“Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.”

Director: Denis Villeneuve
Writers: Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, Frank Herbert
Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walker, Léa Seydoux, Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling
Release: March 1, 2024
IMDB

This is a big one. It’s daunting to write about. How does one reflect on a movie that has already been dissected to singular specs of spice?

Dune: Part Two (2024) immediately had massive expectations placed on it when it was first announced. Following the success of Dune (2021), the science fiction fanatics pushed all their chips into the Denis VIlleneuve bucket. 

To the dismay of every movie fan, Dune: Part Two was postponed from November 2023 to March 2024 due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes that struck Hollywood. Can you imagine if Dune: Part II ran against Oppneheimer (2023) and Poor Things (2023)? What an Oscar race it would have been.

The extra five month wait only made people more hungry for the spice. There was a premature addiction among the populous to see what Villeneuve and his massive cast had created. The stagnated atomic expectations only grew when early reviews placed Dune: Part Two on a pedestal of epic filmmaking. You have the populous with their eyes bugging out and the critics dolling out drips of satisfaction.

And then Dune: Part Two arrives, and it’s glorious. 

High expectations are blown out of the water.

Somehow Villeneuve accomplished the impossible. He corralled a seemingly unadaptable story and both honored its legacy while creating something totally thrilling on its own. The story of Paul Atreides is not the typical hero’s journey, yet Dune: Part Two manages to bring mass appeal to the theater. It’s rare for a film to surpass astronomical expectations in terms of box office numbers and critical and culture praise. Dune:Part Two brings everything to the table, serves up the perfect seven-course viewing experience, and still leaves that audience craving for more.

Dune: Part Two picks up right after the events of Dune. Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) has just killed Jamis (Babs Babs Olusanmokun) and cemented he and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson),  a fragile relationship within the Fremen community. Stilgar (Javier Bardem), a man cemented in tradition and hope, brings the lone royale members of the crippled house Atriedes into the Fremen community. 

Paul has an aura about him that has strangers gazing at him with both fear and reverence. His presence within the Fremen community highlights a chasm among the Arrakis natives. There are two groups, one that believes in the religious philosophies and prophecies of the Lisan al Gaib, and another that leans more toward logic and doesn’t like pinning hope on theology that was maliciously planted thousands of years prior by the untrustworthy Benne Gesserit.

These two parts of society are embodied within two characters. Stilgar is the old eccentric soul who sees Paul as a possible savior. On the opposite end is Chani (Zendaya), a young woman who mocks the old traditions and would rather believe what she knows than invisible hope. The perpendicular thought-processes live at odds with one another until Paul’s power and charisma fuses the Fremen community together. 

Even Chani, who falls in love with Paul, can’t deny that he is something greater. He is becoming something impossible. Whether or not Paul wants to accept it, the belief that he is gathering among the Fremen is elevating his name and stature to shadow-casting levels. As his ethos grows in the deserts of Arrakis, the word-of-mouth wave of his cult-like power begins to reach the ears of dangerous individuals.

Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) is dismissive of the Fremen, but others around him are starting to come to a realization that something’s brewing. Beast Rabban (Dave Bautista), who was put in power on Arrakis after the Atreides house was felled, is struggling to get the spice production back to necessary levels because of the Fremen guerilla terrorist attacks. He tries to relay his struggles, but Baron is breathing down his neck. The Harkonnen family needs as much spice as possible to pay back the Emperor (Christopher Walken) for lending out the Sardukar that were crucial in the backstabbing attack. House Harkonnen does not want to be under the foot of the Emperor and coddled in debt because its ambitions of power are hidden to almost everyone in the universe.

Within the house of the Emperor herself, Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) is logging the drama of the universe and starting to ask difficult questions. She begins to hear of this Lisan al Gaib character on Arrakins and dutifully begins discussing it with her father. During these conversations, which are cast in more color than any other in the entire movie, Irulan and the Emperor are splicing out the complicated political ramifications that they must dance around while dealing with the untrustworthy Harkonnen and the mysteries of Arrakis.

Dune: Part Two turns on its head when Princess Irulan has a quick hallway conversation with the Reverend Mother Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling). It is at this moment the audience learns that the Bene Gesserit has more than one plan to birth their Kwisatz Haderach. Paul, who is presumed dead, was their greatest, but not only hope. There is another, a mad-man in the Harkonen house by the name of Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler).

The introduction of Feyd-Rautha into the story turns what’s primarily a brooding science fiction philosophical think piece to an all-out war movie. The plans within the world of Dune delves deeper into deception with the Baron placing Feyd-Rautha as the head of Arrakis. The skilled fighter and psychopath takes a more aggressive approach to the war with the Fremen, forcing Paul into a brutal position.

Power is being fought for throughout the story of Dune. Whether it be the power of spice itself, the power of politics, the power of religion or the power of belief; the book of Frank Herbert and its adaption by Villeneuve doesn’t shy away from the pros and cons of holding the heaviest hammer.

By nature of the Bene Gesserit breeding program and the training by Lady Jessica, Paul is the only one who can truly understand the concept of true power. Up till Feyd-Rauth’s aggressive attacks in the deep desert, Paul had resisted taking the power that many of the Fremen were so happy to give him. Gurney (Josh Brolin) sees the control Paul has over them, and Lady Jessica can sense the hidden potential in her son. But Paul is reluctant to take it. He knows that if he opens that door then he’ll unfurl a future that he can not control. He will become something that he knows is dangerous and unbecoming. If Paul embraces his destiny and the power that comes with it, then he will be the true Lisan al Gaib. The true Kwisatz Haderach.

Dune: Part Two tackles the themes of the story while also wrapping up its linear story in a satisfying fashion. There are enormous payoffs to conflicts and one-on-one moments between adversarial parties that leap off the screen with a throat-punching effect. The transformation of Paul Atreides is something that looms large, both in the conclusion of Dune: Part II and for the future of this franchise and its many possible legs. 

VIlleneuve is able to cap off a fantastic two-part science fiction epic while also opening the door to further stories. Dune: Part Two is a crowning achievement. It manages to be smart and complicated as a crowd-pleasing blockbuster.

Part of Dune: Part Two’s success stems from the fact that it’s visually perfect. There are few that have the artistic eye and sense of scale that Villeneuve possesses, and that is with good reason. The obese nature of the Harkonen spice harvesters and military might on Arrakis literally casts shadows over the minimalistic world of the Fremen, yet the way Villeneuve is able to show the outsiders working in the shadows to destroy their oppressors is resounding. In teaching the audience how to anticipate the Fremen’s fight style, Villenueve also highlights the gargantuan body of the Harkonen and imperial leadership.

Greig Fraser returns as cinematographer following his first Oscar win for Dune. He builds upon the simplistic extravagance of the first, tackling additional planetary landscapes and manipulating the audience with his artistic eye. The shock of the green when we first see Christopher Walker as The Emperor shocks the audience and recalibrates our eyes. Showing the elite living among unknown lavishness compared to the Fremen is a story choice, but it’s not nearly as bold as the black & white chrome stamp pressed upon the Harkonnen home planet, Geidi Prime.

The binary and monotone state of Baron’s home world is a choice that was inspired by the book, but executed to perfection by Villeneuve and Fraser. The smooth shaved skull of Feyd-Rautha matches the contours of the buildings in which the Harkonnen family lives. The violence in the arena brings no additional colors dropped in for effect. Everything is either have-or-have not in the mind of the Baron, matching the two-tone palette of the world he grew up on. 

Perhaps the comparison is unfair, but think about the introduction of Darth Vader. The most famous science fiction villain ever is first seen in a landscape of black & white. It’s not nearly as stylized as the look of Giedi Prime, but still the villainy of the Star Wars antagonist and the empire is first shown to the audience in black & white.. 

There are two primarily visual centric moments in Dune: Part Two that are goosebump inducing. Every shot leading up to and taking place within the gladiatorial birthday celebration of Feyd-Rautha is jaw-dropping. It’s an unreal introduction to a truly malevolent figure. Feyd-Rautha has no redeeming quality. He is a monster, a beast. One who enjoys toying with his prey before ultimately extinguishing them.

The other moment worthy of gasp is when Paul first rides a sand worm. It comes at a moment in the story where Paul is at the crest of becoming more than just a hope. His feelings for Chani are no longer hidden, nor are Stilgar’s feelings that Paul is the true Lisan al Gaib. But Paul was still an outsider. That is until he rode the sand worm.

VIlleneuve’s sense of tone is perfectly pitched with this sequence. He knows how big this scene is to the story. He could rely on its literary importance to get a reaction from the audience. However, Villeneuve doesn’t go this stodgy. The worm is not “normal” huge, but astronomically large. Paul riding an average sand worm would be impressive enough, but having him take on the prize fighter of the desert pushes the exhilaration to another level.

Paul hopping onto the scaly beast and eventually getting control of the Shai-Hulud is thrilling. Hans Zimmer’s score is soaring while Fraiser is making sure to show just how large this thing that Paul has mounted is.

But it’s not this scene’s best attribute.

Stilgar, and all of the Fremen watching Paul’s attempt at greatness, are the most crucial part of this scene. Why? Because their acting, in particular Javier Bardem, shows the audience that Dune: Part Two can still be fun despite all its weightiness. Stilgar, the believer of myth and prophecy, is the avatar for the audience, cheering on the story that is unfolding in front of him. He is able to poke fun at Paul, telling him not to show off or be too stupid. But when Paul accomplishes the impossible, fuck yea it’s alright to be in shock and awe.

Dune: Part Two is heavy. It is dense. Trying to recap it and not delve into every nook-and-cranny is hard enough. Imagine being in the middle of it? With the way the worm-riding sequence is acted out, Villeneuve is reminding the audience that it’s alright to smile, laugh and be amazed as to what’s happening in front of you. Sure, there are going to be meta arguments about the concept of power, genocide, loyalty, religion and ego, but don’t let that take away from the fact that you are being swept away watching a three hour science fiction epic.

When you look at Dune: Part Two in its totality, it’s impossible not to be impressed. Somehow, someway, Denis Villeneuve was able to wrap his hands around all of Frank Herbert’s characters, themes, and visuals. The difference between this two-part cinematic story and Herbert’s novel is cavernous at times, but Villeneuve’s expertise has even the die-hard canon fans understanding his process. One could be the elder heads having appreciation for the original story or newcomers to the fold. It doesn’t matter because by the end of Dune: Part Two everyone will be saying that Denis Villeneuve is the true Kwisatz Haderach.

He is the Lisan al Gaib.

STANKO RATING: A

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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