Dune Part 2: A Brilliant Conclusion to the Sand War

Dune: Part Two” will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.

REVIEW:

In Dune Part 2 Denis Villeneuve gets more spicy. There’s more of that space traveling, mind altering substance, more of the romance between Paul (Timothee Chalamet) and Chani (Zendaya), more conflict, battles and war- just more spicy stuff for the audience. It’s two hours of awe inspiring, mind inducing action with 45 minutes of stolid setup.

All this Messiah setup may be fascinating stuff in the New Testament but it can get humdrum when the audience has to go through hearing prophesy, seeing prophesy and fulfilling prophesy until it’s time for the big action sequences involving those glorious sand worms, and some seriously exquisite mano a mano duels. Patience and perseverance does lead to big rewards, however.

Villeneuve pays due respect to the macro and micro world of the George Herbert source material. Villeneuve has found the perfect Paul, Chani, and all the other Dune characters. The cast is totally invested in getting the essence right. The scenery is properly sandy and grandly baroque to allow for the delineation between the dry and the turgidly wet off world counter. The costumes are enviously gorgeous and as rough and tumble as they need be. The CGI and cinematography are always thematically on point. The dialogue is epic but not stolid, terse but also lyric. Nothing in this world seems off.

Paul and Chani’s romance is a microcosm of the belief vs doubt themes that are Dune’s main core. She’s skeptical. He is too, until events merge with prophesy and make him a believer, and ultimately the one true leader. They are a natural fit, emotionally in sync, if not politically always on the same page. War and its inevitable policy splits and disagreements will provide their stumbling blocks into the third Dune iteration, if box office success permits.

War is what makes Dune epic and here it’s superb in delivering what is the sci-fi version of Lawrence of Arabia, another tale of a blue eyed Messiah leading his adopted people to victory over Colonialism. Here Sand worms are camels, and producers of the valued spice (read oil) that keeps the machinery of empire humming. Vileneuve creates a visual disparity between these macro hairless behemoths and the micro bald monsters that run the Empire. The bald psychotic Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler) here becomes another sand worm to be controlled, or if unwilling to be controlled, vanquished in a personal battle.

The ambivalent tone of the last third seems to be setting up a cautionary tale of the traps and temptations that leadership brings. If Dune can become The Godfather II in its hoped for third installment that would be a good thing. Right now, Dune is happy to be The Empire Strikes Back, the middle child episode.