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The colour scheme is orange and brown. The title hovers over a large sandworm which is pursuing a helicopter. A crowd of warriors are fighting below them. Framed by an enormous sun, Paul and Chani are side by side at the top of the head salad. On the left are the bald and pasty Harkonnens; Feyd-Rautha and Rabba (Dave Bautista) have their swords drawn. Jessica wears an elaborate headdress of chains under her hood; her cheeks are tattooed. Gurney Hallek (Josh Brolin), Stilgar, and Chani’s friend are on the right. Princess Irulan is with them, wearing a silver cowl with long spikes around her face. Paul, Jessica, and the Fremen all have bright blue eyes. |
The last three years have been a whirlwind of Dune-related anticipation. For me, it began with watching the infamous 1984 film, followed by Frank Herbert’s novel of the same name. If you’ll recall my list of movies I looked forward to in 2023, Dune Part 2 was up there. Due to writer-strike delays, we finally have it this year. Was it worth the wait?
Paul Atreides (Timothy Chalamet, Wonka) unites with the Fremen on Arrakis to get revenge on the Emperor who ordered the destruction of his family.
Running nearly three hours long, Dune Part 2 only drags in a few places. Paul’s sandworm initiation is one of the best bits of cinema I’ve seen in a long while by the sound quality alone; Hans Zimmer’s score doesn’t have to work hard to make worm-surfing epic. The camera shots are intimate and up-close around Paul and his blossoming relationship with Chani (Zendaya, The Greatest Showman). Javier Bardem’s Stilgar is used as comic relief, and it really works. It’s a shame we never really experience Fremen culture beyond their religion and utilising the sandworms.
For the sake of time, we have scaled-back versions of other characters. Against the belief that Paul is the Fremen’s answer to a Messiah, Chani is a stalwart atheist. It suggests a specific mouthpiece so as not to alienate the audience completely, but we lose an intriguing facet of Chani’s relaxed personality I enjoyed from the novel. Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One) is much colder, and there is no hint of rapport between her and Chani, which seems like a missed opportunity for good female chemistry (though we get that with Chani and one of her friends). Moreover, the screenwriters (Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts) actively swerve away from the stranger aspects of the book regarding Paul’s unborn sister. We can leave the weirdness to future sequels if they are made.
I went eagerly into the cinema, and I came out of it overwhelmed but happy (and hungry, but that’s by the by). At the cost of some subplots and character dimensions, Dune Part 2 is a spot-on adaptation. I hadn’t realised until afterwards, but it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a film this HUGE. The world, potential character development, and action sequences all add to the scale that Frank Herbert’s universe deserves. Was it worth the wait? Oh, absolutely.
My Rating: 4 STARS OUT OF 5
My Sources:
Film poster – https://www.lexlive.com/movie/dune-part-two
Top 13 Films Coming Out in 2023 - https://films-and-fandoms.blogspot.com/2023/01/my-top-13-films-coming-out-in-2023.html
Stellan Skarsgård’s filmography - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001745/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_2_tt_0_nm_6_q_ste
Rebecca Ferguson’s filmography - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0272581/?ref_=tt_ov_st
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