Year: 2024
Country: USA, Canada
Language: English
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Adventure, Drama
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Screenwriter: Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts
based on the novel by Frank Herbert
Music: Hans Zimmer
Cinematography: Greig Fraser
Editor: Joe Walker
Cast:
Timothée Chalamet
Zendaya
Rebecca Ferguson
Austin Butler
Javier Bardem
Josh Brolin
Stellan Skarsgård
Florence Pugh
Christopher Walker
Dave Bautista
Léa Seydoux
Charlotte Rampling
Souheila Yacoub
Babs Olusanmokun
Roger Yuan
Alison Halstead
Giusi Merli
Anya Taylor-Joy
Rating: 8.5/10
Frank Herbert’s DUNE is published in 1965, and almost 60 years has elapsed, its central white messiah yarn now sits unfavorably with audience of today, and story-wise, its poses as the biggest challenge for Denis Villeneuve’s epic adaptation.
So in Part Two, in order to debunk the myth, the script clearly redesigns the role of Chani (Zendaya), a valiant warrior of the desert-inhabiting tribe called Fremen, and the love interest of Paul (Chalamet), the exiled Duke of House Atreides and the prophesied savior of her people. Chani repudiates the prophesy because she firmly believes power belongs to the people, not an outsider, Paul should be an ally but never the “chosen one”. Therefore, albeit her romantic feelings for him, Chani is leery of Paul’s actions, and is reassured by his undivided love and a promise that he only wants to fight with them.
But Paul’s ascendant renown and influence among Fremans is aided by demonstrating his phenomenal prowess of reining in a streaking gargantuan sandworm (a skill only a true Freman can master); a devotee in the person of Stilgar (Bardem), a prominent leader of the Fremen tribe who is more than willing to drink the Kool-Aid for Paul (a zealot of blind faith portrayed by Bardem with uncanny seriousness which turns out to be pretty funny, especially under the grave context); and his widowed mother Lady Jessica (Ferguson), who is hell-bent on promulgating and disseminating Paul’s savior myth by way of herb mentality and chicanery, all while secretively conferring with her in-utero daughter. Ferguson, is on a roll as a standout among the star-studded ensemble, her striking mystique is both chillingly brittle and numinously captivating (though their screen-time is scanty, the other two members of Bene Gesserit, a fancy analogue of “witch”, Rampling’s Reverend Mother and Seydoux’s Lady Fenring, also make an impressive account of themselves).
Eventually, Paul backtracks on his promise after seeing the vision of a potential future (although what he actually envisions is largely left off screen). He accepts his seemingly“predestined” role, drubs both Baron Harkonnen (Skarsgård) and Emperor Shaddam IV (an infirm Walken), even takes over the throne. After accepting to tie the knot with Empire’s daughter Princess Ireland (Pugh), Paul further alienates himself from Chani. The film concludes with the ominous advent of the “Holy War”, but the final shot is plumb leveled at a jilted Chani, looking ever-so grim and aggrieved, riding away on a sandworm, it is her and our wounded conscience that prepares audience for Part Three, currently in the pipeline.
For the House Harkonnen, Part Two is the retaliation time, Paul, reuniting with his mentor Gurney Halleck (Brolin), is nearly invincible thanks to the tribe’s indigenous tactics and the elemental, bulldozing puissance of the sandworms. Even Baron’s ferocious nephew and heir Feyd-Rautha (Butler, shapeshifting into a psychotic killer bristled with malevolent flexes), cannot stop Paul’s inexorable ascension. The tit for tat is stirring but also feels too frictionless, for instance, Bautista’s Rabban, an intimidating force of brawny and savagery in the previous chapter, is summarily offed in just 2 seconds by Gurney. The action sequences and choreography, whether it is the Feyd-Rautha’s butchering showpiece inside a triangular gladiator ring, or the blade-wielding, close-quarter duel between him and Paul, resolve to be more functional than esthetically pleasing. Actors should’ve been corralled for some extensive martial arts training had Villeneuve intended to soup up on that aspect, which could be too much to ask for the costly cast one may postulate.
However, that’s just one person’s pet peeve, elsewhere DUNE: PART TWO is as breathtaking and thunderous as its predecessor if not more, Villeneuve’s visionary scope and boundless imagination, in tandem with Hans Zimmer’s majestically sonorous score and the overwhelmingly rousing sound effects, goes from strength to strength on a larger canvas. His Dune universe is the antithesis of CGI overindulgence and superhero flick’s tawdry and garish palette. Each shot and composition is meticulously and expertly actualized after scrupulous deliberation and getting one’s creative juice flowing. It never allows audience to suspend their disbelief for too long, because the film is a thoroughly immersive experience for each and every spectator. We are there too, transfixed to the screen, vicariously transported into that alien world of endless desert, sacred geometry, simplistic design and muted color-ways, witnessing a revolution together with some otherworldly phenomena that are beyond imagination, it is “cinema” in its most magical splendor and glory.
Nonetheless, DUNE PART TWO is a work-in-progress, Paul’s adventure is still in the balance. More and more likely, awards-wise, Villeneuve will finally reach the pinnacle of his preeminent career with Part Three, like Peter Jackson with THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, and hopefully, so is Chalamet for his commanding, nuance-shading performance. Paul’s growing pains and maturation is the raison d’être of the whole megillah.
referential entries: Denis Villeneuve’s DUNE (2021, 8.4/10); ARRIVAL (2019, 8.5/10); Peter Jackson’s THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2000, 8.9/10), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS (2002, 8.1/10).
Cinema Omnivore 