Movie Review : Dune: Part Two (2024)
Sequels are almost always a bad idea. That’s because they’re often born from a desire to make more money out of an intellectual property that should be left alone. Ironically, one of the best sequels of all-time (The Godfather II) was born out of Francis Ford Coppola's brilliant idea to split a 450 pages novel into two feature films! No one picked up on it until Denis Villeneuve did for his colossal Dune project and guess what? Dune : Part Two is one of the best, if not the best sequel I've ever seen.
Dune : Part Two starts right where Dune left off, after Paul Atreides (internet heartthrob Timothée Chalamet) stabs the eveloving shit out of Jamis (Babs Olusanmokun), causing his mother (Rebecca Ferguson) and him to be accepted by the wandering Fremen clan. His work has just begun. Paul needs to be accepted by all the tribes in order to lead a rebellion against the evil house Hardokkonen that annihilated house Arteides and took over Spice production on Arrakis. But even that is the beginning of something else.
It Takes a Village to Tell a Good Story
To be frank, I was shocked by how much better Dune : Part Two was compared to Dune. Because it doesn't exactly revolutionize anything. It’s just flat out more original, less lazy, richer in details and better told than blockbuster film since, I don’t know? The Two Towers? Everyone brings their A game. Take the first hour for example: it’s nothing, but Paul and Jessica trying to convince the Fremen they’re a) harmless b) leaders they should follow to a battle for their planet's future. None of it is either long or boring, I swear.
What big studio movie has the balls to show patience and build stakes like that anymore? In that first hour, Paul and Chani (a badass Zendaya who's going to win awards for this) become close to one another and provide the movie with much needed personal stakes. Not only that, but these stakes aren’t compatible with the bigger picture. If Paul stays close to Chani, he doesn't embrace his destiny to lead the Fremen and if Paul embrace his destiny, he needs to sacrifice his relationship to Chani.
DO WE HAVE AN EMOTIONAL DILEMMA UP IN THIS PLACE OR WHAT?
Seriously, how long has it been since a blockbuster movie was not just about banding together and saving the planet? There is some of that in Dune : Part Two, but it's a lot about how it's fucking difficult to lead people and how much it fucking sucks to go to war. That big battle scene at the end? You're going to earn it and it's going to taste better than any blurry CGI mess you've been fed over the last two decades. Come to think of it, the stake were pretty low for Denis Villeneuve, but he obliterated them appropriately.
I don’t often comment on acting in my reviews because it’s not my area of speciality, but Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya have such ridiculous chemistry together. In a movie of Dune : Part Two’s scope, they make the smallest and most intimate scenes larger than life. It makes Paul’s dilemma relatable: he wants to stay home and take care of his woman, but doing so would condemn her entire people to generations of servitude and harsh living. Although it’s in fucking space, these are some relatable-ass stakes.
Your mom can break your balls about appreciating the small stuff, but you can’t appreciate the small stuff if the big stuff doesn't work.
Craftsmanship is Underrated
On top of expertly telling an ENGAGING story, Dune : Part Two is just fucking beautiful. Visual storytelling is also super important in this movie. A lot of Dune nerds are eagerly awaiting Feyd-Rautha (a game, but overmatched Austin Butler) and let me tell you, his introduction on Giedi Prime is nothing short of spectacular. The House Harkkonen homeworld is bathed in the light of a black sun that aesthetically and metaphorically makes everything black and white, mirroring their binary worldview.
Fight scenes are, except for a few exception, either short and brutal or messy and emotional, which is also great. You’re never robbed of screentime by boring, overchoreographed that can’t figure out what the hell they’re trying to say. When I talk about craftsmanship, this is the kind of small details I’m talking about. Dune : Part Two is a work of love. It’s a burger, but it's not a mass produced cheeseburger that's gonna kill you. It's been grilled by someone who gives a fuck and has awesome toppings.
…and you know, give me a great artisan burger over fliet mignon anyday.
Great care has also been put into imagining how Paul’s inner transformation would look on screen. Because he goes through some serious shit during Dune : Part Two and fights hard not to drink his own Kool-Aid, but eventually kind of has to. At some point, he just walks into a wall of flames to get into a building, without slow motion or pompous music and I caught myself wondering : fuck, did they just make Timothé Chalamet of all people look badass? That’s because they just did.
*
I don't have anything bad to say about Dune : Part Two, except that Timothée Chalamet looks a little goofy sometimes when he power walks and that Austin Butler lacks a little depth for the part of Feyd-Rautha, but it's small potatoes. I didn’t think we had it us anymore as a society to make films like Dune : Part Two that are both spectacular and visceral. I walked out of the press screening and I was ready to go back in again to watch the exact same thing. It made a kid out of me again.
