Dune Part 2

Review: written Mar 2024

Breath-taking arthouse blockbuster

If there was any doubt that Denis Villeneuve could pull off such an ambitious retelling of Frank Herbert’s novel Dune, it has now been shattered. Part 2 fulfils the promise set up in Part 1, with more spectacular visuals, deeper narrative, and.. well, yes – bigger worms.

With little more than a short prologue serving to remind us where we are, and introduce a couple of new characters, Part 2 starts off pretty much exactly where the first one left off, as young Paul Atreides finds himself embedded with the Fremen following the massacre at the end of Part 1. The heart of the movie charts his growing bond and sense of responsibility for these people, and how he gradually unites them – the tone heavily coloured by a sense of manipulation and ulterior motives. His mother uses her status to aid her sons political rather than spiritual development, and there are shades of gray in whether you interpret his complicity or resistance to what should or even must be done next. Meantime the milieu is cast wider this time, to the Harkonnen’s world and Austin Butler as their champion Feyd-Rautha, whose path is set on a collision course with Paul. His introduction in the monochrome gladiator style arena is one of the movies many memorable moments. It’s Timothee Chalomet though, who has the heaviest lifting to do, as he changes from callow youth to spiritual and political leader. I still struggle reconciling Chalomet with the character I had in my head from the books, but that said I can’t fault his performance here, which helped me suspend my disbelief.

The range of colour palettes (or lack of colour!) is bold, artistic and yet effective. The Harkonnen live in a black and white oily, murky world – and yet as ugly as it is, you can sense a paradoxical beauty in it – you believe this world matters to the Harkonnens, even if their values are twisted by bloodlust and thirst for power. All this is greatly enhanced by a soundtrack by Hans Zimmer which startling avoids any cliché to bring originality in its tones of otherworldliness. And yet too here in the soundtrack we find beauty amongst the clamour, in the developing musical theme as feelings grow between Paul and Chani (Zendaya), the young Fremen to whom he is drawn.

Rounding out the cast we get the new additions – the emperor (Christopher Walken) and his daughter (Florence Pugh) - important additions, even if they have little screen time. The Harkonnens may be the battle being faced now, but the curtain is drawn back to see the Emperor as the driving force in the politics and conflict.

It may be a bum-numbing 2 hours 46 minutes, but it’s riveting, involving, mesmerising and enthralling. It’s refreshing how so many effects and cgi can actually feel so tangible, messy and even, dare I say it, human. Drama, romance, beauty, ugliness, war, spirituality, there’s hardly an element left out. And with those elements, Dune parts one and two comprise a stunning, innovative piece of arthouse cinema which somehow also manages to be the biggest crowd-pleasing blockbuster of the year so far. This is going to be hard to beat as my choice of movie of the year. And the best news? Villeneuve is already working on adapting a script from Dune: Messiah, to make this a trilogy. Can’t wait.