Dune part 2 has received insane praise from all over the world, not just because it is good but also because it came out during a time when there are no good inventive and original sci-fi movies. It provided a breath of fresh air to the fans of sci-fi movies.
As amazing as the source matter is, Denis Villeneuve’s execution really bought the world of Arrakis to life. Now, I wasn’t a big fan of the first Dune (2021) movie. Even though I liked it, the characters didn’t have much depth or personality to them and the dialogues mostly provided information not built the characters. But what kept the movie interesting was the meticulous details in its world building. It kind of felt like a documentary on a really rich culture. It wasn’t as emotionally impactful or personal as Denis’s previous movies. But after watching Dune Part 2, I think it was a really good set up for the actual meat of the story, that is this movie.
Now I am going to discuss the plot of the movie. The Dune book is the origin of “The Chosen One” concept. So many movies have been inspired from Dune, but no movie gets into the nuances of this concept as Dune does. What you see in most of the Hollywood movies is really just a simplified version of it.
There are many different and unique concepts in this movie. In this movie “the chosen one (Lisan al Gaib)” isn’t born from the desperation of the Fremen originally. It is, at first, a propaganda that is spread across the galaxy by the Bene Gesserit. The savior here is not a hero, at least not totally. And the most important is how dangerous blind faith can be.
Let’s discuss the story a little bit. (Spoilers) So, in the beginning of Dune 2, The Fremen are being hunted by the Baron, who has gained control of Arrakis after killing Paul’s father. Paul and his mother Lady Jessica, who is a Bene Gesserit, are now with the Fremen. All of them have the same goal of killing the Harkonnen. Leader of the Fremen, Stillgar, believes that Paul is the chosen one, thanks to Bene Gesserit’ s propaganda, which leads to some hilarious scenes.
At first Paul doesn’t want to admit that he is the chosen one; even though he sees fragments of the possible future, because he sees what happens once he becomes the Lisan al Gaib.
But towards the end he suddenly decides to embrace the prophecy. Maybe because he wants revenge for his father and gets desperate? I don’t know. But aul changing his mind kind of felt abrupt to me. Then he goes south of Arrakis and drinks the worm juice. Now his visions become clear. He can see all the possible futures clearly, he has all the wisdom of his predecessors, he knows what he has to do to get his revenge. From this point on he gets so ruthless and nonchalant about all the death and destruction, you know longer think him as a hero. And Timothee Chalamet sells this transformation. He no longer talks in a normal voice; he just shouts orders at everyone. He sidelines the woman he loves, Chani, because he realizes he has to let her go to achieve his goals. Some of the scenes of him giving speech to the Fremen gives you goosebumps. Then he gathers all the Fremen, shows them his knife and shouts “Long live the fighters” in Fremen language and just launches 3 nukes on the shield wall, so the worms can pass though. And just like that the Harkonnen and the Sardaukar of the Emperor are destroyed. Then he just marches into the base of the Harkonnen where the emperor is temporarily residing. He kills the Baron, orders his army to kill the Sardaukar and take everyone hostage. The last 30 minutes of this movie is just epic and goosebump inducing.
This is the moment I felt bad for the Harkonnen. The hero of the story had turned into an anti-hero. The faith of Stillgar on Paul, which was funny now no longer was funny. Stillgar just gets overwhelmed and tears up every time he gets an order from Paul. He neither questions Paul, nor he lets anyone question him. I think this concept is the meat of the story. Now even if there are action scenes, they are never the main focus.
There were some choices that I didn’t fully reconcile with. The final battle feels short and I would have liked a bit longer action scene. There are some points in the movie where there is a time jump between the scenes and it feels disconnecting. And Paul’s choice of embracing the prophecy feels abrupt.
Some people think that some shots are a bit too long. I agree with that but I don’t care because what I see on screen is fascinating and beautiful. The acting in this movie is good. The cinematography by Greig Fraser is one of the main highlights in this movie. The standard he sets here is insane. Sound design in this movie is phenomenal. The soundtrack by Hans Zimmer is as usual amazing. This movie somehow looks and feels fresh. It doesn’t feel like the regular CGI action movies we are used to. It looks real.
Denis’s movies always felt like dreams, like a poem. This is why I oddly like his movies. When this movie ended It felt like a beautiful, poetic end to an amazing cautionary tale. Still the movie definitely leaves room for Dune: Messiah, for which I am totally stoked.
Thank you!
