DUNE: PART TWO (2024) Review

Review

It’s hard to believe it has been a mere three years since Dune: Part One arrived to spice up our lives. But finally, visionary director Denis Villeneuve is back with a second helping of life in the Corrino Empire. This time around there’s no pandemic to restrict this epic sci-fi saga to smaller screen. No, this time around Villeneuve, Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Rebecca Fergusson are coming for the global box office.

Everything about Dune: Part Two is bigger, bolder and braver. Despite an expansive 166 minute runtime Villeneuve pushes the envelope once again with exhilarating results. Picking up in the immediate aftermath of Part One offers up an episodic approach to big screen storytelling which feels classically-inspired and yet refreshingly unique.

When last we saw Paul Atreidis (Chalamet) much of his family including his father, Duke, had been slaughtered by the vengeful Harkonnen clan. Paul and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) had escaped in to the desert and joined up with Chani (Zendaya) and her Fremen clan, under the leadership of Stilgar (Javier Bardem). Now Paul needs to prove himself to the Fremen and cement his place as the fabled Muad’Dib.

Even more than the first film, Dune: Part Two rests on young Chalamet’s shoulders. Where the first film surrounded him with family and friends, now he’s the sole focus for both the audience and the inhabitants of Arrakis. Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts script tackles some complex and often challenging subjects. But its through Chamalet’s equally complex performance that Paul’s difficult journey to pseudo-religious leader is completed. With his smouldering good looks and suave appeal, Chalamet has already proven himself a pop culture icon. But even the most skeptical viewer will struggle to argue against Part Two being a career-best performance.

The narrative of Frank Herbert’s novel is cleverly constructed for the reader to experience Paul from a number of different perspectives. That ethos, and many of those perspectives, remain in this new film. Through his mother we see the son longing to avenge the father. Through Chani we see the vulnerable lover, soft and tender. Stilgar places Paul on a pedestal, his faith in Muad’Dib never wavering. Whilst other Fremen like newcomer Shishakli (Souheila Yacoub) see him as a shackle to the past and not a saviour for the future. Each of those perspectives is a vital component in making the film a success.

That journey to messiah-like status is the backbone of Dune: Part Two and boy is it a strong one. Place on top of that an expansive supporting cast and an even more expansive vision and you have the makings of a masterpiece. Which is exactly what Villeneuve has created. Thousands of words could be written about the cast. Each has a moment to shine, taking the spotlight from Paul for brief glimpses at what the Dune-universe can do beyond this core story. The returning Zendaya, Fergusson and Bardem alongside Charlotte Rampling, Dave Bautista, Josh Brolin and Stellan Skarsgård all feel like no time has passed from Part One. Each has an expanded role integral to that central story.

Newcomers to the franchise are Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) and Emporer Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken). The film opens with the pair recounting events of Part One on Arrakis. They then don’t appear again for over an hour. That’s how dense the narrative of Part Two is. Readers of the book will know the importance of Pugh’s character in the future and so it serves the narrative perfectly to bring her in at an earlier stage to lay the groundwork. Walken brings all of his mighty screen presence alongside that notorious accent.

Setting the screen alight is Austin – still somewhat “Elvis” – Butler who takes on the role of Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen. Feyd was famously played by Sting in the David Lynch version of Dune but this time around there’s no plastic undies in sight. Butler gives a powerhouse performance which rivals that of Chalamet. Behind a bald cap and tar-black teeth he sneers and slithers his way across the screen, cutting a foreboding figure in the pits of Giedi Prime. But alongside Léa Seydoux as Lady Margot Fenring, Butler comes to life in a completely different way. Shifting from raw anger and brute strength to searing tension and passion.

With a $190 million price-tag Dune: Part Two looks every part the blockbuster. Beautifully shot in IMAX by The Batman’s Greig Fraser, Villeneuve pushes the colour palette from the first film and taking it to new heights. More dynamic and more diverse, Part Two takes us to new locations each with their own visual style. The aforementioned Giedi Prime sequence in black and white feels like pure, undiluted sci-fi at its very best. The grand production design is teamed with impeccable visual effects making impossible not to get lost in the world that Villeneuve has created.

Of course a gem in Dune: Part One’s crown was the score from Hans Zimmer. Zimmer returns for Part Two sans space-bagpipes (spagpipes?) but with a new creative drive. With the stronger emphasis on the romance between Paul and Chani, Zimmer digs in to his back catalogue bringing fourth a wholly original score which feels like an emotional successor to Gladiator. Sonically, Zimmer soars across the dunes of Arrakis as tribal drums threaten to burst the eardrums.

Verdict

A masterpiece of sci-fi cinema. Bigger, bolder, louder and in every way. This is the kind of spectacle which cinema needs right now.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐