Movie Breakdown: Dune: Part Two
Pre-Screening Stance:
When Zendaya’s Chani said “This is only the beginning.” at the end of Dune (back in 2021), I instantly became eager to see Part Two. With that being said, the trailers have been awesome, the early buzz has been wildly positive, and writer/director Denis Villeneuve hasn’t really ever missed. This should be great.
Post-Screening Ramble:
Where Dune is a patiently-paced film that consists of a lot of world-building by writer/director Denis Villeneuve, Part Two is the rapid-fire movement of all the pieces that he painstakingly put into place.
The story picks up exactly where the first movie ends. Paul (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) are making their way across Arrakis with Stilgar (Javier Bardem), Chani (Zendaya), and others. After reaching a Fremen sietch, they’re each tasked with proving themselves. Meanwhile, Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) and Beast Rabban (Dave Bautista) want the Fremen entirely eradicated from Arrakis, so they’ve taken to aggressively trying to root them out. As that situation develops, the highly promising but thoroughly disturbed Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Austin Butler) waits in the wings, plus there’s the presence of Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh), who is concerned that her father (Christopher Walken) has been involved in things that may threaten his status as the Emperor.
The big thing to note here is that if you haven’t seen Dune in a minute (or ever), then you better give it a go before running off to the theater because – while you’ll likely still find yourself dazzled by the stunning visuals in Part Two – you’re not going to know what’s going on. There’s a lot of characters and a whole slew of topics, like spice, politics, guerilla warfare, religious fanatics, and so on that get thrown at you, and Villeneuve doesn’t softball any of it. So, in other words, Part Two an epic, complex, and challenging film that you need to be in the right place to enjoy, otherwise it’s just going to run you ragged. And trust me, you don’t want that. Because then you’d miss out on the masterful work by Villeneuve and immense performances from the entire cast. Part Two is also one of those rare films that will eventually have people asking what the experience was like when it first hit theaters, and you don’t want to be in the group of folks that were lost.
Yes, you should see Dune: Part Two. And yes, you should do it on the biggest screen you can find. It opens this Friday, March 1.
One Last Thought:
If their careers stay on the upward trajectories that they’re on now, people will eventually look back and marvel that Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, and Anya Taylor-Joy are all in this thing.
