It’s pretty awesome that Dune, a famously hard-to-adapt science fiction novel, is finally getting the proper film treatment commensurate to the amount of detail and mythology the weighty tome contains. No love lost to the David Lynch film (which, for all its flaws, I adore), and the 2000s era miniseries (which I haven’t seen, but would like to), but Denis Villeneuve’s two-part epic is likely the best adaptation we’ll ever get, both in terms of story and in terms of a budget that allows for the visuals to be properly developed.
In my review of Dune: Chapter One, I noted that one does not go see an adaptation of Dune to find out what happens, much the same way no one goes to see a production of Romeo & Juliet to find out what happens. We already know what happens! We just want to see what elements are brought to the story by this specific production. I stand by this assessment to a degree — Dune-heads will want to see how this version stacks up to the many others — but it occurs to me now that the popularity of Dune, specifically the NEW popularity of Dune, means that a lot of viewers will be coming to the story for the first time via this current iteration. Whereas the 2021 film, as excellent as it was, might’ve felt like inside baseball to newcomers, its sequel fills in the gaps and offers a strong ending to what felt, both to newcomers and hardcore fans, like an incomplete experience.
The truncated nature of Part One is not a demerit, per se — it comes with the territory. But with the second film now in my brain bank, one of the strongest markers of good science fiction has become apparent: trust in the audience’s intelligence. Overexplaining is a much worse crime than underexplaining, and really, when it comes to the Dune mythology, there are as many broad strokes as there are minute details, so even a passive viewer can follow the blockbustery beats, even if it causes them to miss the dense thematics packaged within.
Part Two picks up literal moments after the first film ended. The House of Atreides has been betrayed by Emperor Shadam, who sent the Harkonnen and Sardaukar soldiers to execute every last member of the noble house. The Harkonnens have resumed oversight of spice production on Arrakis, confident that the Atreides clan are all dead or close to it. What they don’t know is that Paul (Timothée Chalamebyyourname), heir to the Atreides throne, has escaped their grasp, and is now shacking up with the Fremen, Arrakis’ native people. Roughly half of the Fremen, along with Paul’s mother, Jady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) believe Paul to be the prophesied savior of Arrakis, but the other half, which includes Paul’s romantic interest Chani (Zendaya), reject the spiritual angle, viewing Paul as just another warrior among their ranks.
Meanwhile, the emperor is preparing his unhinged nephew Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler, who passed on the hilarious opportunity to do his Elvis voice the whole time) to become the new leader of Arrakis and bring spice production back to its pre-Atreides glory days. Unfortunately for Rautha, and his big galoot of a brother, Beast Rabban (Dave Bautista), the Fremen have been very successful at hindering spice production via guerrilla style attacks on harvesters.
Oh, and then there’s the worms. The giant worms that eat everything.
It’s a metric fuckton of story, but the script, by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve, makes it all pretty easy to follow. Fans of the novel will notice a few plot omissions, only one which is particularly glaring, but none are made at the expense of story or theme. Even at nearly three hours in length, there’s simply not enough room for every detail. Even so, it’s the most complete and functional adaptation we’re ever going to get. It is unmistakably Dune.
The script does suffer in a way that is inherent to such a dense mythology. The events covered in Chapter Two are supposed to take place over the course of multiple years. As it unspools on screen it only feels like a few weeks at most. This leads to a few instances where it seems like a character has knowledge that they wouldn’t have had a chance to obtain just yet, or makes a decision based on long-held notions that simply haven’t had the time to manifest. Only they did have the time to manifest, but we in the audience weren’t cued to feel the passage of time. It’s a tough line to walk, especially when you’re dealing with such a long run time. At this length, pacing is key. Villeneuve/Spaihts have correctly erred on the side of brisk pacing, but one does wonder if a few title cards or some dialogue that speaks to the timeframe could smooth this issue out.
Even so, it’s a small complaint rendered moot by the enormity of what’s been accomplished here. Visually, Dune: Part Two is considerably more ambitious than its predecessor. The color palette is more dynamic overall (which, in some scenes speaks to the perceptions of the Fremen — they see the beauty in the desert…and they’re high all the time), and almost every frame could be highlighted for its brilliant composition. One sequence, which takes place entirely on the Harkonnen home planet of Giedi Prime, is shot in crisp black and white (with subtle colorations throughout) that evokes Fritz Lang as much as it does Ingmar Bergman. Kudos to Villeneuve and team for taking this opportunity to flex beyond the requirements of “visually palatable blockbuster” and into the realm of “who says blockbusters can’t be high art?” In a lot of ways, despite its modern sheen, Dune: Part Two feels like a classic Old Hollywood production. It’s here to wow us with craft, overload us with beautiful celebrity faces, AND tell a grand story to boot. Success on all fronts.
As for the celebs, their performances are all terrifically unique, with each actor embodying their characters in such a way that we forget we’re watching some of the most famous and recognizable faces working today. It’s easy to forget we’re watching Javier Bardem, even when he infuses his portrayal of Fremen leader Stilgar with his recognizable cadence (played here for moments of grand humor). Austin Butler, with a face that only money can by, leans into his plasticine image, giving us the downright scariest take on Feyd-Rautha to exist. When we’re watching Christopher Walken chew scenery next to Florence Pugh, we don’t think of either presence being Hollywood royalty, but rather Harkonnen royalty. When Timothée Chalamebyyourname and Zendaya share the screen, it’s the stuff of marquee romance legend, but we can only think of them as Paul and Chani.
By the time we reach the film’s explosive and utterly gigantic final act, the intrigue, conspiracy, and hordes of clashing perspectives combine to fuel some of the most exciting and visually stunning sci-fi action ever put on film. It’s a breathless, percussive finale that utilizes everything which came before to deliver not just on popcorn thrills, but on the murky and complicated thematics of the source novel. If David Lynch’s take on the material has too clean a denouement relative to Herbert’s book, be assured that the power dynamics that the author commented on throughout the Dune series are kept very much intact here. It’s an ending to be sure, but there is plenty more to do in this world if the box office gods are good. And since I’ve heard some CRAZY things about the later novels, you should go see this so we can let the powers that be know that there’s a market for epic, heady sci-fi.
Plus I really don’t want to read allllll of the books. It’s much too big a commitment, so I need them to keep making these movies. Do it for me!
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
Written by Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, Frank Herbert
Starring Timothée Chalamebyyourname, Zendaya, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson
Rated PG-13, 166 minutes
