Dune: Part Two (2024)

Dune the right thing

As I review Dune: Part Two, which I quite like, I must confront a question: Do I like it more than Part One because I saw the sequel on the biggest IMAX screen in the state of Virginia with a world-class speaker system, whereas I saw the original on a small screen, its audio supplied by Apple AirPods? And I believe the answer is no; at least, not exclusively.

For starters, I am very grateful that the first half of Dune 2 shrinks the scope of the story world down to Paul’s (Timothee Chalamet) sojourn with the Fremen. Looking back on the whole five-hour two-parter, this is the heart of Dune, a clash between the natural and the mechanical, the indigenous and the colonial. Perhaps I’m just Star Wars-brained, but watching rebels from a desert planet destroying expensive imperial equipment just feels right.

I also think the terrific opening hour of Part Two does a great job of humanizing Paul in a way that Part One never really does. The audience really gets a sense of the weight on his shoulder as the would-be messiah. I, too, would consider throwing it all away if I fell asleep under the stars every night snuggling Zendaya as she hums “You Belong With Me” in my ears. His relationship with the Fremen is a bit Dances with Wolves, but it offers a compelling deconstruction (and tragic reconstruction) of “chosen one” stories.

The next act of the film is nearly as good, though in different ways. We hop to the Harkonnen planet to meet a new prince, one who might soon be declared Chief Bald Albino Nutjob and Lord of Arrakis if he wins a gladiator battle. (Or something like that.) There’s a lot to enjoy in this stretch of the film. The first is the color grading, which seems to be triggered in-universe by lighting from a black sun. It’s an artificially imposed black and white. Something about it just looks off, which in turn makes it deeply uncanny and also deeply compelling.

This segment is also when we get to see Austin Butler in action as (checks Wikipedia) Feyd-Rautha. You will not be ready for how bald Butler is in this film. You think you will be ready for how bald he is, but then his baldness will overwhelm you. More to the point, Butler is sensationally good in this. He was great in Elvis, of course, totally transformed, but seeing it happen again is confirmation that it wasn’t a fluke. I will be excited for any future movie he is cast in, particularly if the movie requires him to go there. Dude can act act.

Another thread that consistently works is anything involving Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson). As great as Butler is, Ferguson is even better and more central as an increasingly unhinged zealot pushing Paul on a messianic path. She provides a slightly antagonistic force to Paul’s arc, giving him a plausible reason that he might upend his relationship with Chani in the name of galactic order. At one point she is forced to drink a Forbidden Baja Blast potion that transforms her into a full-on prophet. It also allows her to communicate with her own fetus. Presented the opportunity, I would unquestionably drink the Forbidden Baja Blast.

And then the various threads all comes together in a sort of contrived final set piece. The status quo gets shaken up with secret nukes. Why not? For some reason, every character of note ends up on Arrakis to discuss the future of the planet, and therefore the industry of spice, and therefore the empire as a whole. Will Paul stick up for Chani and the Fremen? Will he make a bigger power play of some sort? Will the emperor’s daughter (Florence Pugh) be involved? Will it all end with a declaration that “the real battle has only just begun”? Considering Denis Villeneuve apparently views this as the middle act of a trilogy, the latter is pretty much a given.

Speaking of Dune Messiah, the now-greenlit third part of Dune, I pulled up the corresponding book’s Wikipedia page shortly after watching Dune: Part Two, my curiosity getting the better of my spoiler aversion. But as soon as my eyes caught the word “clone,” I quickly closed the page. The lore of this universe still seems goofy as hell to me, but with five hours under my belt, I’m along for the ride now. I’ll let the mystery be until the next film is ready. Fuck me up, Denis.

(Speaking of goofy-as-hell lore, the minor detail I became fixated on for this movie is the sand walking. It’s a stumbly, awkward motion that’s halfway between The Ministry of Silly Walks and Audrey’s dance in the Twin Peaks diner. I laughed every single time.)

Dune: Part Two confirms the suspicion I had watching Part One that the latter was more of a prelude slideshow to get us to the promise of the premise. (In fact, if I were to look at this overall two-part story purely from a cinematic lens rather than an adaptational one, I’d say Villeneuve could have transformed the entirety of Part One into a 20-30 minute opening act for this film.) I can’t say Part Two made me like Part One more as a standalone movie, but it at least helped me better appreciate the worldbuilding it does, and made me slightly more likely to revisit it at some point.

And anchoring all of this, of course, is the brilliant production by Villeneueve. It always feels huge but also occasionally intricate in a way Part One never did. I could, for stretches, believe people lived on this desert planet. I almost even cared about a few of the people a couple of times.

Whether Paul is riding a giant worm like a water skier, grappling with Feyd-Rauth in a duel to the death, or claiming his divinity on a cliff side to thousands of followers, Dune: Part Two always looks so cinematic. When I imagine “going to the movies” in the abstract, it pretty closely matches the awe I felt watching Dune: Part Two.

I maintain my suggestion that Villeneuve should keep making big, meticulous adaptations. It sands away the lopsided edges of his writing, or rather it bowls them over with obsessive rendering of preexisting story and world. Not many directors working today can do this kind of work; and not many stories better leverage Villeneuve’s strengths than the colossal monolith of Dune.

Maybe, after all, it does come down to the size of the IMAX screen and the decibels of the Dolby Atmos speakers in the theater in which I viewed Dune: Part Two. The experience swept me away, and, this time, I was happy to go along.

• Review Series: Denis Villeneuve

Is It Good?

Very Good (6/8)

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