When Dune came out in 2021, I concluded my review of that mixed-bag film by saying that “We can only hope that Part Two will stand better on its own than Part One does.” Well, Dune: Part Two is here and while it does work better on its own as a film than the first one, it still has the same key issues as Dune.
Denis Villeneuve once again directs and co-writes the script with Jon Spaihts, adapting from Frank Herbert’s epic 1965 sci-fi novel. Greig Fraser returns as the cinematographer, Hans Zimmer is back to provide the score, production design is once again by Patrice Vermette, and Joe Walker still does the editing. All these key contributors returning means that Dune: Part Two looks and feels incredibly consistent with the first film, and indeed, it picks right up from the end of Dune, in which Paul Atreides and his mother, Lady Jessica, barely escape the massacre of their family.
Timothee Chalamet returns as Paul, now going by the Fremen name “Muad’Dib”, hiding amongst the Indigenous people of the desert planet Arrakis. His mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), is inducted into the Fremen’s religious order, and Chani (Zendaya), a Fremen fighter, is Paul’s second-biggest supporter among her people as he adjusts to desert life. Paul’s biggest supporter is Stilgar (Javier Bardem), an elder of the Fremen who believes Paul is the “Lisan al Gaib”, the prophesied Chosen One come to liberate the Fremen from their outsider oppressors who mine their planet for “spice”, a key ingredient in galactic space travel.
The good of Dune: Part Two is this spectacular cast, loaded top to bottom with the best actors of generations, from Christopher Walken as the emperor, to Florence Pugh as his daughter, Princess Irulan, to Austin Butler as the psychotic Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, Paul’s antithesis in space. Every performance is great, even actors who pop up for only one or two scenes, like Lea Seydoux, throw down terrific performances. And Part Two looks better than Dune, less grey and dour, more beautiful shots of the sun sinking below sand dunes, just brighter colors overall. Even the intentionally colorless scenes featuring the evil Harkonnens—shot on infrared cameras to give a high-contrast achromatic look—are stark and defining, as striking in their unreality as the natural world of Arrakis.
And enough cannot be said about Austin Butler, who proves Elvis wasn’t a fluke and easily steals every scene he’s in. With his bald dome and black teeth, he looks completely demented, which he matches with a snakelike physicality and a creepy voice that is at once boyishly high and disturbingly raw. It would be a “silly voice” except for how effective it is, combining with Feyd-Rautha’s disconcerting appearance to render him so completely other he becomes terrifying simply by existing. We don’t need to see him do violence to believe Feyd is off his rocker, but he does a lot of violence anyway, just to drive home the point. Butler’s performance is outstanding, just when Part Two starts to lag, he shows up to give it a shot in the arm.
That lag, though, is part of the downside of Part Two. Like the first movie, the pacing is out of whack, though here it is go-go-go, all action and battle and propulsive enough most people won’t care that even at 168 minutes, Part Two feels overstuffed, and major story moments barely have time to breathe. Paul’s turn from reluctant to embrace his destiny to willingly positioning himself as Lisan al Gaib is so fast, it feels like entire scenes are missing. Zendaya fares the best in the character arcs, mainly because Chani is steadfast from beginning to end, her key character traits never changing, which means Zendaya has the room to bring those traits to fullest life and not turn Chani into someone else entirely like Paul.
There is also the issue of the baked-in Orientalism of Dune, which continues to go unchallenged in the text yet emphasized by decisions such as depicting Fremen praying in a style similar to Muslims, and the ululating vocalizations on Zimmer’s score. Again, most people simply do not care about this, but it is there, and Dune is over 50 years old as a narrative, and not engaging with the inherent Orientalism and white savior tropes is an active choice being made. (But Sarah! Dune Messiah will finally set it all straight! Once again, this is not that movie.) Part Two is also guilty of that thing superhero movies do, including characters and scenes solely meant to set up future movies. People get mad when superhero movies do that, but Dune will get a pass because it’s fancy.
Overall, though, Dune: Part Two is entertaining, a glossy sci-fi epic that FEELS epic, and as this film is so action packed, it plays amazingly well to a crowd. There are ideas here I wish had more space to resonate, such as religion as a construct meant to maintain an oppressive status quo and the willingness to betray one’s ideals for revenge, but Part Two moves so fast those ideas barely surface before we’re onto the next action set piece. The pace is exhilarating and helps that runtime feel manageable, but it does cost Part Two some of its own poetry. Still, Dune: Part Two operates more effectively as a film unto itself, and there is no denying the joy of watching so many great actors give great performances in a sci-fi film that feels like a real adventure. The key issues of Dune remain the key issues of Dune, but Denis Villeneuve has created a visual language for Dune that finally gives this epic its cinematic due.
Dune: Part Two is now playing exclusively in theaters.
