Dune: Part Two Review!

Alright! Today I'm reviewing Dune: Part Two, the sequel to 2021's Dune. Continuing the epic journey of Paul Atreides, Dune: Part Two sees Paul integrate into the Fremen culture, reunite with old friends, find new love, and embark on the ultimate quest for revenge against the villainous Harkonnens while becoming the prophesied Kwisatz Haderach and the God Emperor of the Universe. 

To properly assess this monumental work of fiction, we first have to break it down into three parts: it is, first and foremost, a science fiction movie; it is also a sequel to the first film; and it is also an adaptation of one of the greatest books in Western literature. To analyze it, we must remember all three of these important factors, as the metrics and critiques are different for each. 

As a science fiction movie, Dune: Part Two is one of the all-time greats of cinema. It is large and intense in its scope and ambition, the designs of the ships and costumes are all innovative, and the slick way in which the film is shot is satisfying and adds to the otherworldly feel. I think the last time we got an honest-to-God sci-fi movie this good was Blade Runner 2049 in 2017, and before that, Minority Report in 2002. The war-torn setting, futuristic ducal leadership, and the classic "advanced technology, but we still use swords and knives to fight each other" trope - it's genuinely science fiction, and the superb cinematography makes it all the more epic. 

Additionally, the fact that it is based on some of the most interesting and complex source material available in Western literature means that it's rarely boring - with so much ground to cover, Dune takes its time establishing the mythos of Arrakis and the epic scale of the war with the Harkonnen. The superb cinematography makes even the most boring scenes (of which there are few) capture your attention, and the score, once again courtesy of Hans Zimmer, enhances every scene it graces. While it functions as a traditional "heroic" sound, there's also a soft tragedy running underneath that only grows as the movie goes on, making the climax sound less like the triumphant victory of a ducal heir and more like the moment of silence before a horrific storm (and if you're familiar with how the story of Dune plays out - that's perfect). Much like Dune: Part One, the cinematography and Hans Zimmer's score are the biggest standouts. 

And that's a large part of Dune's success - It's a standout. There's not a single movie that compares. The way that it is shot, the futuristic culture it shows, the score, the architecture, the creatures, the sandworm action, the regality, it is all distinctly Dune and thus highly valuable. It reminds me of James Cameron's Avatar movies in this aspect - an experience like no other. Nowhere else will I see eight-foot-tall blue cat people connect hair braids; nowhere else will I see a young man grab onto a sandworm and ride it like a surfboard. Even folks who have no interest in the story or characters will end up admiring the movie because it feels new, especially in an age of reboots, remakes, sequels, and trope-heavy blockbusters. 

The cast is also amazing! Timothée Chalamet is superb in the lead role, and his rallying speech to the Fremen is so powerful and well-acted that it makes you forget that he's actually speaking gibberish most of the time. The returning cast members all continue their excellence and are superb portrayals of their book counterparts, but the most impressive are the additions: Austin Butler is wonderfully crazy as Feyd-Rautha, gleefully portraying the intense psychopath with a spot-on Stellan Skarsgård impersonation. Florence Pugh also brought just the right amount of gravitas for Princess Irulan, and Christopher Walken worked way better as Emperor Shaddah IV than one might think. I also really liked Rebecca Ferguson in this movie, who just converses with her unborn baby the entire time, only stopping to tell her son to kill his grandfather. Again, it's just something we don't normally see! 

On the second part, as a sequel to 2021's Dune, I found Dune: Part Two both lesser and greater in a few aspects. The scale of the worldbuilding and buildings was bigger in the first Dune, as well as the costume design and sound design (especially the guards on Giedi Prime). I do have to consider the idea, though, that the reason the Ornithopter wasn't as impressive in Dune: Part Two is just because I saw it already in Dune: Part One, or perhaps because I wasn't able to see this one in IMAX. Other than that, Dune: Part Two is better than its predecessor, even making Part One look retroactively worse once you realize just how boring it is compared to its sequel. 

Additionally, two things irked me in general: The first was the lack of screen time for the Baron Harkonnen, whose presence, voice, and menace were arguably the best part of the first one. Feyd-Rautha is also a worthy antagonist, perhaps more of a 1:1 equal to Paul Atreides and thus a better pick to focus on here, but Stellan Skarsgård had a powerful screen presence that's just not here this time. He probably has three minutes in total, which is unfortunate! He was iconic. 

I also disliked the blue tint used on the eyes :( It's obviously designed to not be distracting, but the deemphasis means that in most lighting, the blue eyes are barely visible. 

Overall, I give Dune: Part Two a 9/10. "As a science-fiction movie Dune: Part Two is unmatched; as an adaptation of Frank Herbert's revolutionary work, it pales in comparison." 

Now... as an adaptation of the book I have nitpicks. Since these aren't important nitpicks nor problems with the film itself, I didn't think it proper to include them in the bulk of the review, hence their placement here. Buckle up for some "Aragorn's arc is completely different" nitpicks that no one cares about, because the Dune lore is about to go insane. 

The Alia Problem

To start off, there is a specific change I think is much better - that Paul is the one to off his villainous grandfather instead of his four-year-old sister, Alia. In the book, Lady Jessica delivers Alia Atreides while high on the spice Melange in the desert, which somehow makes her an omniscient being with adult cognitive abilities at birth. Several years pass, the Harkonnen launch their grand counter-strike against the Fremen, they capture Alia, and she ends up being the one to reveal that Paul Atreides is still alive and kills the Baron Harkonnen. 

This just wouldn't have landed well in live-action - this is Paul's revenge story for the murder of his father, after all. We want to see him defeat the movie's villain! Additionally, adapting the prescient four-year-old is a problem that every Dune adaptation runs into anyway, and none have ever managed to pull it off. The solution? Alia isn't in the film at all. Dune: Part Two doesn't utilize the time skip the novel has, picking up directly where the first one left off, allowing Lady Jessica to remain pregnant and giving Paul his heroic moment of revenge while saving the Alia problem for later. It's a win-win. 

The Time Skip 

However, by eliminating the time skip of the novel, the complex themes and narratives that Frank Herbert takes years to develop have to be fast-tracked and sanitized, making Dune: Part Two less potent and less relevant than its 60-year-old source material. It's just a matter of adapting from medium to medium, but the time skip is just so essential to making the book as complex and brilliant as it is. 

Here's a brief summary: Paul, originally seen as an outsider, wins the trust of the Fremen after waging a brutal gorilla war against the Rabban Harkonnen for four years. He has a child with Chani, Leto II, who is killed in an air raid; he is known for his extraordinarily brutal warfare tactics, his genius cunning, and eventually, just the name "Maud'Dib" strikes fear into the hearts of his enemies. When he meets up with Gurney Halleck again, there's a genuine uneasiness about the interaction and a fear that Paul might not be "Atreides" anymore, either in morality or culture. The book treats his development and integration into the Fremen culture with great detail and respect in order to ensure that this happens smoothly, to make sure his killing the Harkonnen at the end is a vengeance for House Atreides and Arrakis.  

TO BE FAIR - the movie does all of this as well. This fear, the raids, the uneasiness - it's done as well as it can be done in Dune: Part Two, and they utilize "show, don't tell" perfectly. We see Paul attacking the Harkonnen, we see people seeing him as a Messiah, we see the fear he strikes into his enemies. This is why it's not a major dealbreaker for me in terms of the movie's actual quality; for the vision they went with, it is truly done as well as it can feasibly be done. But without the time skip, it doesn't feel right. It feels sleazy. It feels a bit more rushed, and by condensing this multi-year arc into a few months and excluding his lost child, the ultimate payoff feels unearned. 

The endgame of this story is that Paul is the prophesied Dune Messiah, fulfilling the prophecy, the Bene Gesserit's plans, and taking control of the universe by becoming the Kwisatz Haderach in one fell swoop. The fact that he is genuinely able to do all of these things, turning an objectively false and manipulative Fremen prophecy into reality, is where the reader derives the novel's themes and its complex critique of the white savior narrative. "Well, the prophecy isn't true, and Paul is taking advantage of the Fremen," one might say, but another chimes in, "Well, if the prophecy isn't true, then how was it fulfilled?" All of this hinges upon how well integrated Paul is to the Fremen, because to the Fremen, the prophecy is true. 

The Themes

Therefore, when the difference is a few months and a girlfriend versus several years, a "spouse," and a murdered child, Paul's integration into the Fremen feels like a con man with nothing to lose obviously taking advantage of the natives instead of the book's much blurrier line of prophecy and genuine Fremen hostility. He is the Lisan al-Gaib by fulfillment of prophecy and Fremen by experience, but he is also an Atreides outsider by birthright. In the movie, he never feels fully realized as a Fremen, just a prodigy who adapted well to his foreign exchange class while flirting with the most popular girl in school. It's like a sand-themed Oz the Great and Powerful. 

The movie's less-than-subtle messaging is spelled out once again in how they rewrote Chani's character. She's admittedly very passive in the book (especially about being a concubine, which always irked me), so there was definitely room for improvement, but they instead have her take every chance she gets to point out that Paul is misleading the people, it's silly to believe in prophecies, and that Arrakis should be freed by its native peoples. Which, like, okay - fine. On the other hand, there is no room for subtlety or nuance when the themes are stated as bluntly as "What are we, some kind of Suicide Squad?" It feels like it was added just in case someone in the audience started idolizing Paul Atreides, leading to another Joker situation. 

But sure, let's just have Paul agree with Chani for two hours and then flip on a dime/unveil his evil plan and accept the prophetic mantle, obviously losing her trust and she rides away angry on a sandworm. Very subtle. I wonder if Paul is the hero or if this whole setup might be a bad idea. 

Another small example of "nerd nitpicky stuff" is also directly tied to this. In the books, Paul is deeply affected by what he sees as a negative effect on the Fremen people - especially with Stilgar. Stilgar starts off as one of the most honored and revered generals in the Fremen army. By the time Paul's jihad has taken effect, Paul is upset that Stilgar seems to have lost his passion and foresight, becoming almost entirely dependent on Paul's prophetic capabilities and being wholly subject to them. Paul sees the negative influence and hates himself for it - in the movie, this degradation of the Fremen culture is depicted by Stilgar dropping to his knees and praising Maud'Dib and Chani calling him stupid for his faith. It's... It's a gross oversimplification of the most complex book in science fiction.

But, like I said, as a science-fiction movie it is unmatched! The scale, scope, ideas, costuming, visual effects, acting, emotional fulfillment and stakes are all spectacular. 

And, to balance this all out, a great way they adapted the novel: One of the most striking images in the original book is Paul talking about his foresight of the future, which he describes as standing on top of dune and seeing the tops of other dunes (set points in time) but not necessarily knowing every step to get to them. The movie directly references this imagery, which I appreciated!