Directed By Denis Villeneuve

Starring – Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson

The Plot – Paul Atreides (Chalamet) unites with Chani (Zendaya) 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 yet embrace a terrible future only he can foresee.

Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some suggestive material and brief strong adult language.

Dune: Part Two | Official Trailer 3 (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

Rarely does an impulsive artist receive complete and uncompromising freedom towards eliciting their own uniquely appealing vision for a global audience, but Villeneuve has once again surmized the impossible, brandishing an emotionally wrenching, visually stunning three hour pay-off that somehow topped my already titanic expectations for the project. “Dune Part Two” is epic in every definition of the word, maintaining everything great about its predecessor in scope and scale, but this time with a constant urgency for the proceedings that not only kept the storytelling moving fluidly at all times, but also trickling towards a riveting high-stakes climax serving as the light at the end of the proverbial tunner for the distance of Paul’s evolutionary growth. While Chalamet is a great actor, I initially feared that two films wasn’t enough to attain believability in articulating two Paul’s in two films, but Villenueve captures a heart and resilient essence in the character that transforms him before our very eyes, all the while playing vividly into the depth in three-dimensional world-building that the script takes ample time towards fleshing out. This is where the film truly earns its profoundly intoxicating appeal, as a first chapter about hierarchy and responsibility, gives way here to spiritual guidance and destiny, two meticulously defined factors that shape the extent of Paul’s vengeful journey, but also themes that help us explore a deeper side of conscience towards so many characters who don’t fit the mold of typical good versus evil prototypes. This allows a stacked and star-studded ensemble to dive deep into a platitude of compelling portrayals, with no shortage of reptutable work between them, despite the time and usage imbalances, which always left me yearning for more. Chalamet and Zendaya dig deep into two characters who feel stoically unlike anything that either of them have portrayed to this point, with the latter sinking her teeth into something far grittier and physical than females in ensemble films are typically privy towards, while the former toes a confidently trepidacious line of complexity towards embodying a darker side of Paul that earns all of the credibility and believability of the insurmountable power that the character eventually musters during the film’s second half. In terms of new additions, Austin Butler was the scene-stealer for me, despite him not appearing until nearly 75 minutes into the film. Butler’s sadistically sinister and psychologically perplexing antagonist not only transformed him in ways that only allowed me to ever see the character instead of the actor portraying him, but also inscribed an oozing it-factor to the other side of the moral coin that I felt was tragically missing during the first film, and the way that this movie balances out the playing field between he and Paul’s newfound capabilities, leads to an inevitable showdown that had me on the edge of my seat with anticipation, all in between candid moments of Butler hungrily chewing the scenery without sticking out like the sore thumb that could easily distract. Most of that grip and control lends itself to the aforementioned lack of restrictions that Villenueve is constantly molding with, offering little to no levity in the extent of such a world-crippling conflict, but those elements would be nothing without the gargantuan influence of production values that seamlessly earn the epic stamping where other films could only dream of. As to where “Oppenheimer” dominated the technical components unanimously during 2023, “Dune Part Two” looks to capably fill its shoes for the following year, combining elements of boldly blanketing sound to a grandeur of intoxicating visuals, all to comprise a screen-stretching experience that never for a second takes us out of the immersive escapism that Denis has crafted so remarkably. The action sequences are full of exhillarating urgency and intensity, with iconic composer Hans Zimmer underlining the heft and circumstances with his most instrumentally versatile of compositions to date, and the consistency between set decoration and wardrobe helps the film towards never losing its timely place in futuristic setting, giving hardcore fans of the novel an appreciation for the attention to detail in between the pages that proves no cent was spared in such an elaborate production. On top of this, one huge improvement from the first installment was that of the pacing, which manages to transition along smoothly with consistency towards editing that doesn’t waste a single solitary scene. While there were some arcs that I wish received more time, which I will get to in a second, nothing in the finished edit feels out of place or unnecessary in the exploration, and with the conflict itself bearing so many respective conflicts and unique dynamics within this war for power, the script has plenty of directions to continuously take us down, with nothing in the way of weakness of slowly plodding circumstances for the engagement. Lastly, while the franchise has been rumored to be a part of a bigger trilogy, with the third film focusing on the “Dune Messiah” novel, it also uniquely works as a closing chapter of its own, where little feels unresolved in the film’s climatic resolutions. Sure, there are some threads that could certainly dive deeper, primarily with where this film leaves one vital character on the outside looking in, but if for whatever reason this was the last delve into a Denis Villenueve helmed Dune universe, with two great films to its credit, then I could easily rest comfortably with what the production was able to accomplish, leaving it free from consequence with studio meddling, which has ruined weaker franchises as a result of unfinished business that flatlined their potential. I’m talking to you D.C.E.U.

NEGATIVES

While nothing terribly problematic or monumental enough to take away points from my finished grade, one arc in the film didn’t receive the kind of time allowance necessary to let it grow naturally on-screen, creating an emotional vaccum during the third act that calls upon it so heavily. I’m talking of course about the blossoming romance between Paul and Chani, to which much of the first movie’s ending and second movie’s beginning rely so heavily on, but never with evidence for the cause that made it feel believable in my eyes. Part of the problem is certainly in what I perceive to be a lack of romantic chemistry between Chalamet and Zendaya, which undercooks much of their romantic interactions throughout the film, but the bigger problem definitely pertains to a lack of development between them that occasionally feels like a scene or two is missing from such sharply sudden emphasis, requiring a bit of suspension of disbelief to rely on the framing devices of Paul’s destiny to bridge the gap. Considering this film picks up what feels like mere days after the first one ended, with evidence to be found for such an argument in the interactions between characters, Chani’s swooning over Paul, especially in her referring to him with the skepticism of a stranger, as shown during the first act of this film, suddenly receives a violent shove towards articulating them as irrefutibly compatible, and it feels like one of those instances where, no matter how long the run time, some arcs just simply fall behind, which is disappointing for one needed to utilize the emotionality of the anything but happy ending that “Dune Part Two” renders.

OVERALL
“Dune Part Two” is a superior sequel in every sense to an already great film, with a bigger, bolder and braver approach towards rendering the unfiltered vision of one of film’s most ambitious auteurs. With nearly three hours of epically grand scale escapism, involving stunning visuals, thundering sound schemes, and a vast variety of world-building, the film is not only a career-defining triumph for Villenueve, who is already one of the industry’s best, but also a celebration for cinema and the epic experiences needed to be told on the biggest screen imaginable.

My Grade: 10/10 or A