Kyle as Paul Atreides appreciation
After all these years, I'm still really impressed by how charismatic and calculated Kyle's performance is in Dune. It's his first film, and he holds his own with the likes of Patrick Stewart and Max von Sydow. The transformation from 'wise beyond his years' Paul to the aristocratic arrogance of Muad'Dib is seamless.
I also appreciate that he doesn't just mimic the book version of Paul (although this may be down to Lynch's direction too). Paul is a somewhat dry and overly introspective person in the novel. But when mixed with Kyle's natural boyishness, he becomes a more endearing and three-dimensional person.
It's a shame that we don't really get to see much of Paul's darker side in the film (his line delivery of "One cannot stand against the word of God" is chef's kiss). When Timothee Chalamet or Alec Newman go dark, it's interesting but sort of predictable. Seeing Kyle's cheerful version of Paul transform into a dictator would have been horrifying. And awesome to behold.
Suffice to say, Lynch's Dune Messiah is one of the great what-could-have-been's.