Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the universe, he must prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.
Review
Dune Part 2 is as dense as you might expect given the source material and where we left off in the first film. Paul is learning the ways of the Fremen and the Harkonnen are attempting to regain control of spice production. Part 2 introduces us to a wider character view both of the Fremen and house Harkonnen, including the Emporer himself, and just how deep the Reverand Mothers of the Bene Gesserit have their hands in all of the great houses.
Visually Denie has again provided a stunning visual landscape in Dune Part 2. While of course, we got more of the desert planet itself, we also got our first look at Giedi Prime. The use of the black and white color scheme to match the pale nature of the Harkonnen provided further emphasis on the industrialized, harsh nature of living under the rule of the Harkonnen and living under the black sun of Giedi Prime. While on Arrakis, we get to see a lot more up close shots of the sandworms, and the underground sietch.
For our introduction to new characters, we start with Princess Irulan (played by Florence Pugh). While her time on screen is minimal in the film, she narrated some important aspects of the events taking place, saying out loud some of the things that were previously left up to the audience to figure out. Her character will play a larger role in the future should a third film get approved. The other big name to make an appearance is Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Played by Austin Butler). Brother to Raban, and nephew to the Baron, he is considered a strong warrior, smart but psychotic as shown during his coming-of-age fight in the arena on Giedi Prime. While there were a few slip-ups in his voice work, he generally came across as a menacing antagonist for Paul and the Fremen to come up against. Lastly, the Emporer himself, played by Christopher Walken, had a minimal role in the film as a whole, and at times when he spoke, his performance took me out of the experience.
Dune is about world-building and a lot is going on. I will likely have to see it a second and even a third time to fully wrap my head around all the pieces. Some things changed in the film versus the source material, which isn’t unusual in these cases. Many of these changes were likely done to keep the film a bit more grounded and the audience focused versus confused or even pulled out of the film because of some of the jarring events. In general, most of the changes were minor.
Denis Villeneuve’s vision of Dune has been epic on a scale that hasn’t been used in a franchise in some time. It seems very likely a third film will get the green light and Denis has already said he would be willing to wrap up his take on Dune as a trilogy. His version of Dune as a film trilogy will likely join the franchises of Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars, and others as a classic epic sci-fi franchise that will stand the test of time.
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