Movie Review: DUNE: PART TWO Starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh

Someone get me a Dune popcorn bucket.

Oh, that has nothing to do with my review; they just didn’t have any at the screening I attended.

Thanks to his seminal work in the last 11-12 years, director Denis Villeneuve has established himself as one of the top directors of his generation. If you look at his body of work, he’s managed to build a resume that can stand up against just about anyone: Prisoners, Enemy, Sicario, Blade Runner 2049, Arrival, and Dune: Part One are all tremendous works, winning acclaim from both critics and audiences.

And now three years after the release of Part One comes the release of Dune: Part Two. Picking up quickly after the events of the first film, Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) is on the run from House Harkonnen after its leader, Baron Vladimir (Stellan Skarsgård) ambushed his family, killing his father and its entire military in one brutal ambush. Traveling with Chani (Zendaya) and Stilgar (Javier Bardem), the leader of a Fremen tribe, Paul and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) are assimilated into the Fremen culture. Thanks to his Bene Gesserit background, Paul dreams of a possible future in which he leads the Fremen in a holy war that could cost billions of lives, and he’s forced to contemplate his future actions.

Visually, Dune: Part Two is absolutely stunning. Villeneuve has a track record of making gorgeous films, especially his science fiction movies: Arrival received an Oscar nomination for best cinematography, and Blade Runner 2049 and Dune: Part One both won the Oscar in that category. For Part Two, Denis once again teamed up with Greig Fraser, the DC from Part One, which seems like a no-brainer. And Fraser once again delivers with sweeping landscapes and tremendous battle scenes that fully capture the scope of battle. Seeing the sandworms charging against the forces of House Harkonnen gives the audience a sense of scale in regards to just how massive the sandworms are.

Fraser provides a sense of contrast with his choice in color palette as well; the antagonistic Harkonnen tends to be shown in stark black and white: the color of their skin, their armor, even their eyes are all simple, two-tone colors, as if there’s little depth to their intents and morality. On the other hand, House Atreides and the Fremen all present color, both natural and unnatural, from their clothes and gorgeous blue eyes to the pure blue color of the Water of Life. On one hand, it’s easy enough to assert that the color represents the “good” guys and their way of life, but based on the events of the movie, it could also represent the depth of their choices, the concept that everything in life cannot boil down to a good or bad.

The cast is an ensemble of big names who give excellent performances. Franchise newcomers Florence Pugh (Princess Irulan) and Christopher Walken (Emperor Shaddam IV) integrate well into the cast, and Austin Butler (Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen) finally manages to dispel his Elvis accent (thanks to some heavy audio processing), but Chalamet’s portrayal of Paul and Zendaya’s Chani stand out well above the rest. Whereas in Part One, Paul was shown as a young man with tremendous potential, in Part Two, his potential becomes reality as he not only aces the Fremen tests but he establishes himself as the leader of the Fremen and the holy war that’s soon to follow. Zendaya, on the other hand, is probably the most sympathetic character in the film, as she watches the person she loves transform into a powerful leader, albeit one who may not share her outlook. Zendaya is mostly known for her performance in the series “Euphoria” as well as her supporting role in the Spider-Man franchise, but she absolutely nails her performance as Chani, and her star is only going to shine brighter after Part Two.

There aren’t too many negatives to the film, although at times the environmental audio and music can make hearing the dialogue difficult. Admittedly, that could have been a mixing issue at the theater I saw the screener, but when you see a movie in an IMAX theater, you’d expect the presentation to be perfect. Thankfully, during some notable scenes, including the climactic showdown, the background audio is notably absent, allowing the viewer to focus exclusively on the action.

Those who have read the Dune series know that the subsequent novels take a bit of a…drastic turn, so it’ll be interesting to see what Warner Brothers plans to do in the long-term future. Denis has stated in interviews that he is going to work on a third film, based on the second novel, Dune Messiah, but has no intent of doing anything beyond a trilogy. Still, if he’s able to make a third film on par with the first two, his trilogy will surely go down in history as one of the greatest ever. Dune: Part Two is one of the most anticipated movies of the year, and it absolutely delivers. It’s a rather lengthy film, clocking in at 2 hours 47 minutes, so definitely pee before you walk into the theater. It’s worth it, though. Frank Herbert fans can rejoice in knowing that his magnum opus concludes in stunning fashion.

Dune: Part Two gets an A