When “Dune: Part One” ended with a smiling Zendaya saying “This is only the beginning,” director Denis Villeneuve made a promise.
Despite viewers’ criticisms with the first film’s slow pacing and lack of payoff, he promises those issues will be worth it. That he would finally create the perfect adaptation of Frank Herbert’s iconic novel that was notorious for being so hard to put on film that even the great David Lynch failed at it.
Now, two years and a delayed release later, “Dune: Part Two” fulfills that promise.
Starting right off where the last film ended, “Dune: Part Two” covers the last third of the sci-fi novel of the same name, following Paul “Muad’dib” Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) becoming one with the native Fremen of Arrakis and enacting revenge against the Harkonnens for killing his father. In helping the Fremen rebel against their oppressors, they start a war that would not only decide who gets to control the desert planet, but the entire universe.
If that summary sounds like the typical good versus evil story seen in every epic blockbuster, fret not. Like the book, Villeneuve dives into the dark implications behind this story. In the Fremen taking back their planet from the villainous Harkonnens, it’s also the story of Paul becoming the Kwisatz Haderach, the messiah-figure that leads them to victory and in control over Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken).
As his psychic visions from the spice imply, the aftermath of their victory will include billions of deaths as he initiates a violent holy war across space. Paul tries to avoid that fate while helping the Fremen, and the film turns into a three-hour tale about the horrors of the self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s less “Lord of the Rings” in space and more a sci-fi blend of “The Godfather” and Monty Python’s “The Life of Brian.”
It would be easy for “Dune” to turn into a White Savior story, where the white hero would save the people of color from a racial conflict. Instead, the film deconstructs the trope, being appropriately serious and even unsettling as it follows Paul’s path to darkness. As he tries to save the Fremen, external and internal forces force him into his destiny of controlling them. This goes from the sake of the war effort, or Jessica, who becomes consumed by the prophecy and spends her screen time manipulating the Fremen into thinking her son is the messiah, and Paul’s ex-mentor Gurney Hallack (Josh Brolin), who wants to use Paul’s god-status to avenge the fallen House Atreides.
Besides this, there is a tragic love story between Paul and Chani (Zendaya), who gets more agency compared to the novel’s love-interest status, along with the politics of the religious Bene Gesserit, the Harkonnens and the houses within the Landsraad.
Capturing all of these plotlines from the novel, Villeneuve does a good job at keeping things focused and concise enough for people who haven’t read the book. To a fault.
In simplifying these plotlines to be a more satisfactory experience to make back its $200 million budget, they lose the complexity that was apparent in the book.
Jessica, in taking part in the prophecy, loses interesting aspects of her character. Gone is the mother who wanted to protect her son both out of love and knowing his potential power, and now is a scheming priestess who sees Paul as a tool in achieving ultimate victory. The transformation makes sense in the story, and Ferguson still plays the role fantastically, portraying her as a creepy character, but Lady Jessica is not as intriguing as she was in “Part One.”
Stilgar (Javier Bardem), originally taken seriously in “Part One”, becomes comedic relief as he believes Paul to be the messiah. With the film treating his unnerving belief as a joke, including him misinterpreting statements from Paul and concluding that that makes him the Kwisatz Haderach, it becomes tonally jarring and insensitive.
The minor characters, while not focused on in the book, aren’t given that much development here and are portrayed by actors that make them interesting to follow. Characters like Shaddom IV’s daughter Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) and Bene Gesserit Lady Fenring (Lea Seydoux) aren’t given anything to do. Despite being presented as important and being played by popular actors, they are really glorified cameos.
Of course, if these characters were more fleshed out, the time needed for that would only extend the already long runtime. Villeneuve takes what he needs and gets the job done, making sure to establish the storylines that would build to the epic ending. And that is where he succeeds: creating an epic.
While the flaws from adapting the novel are still there, they are often drowned out by how large-scale “Dune: Part Two” is. Everything from the grandiose deserts and Patrice Vermette’s production design, Greig Fraser’s awe-inspiring cinematography, Hans Zimmer’s fantastic score, the incredible special effects and the extremely committed star-studded cast make the world of “Dune” feel big.
The sounds are big, the emotions are big, the environments are big, the action is big. It is all big, loud, glorious and mean. Like the giant sandworms that dominate Arrakis, the film is a marvel that can’t help but be respected. It is one of the best uses of $200 million ever put to screen.
It is unique for a blockbuster like “Dune: Part Two” to exist. Fitting the wondrous yet creepy and strange tone of the book, as well as being a story that criticizes politics and religious zealotry, “Part Two” offers a pessimistic epic and the closest thing a perfect adaptation of “Dune” can be. Villenueve fulfilled that promise he made two-and-a-half years ago, creating an astounding film to experience that’ll leave people desperate for “Messiah.” Just for that, he has done more than enough.
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