Dune: Part Two and all the images you see in this review are owned by Warner Bros Pictures
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
Dune as a series is a confounding one as it has attained a huge following but is also full of goofy and un-filmable concepts. David Lynch certainly gave it a go and bothered to include the giant space fetuses, but with Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation in 2021, we got what is easily the most digestible iteration of the story. I appreciated a lot of its choices that cut back on the specifics and relied on the themes of the narrative, but splitting it up into two films feels like the IT gambit; do the easy part first and hope that you can cobble together enough workable elements in the sequel to carry it to the finish line. With the straightforward coup of the Atreides already covered, can this sequel possibly live up to such a strong opener and deliver a satisfying conclusion? Let’s find out!!
Following the fall of the House of Atreides, Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) have joined the Fremen and have acclimated to their new life in the deserts of Arrakis. Still, they can’t rest easy as Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) is back in charge of Spice production, and he has no qualms about cleansing the ethnic population if it makes harvesting Spice just a little bit easier. The Fremen will need to fight back and Paul is up for the task as he wants to avenge his father’s death and protect his newfound family; especially Chani (Zendaya) who fights alongside him and makes sure he doesn’t embarrass himself in front of the other Fremen. That may not be enough to win this war, however, as Lady Jessica knows how brightly Paul’s star can shine and continues to push the idea that Paul is the Messiah of Fremen Prophecy to the consternation of Paul who knows that such a story could spin out of control and cause more destruction than anyone could imagine. Will Paul lead the Fremen to victory against the sinister Harkonnens and the Baron’s youngest nephew Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler) who’s as sadistic as he is ambitious? What other allies to the Atreides are still hiding in the sands of Arrakis, and will they be a help to Paul’s cause or a hindrance to his new life among the Fremen? So wait, if Paul is a guy who can see the future through his dreams, fights like a true warrior, and tames the mighty sandworm, why wouldn’t you want him to be your leader; Messiah or not? He may not be a Jesus, but he’s at least a Goku, right?
I can’t say that I liked it as much as the first movie, but the second half of the Dune story never clicked for me in the first place, so perhaps the best way to describe this is that it’s just as good of an adaptation as the first one for whatever that’s worth to you. If you’ve waited your whole life to see Muad’Dib attack the Space Emperor with an army of sandworms, then you’ll get your money’s worth here. For anyone who read that last sentence and is completely baffled, you’ll probably still enjoy it as Villeneuve’s eye for unfathomably big action is still present with some genuinely inspired set pieces that vary between tactical assaults to all-out giant monster warfare. Still, the plot may lose you if you haven’t marinated in the book’s themes and ideas for the last few decades, which is what I always felt was off about the second half and presumably why Lynch’s version skipped almost all of it. The situation is more epic due to the scale of the action, but the driving narrative feels less personal as Paul becomes a prop in his own story. The prophecy that hangs over him is what this movie is about, and it is an interesting examination of how stories and myths can be used to rally people to a cause, with Timothée Chalamet doing a fantastic job vacillating between his very confused feelings on it. Frankly, the protagonist role is not so much his as it’s split between Lady Jessica and Chani; both playing a game of tug-of-war with Paul and the future of the Fremen on the line. The rest of the plot with the Harkonnens and the Emperor feels somewhat tacked on given how the ending ultimately overwhelms whatever arc they were supposed to have, but the script gives them enough time throughout the movie to be interesting characters; especially Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha who is positioned as the opposite of Paul in every way yet is propped up by the ruling authority.
The movie struggles to provide a certain amount of closure for most of its story beats. Perhaps some of this was intentional, especially since we aren’t doing the happy ending of the Lynch film, but the third act left me feeling far colder than a finale with giant sandworm attacks should. The movie itself seems conflicted about its main character and doesn’t know how to resolve its Hero’s Journey narrative with the themes of the story itself. Chani ends up being the moral center of the movie, but I’d be hard-pressed to say she’s vindicated by the end of it, as none of the ostensible protagonists experience consequences or suffer greatly for their victory. You could argue Paul does, and we do get flashes of some atrocities in the future, but within the scope of the movie and the story that pertains to these characters, I did not feel like there were tangible drawbacks to Paul’s choices; just a lot of hints as to where his story could go next. I suspect the reason for this is that Villeneuve is holding out for one more sequel, which means this two-parter is now a trilogy and all the payoffs that I felt were missing will be crammed into that one. It’s disappointing that we’re being strung along yet again for a proper conclusion, but this still at least has an ending, whereas the last one all but flashed up a TO BE CONTINUED as a way to send us home.
Dune is a complicated story, and we arguably still have yet to see a definitive adaptation of it. This one and its predecessor get it mostly right with a lot of concessions that make the story more palatable and straightforward for general audiences, and maybe that’s enough for now. I can point to issues I have with the storytelling and my frustrations with how movies keep dividing themselves up like this, but as an adaptation, it’s on par with the first one as far as bringing such a wild story to life in a way that’s more or less coherent. I suppose we’ll have to reevaluate these two films if Denis gets his way and this turns into a trilogy, but for now, it’s worth checking out as an interesting take on the Hero’s Journey sandwiched between some truly jaw-dropping visual effects and action set pieces. Maybe it doesn’t stick the landing, but from what I hear the books don’t either, with some truly odd stuff happening in the sequels. Maybe we can get David Lynch back to direct those.
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