Tripwire Reviews Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Part Two

Desert Storms

Tripwire’s contributing writer Matt Zitron reviews Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Part Two, in cinemas from tomorrow …

Directed By: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Léa Seydoux with Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling, and Javier Bardem

It’s finally time to return to the sunny sands of Arrakis! After the events of Dune Part One – Paul Atreides (Timothet Chalamet) and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) have hidden with the Fremen.  Will they be accepted? Is the prophecy relating to Paul real?

Before I get into the nuts and bolts of the review, I want to admit that before this, I had no prior connection to the Dune series.  When the first film was in production, I made the conscious decision to not correct my ignorance.  I didn’t read the first novel, and I didn’t watch David Lynch’s cult classic.  This  was so I could judge the first two movies on their own merit; and not be beholden to any feelings about the series.

The movie begins mere moments after Dune Part One, with Paul and Jessica being taken in by Stilgar’s group of Fremen warriors.  He has been convinced of Paul’s position as his people’s messiah after his victory in a trial by combat; and everything that Paul seems to do stokes the fires of his religious fervour.  Alongside them is Chani (Zendeya), whose faith in Paul isn’t quite as developed as her leader’s.

Meanwhile, the evil House Harkonnen celebrate their taking of the spice planet Arrakis, and the murder of the entire Atreides family (or so they think.) With their victory seemingly secure, Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) turns his attention to the Emperor (Christopher Walken) and his unstable seat of power.  To do this, he brings his psychotic nephew Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler) to come and deal with the pesky Fremen on Arrakis.

At two hours and forty six minutes, you might approach Dune with a modicum of trepidation.  Films of late seem to have these unwieldly long run times with little to no point.  Unnecessarily long exposition that does little to forward the plot, and more reflects a filmmaker’s ego.  While Dune does have Denis Villeneuve’s signature ponderous and deliberate pacing, with Dune Part Two it actually feels like it is there for a reason.  We’re treated to vast landscapes and vistas, monochrome arenas on the Harkonnen home world under a black sun and psychedelic dreamscapes.

I adored the first half of this story, and the second half did not disappoint.  You’re given taut action very early on and, given the nature of the story, it travels along at a fair clip.  The issue with source material which is so dense is that the narrative could can become congested and hurried.  Villeneuve manages to weave a tale that is engaging and complex – but never boring.  The other aspect I enjoyed is the duality of this idea of prophecy and manipulation.  Is Paul really who people believe him to be, are these events happening because he’s the Muad’Dib, or has his mother engineered the situation?  Its ultimately a question of faith, which the movie manages to never really truly answer (by design I believe.)

We’ve got some fantastic performances throughout.  Javier Bardem’s Stilgar manages to steal most scenes that he’s in.  He injects a fair bit of humour into the movie, which is a nice palette cleanser give the constant state of tension that the audience is in.  There were a lot more laughs in Part 2 than its predecessor.  This again plays into the idea of faith.  Some of the laughs here are at Stilgar’s expense, but he is uncaring about ridiculing his zealotry when it comes to his devotion.

The leads Zendeya and Chalamet are a convincing couple whose journey you do become invested in.  You can see their relationship blossom, and they’re mostly skilled enough actors to make you buy their inevitable turmoil.  Chalamet is the archetype of the unwilling charismatic leader here, and his reluctance to take charge again makes the inevitable hard choices even more poignant.

The sheer scale of talent in this movie is mindboggling.  Apart from the aforementioned actors, Josh Brolin returns as Gurney, Léa Seydoux briefly appears with a role that I’m sure will be important again in the next movie, Anya Taylor Joy pops up briefly and Charlotte Rampling is also back as the manipulative Reverend Mother Mohiam.

Arguably the two biggest additions here are Florence Pugh as the Emperor’s daughter, Princess Irulan, and Austin Butler as new baddie Feyd-Rautha (made famous by Sting back in the David Lynch adaptation.)  Both of these fantastic actors play their roles well.  Butler’s villain is both terrifying and engaging, and sometimes it feels like he might be getting together an audition for James Gunn’s Batman movie.  With smooth white skin and a giddy mania, it was like having a new Joker on screen.  Pugh’s conflicted Princess sets up a fulcrum that the ending hinges on and a large part of her role here is to ask plot questions to help the audience better understand what is happening here.

The biggest stars of the movie though arguably are the Sandworms.  We seem to be living in an age where representation for Sandworm actors is finally being taken seriously.  We are greeted with a plethora of them in Dune Part 2; and a promise of more in the upcoming Bettleguese sequel.  In all seriousness, while part 1 introduced us to the beasts, Dune part 2 uses them constantly.  They’re either eating unsuspecting Harkonnen soldiers or being ridden across Arrakis by the Fremen.  Their featureless maw looks absolutely incredible on an IMAX screen.

This is an epic that you have to see in the cinema.  The scale, scope, colour, story and battle scenes all deserve the best viewing experience possible.  Talking to friends, we agreed that epics like this belong on the big screen.  As incredible as a TV adaptation would be, two widescreen movies to adapt a story like this work incredibly well.

So do yourself a favour and get down to the nearest IMAX and get your socks blown off.  And go to the loo before it starts as you’ll not want to miss any of it.

Dune Part Two is in cinemas from tomorrow 1 March 2024