Review: Dune Part Two

Long Live The Fighters

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INTRODUCTION

This is a quick review of the newly released film Dune: Part Two. Keep in mind this is but one of the many movies I watch every year, and that whatever initial grade I come up for this film could change for better or worse with time. To better keep up to date with both my thoughts on other movies and if my feelings on this film changed, follow me on Letterboxd.

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THE PLOT

Via Letterboxd: Follow the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a path of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, Paul endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.

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QUICK REVIEW

There was a time when the epic cinematic achievements seemed like Dinosaurs of the past, replaced by big studio superhero blockbusters. The days of The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, Apocalypse Now, The English Patient, The Lord Of The Rings, etc were the “good old days”. But thankfully the last few years has seen the revitalization of such visions for cinema. From The Irishman, Avatar: The Way Of Water, Babylon, RRR, Killers Of The Flower Moon, or Oppenheimer we’re getting treated again to long films with interesting ideas, big casts, and properly large scope.

Among these modern marvels is 2021’s Dune, directed by Deni Villenueve. A high Sci-fi epic that managed to make over 400 million dollars in the middle of a pandemic, and even with availability on streaming platforms since day one; garnering critical praise and impressive audience scores. It ended up being that year’s big populist awards contender on its way to sweeping the tech categories at the Oscars. For my money it was one of the top 5 best films from that year; and Villeneuve (Who was criminally snubbed with the Academy’s directors’ branch) was my personal winner in the directing category for that season.

Now, after the strikes of the Summer delayed it from a Fall 2023 release to a Spring 2024 release, we are getting the next chapter in Villenueve’s vision of adapting the iconic novel with Dune: Part Two - releasing next weekend to audiences. Given how high the bar was set up by Denis three years ago, one wondered if he could match up when he shifted to the second half of the novel which features new character introductions, more lore building, and much more action than the first half that tends to be the test for newcomers to the series. I’m happy to say he may have surpassed what he accomplished with this film’s predecessor.

Dune: Part Two continues to do many things that made 2021’s Dune such a succesful production. The ensemble and the performances deliver; particularly Timothée Chalamet who takes his role as our complicated hero Paul to another level; as well as Austin Butler who will have those who made fun of his inability to lose the Elvis voice piping down when they see him get lost in the role of a psychotic foe for Paul. The technical aspects are all on point once again from the practically psychedelic score, the booming sound that had my seat shaking throughout in the Dolby format our screening was shown in, the amazing cinematography, or the stunning visual effects.

Dune: Part Two also improves on some things compared to 2021’s Dune. The characters seem to have more depth to them and the new additions are all only even more interesting then some of the supporting cast from part one. The pacing feels much more engaging for casual movie go-ers as well which makes me think this one might only have even better audience scores, not to mention the action comes in much more often. And there are more sandworms - a lot more.

Very light spoiler but it does seem that this will be the second in a trilogy as Villeneuve has made it clear (and thus the movie makes it clear) that he wants to follow the tale all the way to the end of the follow-up to the novel in Dune: Messiah. Because of this, choices are made in how the finale is structured that gave me major The Empire Strikes Back vibes. It only made me leave my screening looking forward to seeing what he does when he inevitably likely gets to finish out his vision for this adaptation.

If I had to find things to nit-pick, Christopher Walken comes off a tad miscast as the Emperor though I wonder if that’s because his way of speaking has become a meme on to itself and thus kind of took me out of the film anytime he did. There’s also some wonky visuals in the introductory scene for Butler’s character where he is task with fighting three men in something akin to gladiatorial combat. There’s also a few parts where the pacing feels a little too hurried for my tastes. But these are all outliers in a nearly three hour epic.

Dune: Part Two is an exciting, epic, big sci-fi spectacle that gives us the promise of what could end up being the greatest film trilogy since Nolan’s Dark Knight films if not Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings. Its the kind of movie that gives me hope for cinema again after a woeful start to the year, and likely will give a kick-start to the box office only to be followed up by some major big studio offerings coming down the pipeline. I wanted to see a big spectacle on the big screen and I got it. Dune: Part Two doesn’t just become the first A-tier film of 2024 for me, but it gets an initial top-tier A+ grade from me - becoming the early frontrunner to end up my favorite film of the year. Just like that, the bar has been raised on what the best in cinema from 2024 needs to offer going forward. If we get just a few more films of THIS caliber in 2024, we’ll be in for a great year for film after all.

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INTIAL GRADING

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