With Dune: Part Two, director and co-writer Denis Villeneuve is able to finish his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel Dune, leading to a once-in-a-lifetime blockbuster duology.
As someone whose only prior knowledge of the series before Villeneuve’s vision was a one-time viewing of the poorly received David Lynch Dune, I was very hesitant to journey into Villeneuve’s Arrakis three years ago. Luckily, Denis delivered one of the best science fiction movies of the last decade.
This time though, he has topped himself with Dune: Part Two. Shot fully with IMAX cameras by cinematographer Greig Fraser, Villeneuve is able to enlarge the intimate moments between characters to new heights, immersing us in their world. Watching carefully crafted character journeys, world-building, and filmmaking is nothing short of inspiring.
In Part Two, we follow Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), hellbent on getting revenge on the Harkonnens as he learns the ways of the desert among the Fremen. Picking up seconds after the end of Part One, Part Two immediately puts the audience back on Arrakis. After an amazing prologue narrated by Princess Irulan Corrino (Florence Pugh), we’re thrown into an intense action sequence that sets the tone for how brutal this film will be.
With every fight in the film, Villeneuve has crafted buildup and tension before sequences, allowing the audience to understand the life or death scenarios our protagonists are in. The choreography of the fights is greatly improved from Part One, as we see the sheer physicality certain performances have. We are introduced to Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Austin Butler) in a black-and-white gladiator sequence on the Harkonnen home planet Giedi Prime.
Rautha is ruthless in this film; while not including certain elements of his character from the books, he is arguably more vicious in Villeneuve’s adaptation. There are big changes towards the third act of the film that will probably annoy book puritans, but having only read it within the past year, the changes overall tightened up the ending.
With an all-star cast and compelling screenplay from Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts (The Mummy, Doctor Strange), seeing the events of the film displayed upon an IMAX screen is a transcending experience, Fraser and Villeneuve manage to use the format to fully immerse the audience in Arrakis.
The crew who worked on this film have brought some of their best work to date, from Fraser’s gorgeous cinematography to Hans Zimmer’s breathtaking score to the cast on their A-game. My favorite performance was Timothée Chalamet’s portrayal of Paul, in a role unlike his previous filmography. He has a strong and demanding screen presence towards the latter half of the film where you can’t help but dislike his character.
Chalamet performs exceptionally at playing a man torn between what he wants and what he should do, whilst Zendaya dominates the screen as Chani, a skeptical warrior who has fallen in love. Zendaya communicates the anger and pain through her eyes, as they say so much without saying anything at all.
Rebecca Fergusson’s Lady Jessica is terrifying to watch as her character goes on an insanely dark path. Javier Bardem’s portrayal of Stilgar this time around is much more comedic, but it works in service of giving the audience some breathing room during a dark film.
Bardem’s comedic timing lands well, giving me some of the biggest laughs I’ve had in a theater in a while. As mentioned earlier, Butler’s Feyd-Rautha, I still can’t get over how impactful his presence is even though he’s in the film for half an hour.
While I was skeptical to hear such high praise at first, this film exceeds expectations for me. Dune: Part Two is a satisfying watch for me, the film pays off everything that was set up previously, and I adore filmmaking that makes you care first before the action happens. In a landscape where most Hollywood blockbusters look absolutely disgusting, Villeneuve has made sure Part Two doesn’t fall into that category.
Having a budget of $190M, it looks a thousand times better than recent films made for $300M. The amount of care put into the frame is shown in every breathtaking visual. Featuring some of the best sound design in recent years, this is one of the most immersive, satisfying, and epic films I have ever seen. The day will eventually come when Denis completes his long wished trilogy, but until then, I am more than joyous about Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the first book.
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