We are back on Arrakis, the desert planet where Herbert’s iconic sci-fi novel Dune is set in. Under the close inspection of Denis Villeneuve, cinematographer Greg Fraiser, composer Hans Zimmer and actors like Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Florence amongst others, the promise of a stunning visual treat is almost a guarantee as you sit for the 166-minutes long saga, but this time around there is more to our trip to Arrakis than its visual appeal.
In the first part, Villeneuve invested a lot in exposition, leaving me disappointed by how patchy and inconsequential the runtime felt. After all, the 1965 novel is on paper a simple telling of the most classical story of a Chosen One becoming the leader of a tribe plagued by foreign invasion. We already have James Cameron’s expansive Avatar series that explores similar themes. Then why should we care for another story that essentially follows the same beat?
The answer lies in Part Two. One where Villeneuve purposefully diverts from the trajectory of the novel to dig deeper and into more fascinating terrains. The second part starts almost exactly where we left these characters in 2021. Paul Atreides (Chalamet) and his mother Lady Jessica (Ferguson) are travelling with the Fremen tribe of Sietch Tabr. Stilgar (Javier Bardem) is convinced that Paul is the prophetic One who would save the Fremen from the colonizers. It is the kind of belief that goes unchallenged in the original novel.
Here, though, Chani (Zendaya), who also happens to fall in love with Paul through the movie’s runtime, stands as the ideological contradiction to Stilgar and everyone else who sees Paul as the prophetic hero. It immediately heightens the conflict, elevating the movie from a mere visual masterpiece to an accomplishment in writing.
The movie uses Chani’s stand-point as a tether for the audience to notice the crumbling of Paul’s character under the burden of his newfound responsibility, and especially the increasing antagonism of Lady Jessica who almost lets go of her role as Paul’s mother under the more powerful responsibilities of Reverend Mother. This lends the movie towards a conflict that feels far more urgent and impactful than the prophetic war that you know the result of by now if you have seen or ready anything following such a classic template.
The romance between Paul and Chani becomes the core of the movie, from where every other conflict is amplified. It helps that Chalamet and Zendaya do not miss a beat, especially Chalamet who delivers a powerful performance as a young man taking more responsibility than he was ready for.
Dune: Part Two is, however, far from perfect and continues to suffer from its problem of a proper antagonist. Austin Butler is ruthless as Feyd-Rautha, but the movie does not spend enough time with him for his final scene in the movie to carry the desired impact. I wished a lot more of him and his world. It would have helped the final twenty minutes from being very good to truly mind-blowing.
Villeneuve, though, clearly rests on his ability to capture visuals to blow the mind of his audience. The world of Dune: Part Two feels real in an almost surreal way. In the age of CGI where every MCU movie makes the most incredible, unimaginable visual seem real, this movie makes everything a lot more lived-in. It almost outdoes what the first part did, visually.
With the second part Villeneuve has concluded the story of the first novel, but the movie does enough to keep you promised and anticipated for a third part. It is in equal part a celebration of the original Dune novel and a diversion from it; a love-story as well as a cautionary tale on hero-worship and what the title of a hero – a messiah – does to the person bestowed with it.
The Recliner Seat 