Amazeballs

Frank Herbert’s “Dune” is the Mount Everest of science fiction, looming, treacherous, irresistible to climbers. Its reputation has become its curse. With each attempt to bring Herbert’s syncretic, sand-blasted cosmos to the screen, we glimpse the mirage on the horizon, the masterpiece peeking through the haze, while filmmakers crawl toward it, parched, hallucinating grandeur but often finding only the plastic taste of compromise on their tongues.