• Intermediate Master: 4K
• Standard HDR: Dolby Vision
• Ratio: 2.35
Soundtrack
• English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles
• English
It is brought to the attention of our dear readers as well as the viewing equipment specified and used by each tester of the MaG team, the rendering may differ from one installation to another, whether or not it is calibrated, as well as personal preferences and expectations may influence the rating. Moreover, the images in the article are not representative of the edition tested.
WORK – The sleeper must wake up...
Year 10191. Two clans, the noble Atreids and the belligerent Harkonnen, dispute the planet Arrakis, precious because its basement contains the rarest substance in the universe: the Spice. The war soon rages on this hostile soil, made even more dangerous by monstrous worms which, according to a prophecy, the young Paul Atreids must submit. If he succeeds, he will have won in his cause the Fremen, the people of the sands waiting for his savior.
Even if he describes her as « Love grief », this adaptation of Frank Herbert's cult novel by David Lynch is pure science fiction for adults whose visual richness (close to historical epic) and thematic (relations between religion and political power, preservation of the environment) « Is it true? » work!
And despite straight cuts and other shortcuts that continue to divide fans of the Dune cycle, this certainly imperfect proposal (the final act is too precipitated) but greatly cabosed (cyclopean sets) continues to orchestrate a strange « trip » baroque imbued with brilliance and grotesque where psychology precedes lepic (while there is no shortage of notable passages).
IMAGE – Sand dream
Having benefited from a brand new 4K scan of the original negative (the restoration was ordered by Koch Films in Germany), this UHD Dolby Vision transfer to solid compression manages to magnify the organic darkness of the universe depicted... Because spectacular in all areas, it glorifies as much its silver nature (a 35 mm shooting) as its flamboyant aesthetic!
Less hard and colorful than the previous Blu-ray, truffled with enhanced and outrageously red edge, the image has never been as respectful of photography. The increase in resolution is notable, the grain has been lovingly preserved, the details are extremely fine (the texture of the skin, the wear of the clothes, the craze of the Harkonnen), the colorimetric palette with bright and intense primaries (the blue eyes of the Fremen, the heat of explosions) regains a natural carnation and sandy yellow shades, the improvement of contrasts allows better gradients in the shadows as well as an increased shine of the whites, and the light sources enrich with a completely new shine (industrial lamps, lightning, stars).
SON – The strange art of noise
While it makes good use of the surrounding activity and is regularly striking, this grandiose DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack (mixing 2.0 not tested) which dispenses well anchored dialogues in the center (the same is true for voice off), diffuses an atmospheric score enveloping and distributes repeatedly well-seen bass (martelers, sandworms, motors of the boats), is sometimes tested by some saturation/parasites.
With a complete upgrade to one of the 3D audio formats, no doubt the audio part, far from being bad, would have been more up to the visual majesty of the film.
CONCLUSION – Missing Spice?
Still having a lot to offer, this gliding SF fable with ecological accents, where geopolitical and religious confrontations are side by side, comes triumphant on 4K Ultra HD support thanks to deserving A/V performances and an extensive bonus program (excluding extended edition) « Alan Smithee » whose addition was refused by Universal). Whoever controls the Spice controls the universe!
Artistic note
9
Video quality
9
Audio quality
8
0
Tiens je vais regarder l’original pour comparer avec la version moderne.
Tu devrais le lire surtout pour pouvoir bien comparer !
[…] (Le Seigneur des anneaux), Herbert (Dune), Asiimov (Fondation), Mézières (Valérian), Flash Gordon (Frederick Stephani, 1936), Metropolis […]
[…] Dune (1984), en manque d’Épice ? […]