As Dune Part 1 concluded, back in October 2021, Chani (Zendaya) glanced at Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), newly accepted among her Fremen clan, and said — to him, and to us — “This is only the beginning.”
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| As Paul (Timothée Chalamet) begins to suffer increasingly distressing visions and nightmares, Chani (Zendaya) finds it harder to comfort him. |
The first film encompassed only (roughly) half of Frank Herbert’s famed 1965 novel, and Paul’s saga was far from over. Unfortunately, the book’s less satisfying second half takes a distinct ethical turn. Characters we had grown to like become less admirable; the story’s broader palette shifts, turning less heroic and more disturbing.
Although Herbert’s messianic subplot may have seemed benign (even worthy?) six decades ago, our world has changed. While director/co-scripter Denis Villeneuve — with fellow scribe Jon Spaihts — are once again commended for so faithfully adapting the key plot points of Herbert’s book, this second installment’s rising call for jihad strikes an entirely different note in our tempestuous times.
To put it another way, the story’s first half — with its clash between House Atreides and House Harkonnen, provoked behind the scenes by an unseen emperor and the mysterious women of the Bene Gesserit — felt very much like Game of Thrones, with all manner of similar subterfuge, betrayals and dashed hopes. (One wonders if Herbert’s book was on young George R.R. Martin’s reading list.)
The second half, alas, focuses more on Paul’s struggle to avoid a horrific destiny that he fears is preordained. To be sure, the promise of revenge also is on the table ... but it feels less important, given the gravity of the bigger picture.
All this said, there’s no denying — once again — the epic magnificence of Villeneuve’s vision, and the jaw-dropping scale of his world-building. Herbert’s fans will be gob-smacked anew.
To recap:
Paul’s father, the honorable Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac) of House Atreides, ruler of the ocean world Caladan, is sent by the Emperor to replace House Harkonnen as the fief overlords of the inhospitable planet Arrakis. This desert world is the galaxy’s sole source of “spice,” which enables safe interstellar travel. But mining operations are extremely dangerous due to the ginormous sandworms that move beneath desert sands, like whales swimming through water, and have teeth-laden maws immense enough to swallow a huge spice-mining platform whole.
Leto knows this mission a trap, and that he has been set up to fail; he and his people nonetheless occupy the Arrakian capital of Arrakeen, and attempt to make allies of the planet’s indigenous Fremen people. He gains the grudging respect of Fremen representative Stilgar (Javier Bardem).
In addition to having been trained for battle by elite soldiers Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa) and Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin), Paul also has been schooled in the “witchery ways” of the Bene Gesserit by his mother — also Leo’s concubine — Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson). On top of which, he has been having dream-visions of a Fremen woman (later revealed as Chani).
As feared, Harkonnen’s Baron Valdimir (Stellan Skarsgård) orchestrates a surprise attack on Arrakeen, and — assisted by the Emperor’s elite Sardaukar troops — massacres every one of Leto’s soldiers and civilians, thereby destroying House Atreides. Valdimir’s loutish nephew, Glossu “Beast” Rabban (Dave Bautista), resumes control of spice mining.
Paul and his mother escape into the desert, where they eventually encounter Stilgar and members of his Fremen clan, whose number include Chani. After a bit of, um, discussion, Paul and Jessica are accepted ... albeit reluctantly.
As this second film begins, Paul and Jessica still tread thin ice, since the Fremen — after enduring generations of Harkonnen violence, corruption and greed — instinctively mistrust all off-worlders. But Stilgar is grudgingly impressed by Paul’s pluck and determination to prove himself, while remaining wary of Jessica’s Bene Gesserit abilities.
Matters get worse when Stilgar takes them to the massive underground Fremen enclave of Sietch Tabr, where half the populace favors killing the outworlders. Stilgar has his hands full, trying to prevent that; he’s helped by his strong religious suspicion that Paul might be the long-awaited messiah of prophecy, a belief shared by many other Fremen.
Chani and her best friend, Shishakli (Souheila Yacoub), represent the tribe’s skeptical secular side: a familiar clash between faith and pragmatism, with disturbing parallels to the culture wars currently infecting our United States.
Paul wants to help the Fremen take control of their own destiny, which means somehow orchestrating a confrontation with Baron Valdimir and the Emperor. But Paul also worries — due to his visions — that doing so could lead to untold chaos and war.
That said, the first film established that Paul’s visions can be misleading.
Additional new characters — or those granted larger roles — include the Emperor (Christopher Walken); his daughter, Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh), also trained in Bene Gesserit ways; Lady Margot Fenring (Léa Seydoux), an enigmatic Bene Gesserit; and the Baron’s other nephew, the murderous sociopath Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler, delivering quite a switch from his Oscar-nominated performance in 2022’s Elvis).
Paul, no longer the naïve, unworldly youth introduced in the first film, has become tougher and more sure of himself. Chalamet persuasively handles this transition, particularly as he leads dangerous skirmishes against Harkonnen spice-harvesting operations, or tackles the scary challenge of learning how to ride a sandworm.
But Paul also is increasingly tortured by indecision over how to proceed, and concern regarding the potential consequences of his actions. (Chalamet does anguish quite well.) Villeneuve and Spaihts’ script gets a bit wobbly here; it’s difficult to be sure, as the story moves into its final act, that Paul retains the moral high ground.
Jessica’s transition, on the other hand, is flat-out disturbing. One of the first film’s best elements was the strength of the bond between Paul and his mother, each of them having each other’s back. That’s far less certain in this concluding half, with Jessica embracing Machiavellian maneuvers that compromise her son’s efforts at integrity: behavior we’d more likely expect from the Emperor.
On top of which, Jessica spends much of the film conversing with the unborn daughter in her womb, who — thanks to Bene Gesserit breeding and having consumed the Fremen “Water of Life” — has become a fully sentient being. These chats don't really serve any purpose.
After having been little more than an idealistic vision in the first film, Zendaya makes Chani a fully fleshed individual: initially contemptuous of Paul, but soon attracted to him. Her ethics remain pure, and she becomes his moral compass; Zendaya deftly handles this shift. But despite their blossoming love, Chani becomes increasingly troubled, as Paul struggles over the nature of his destiny.
(Villeneuve and Spaihts accelerated this saga’s time frame, thereby skipping the birth of Paul’s sister, and the fact that he and Chani have a son.)
Feyd-Rautha is a nightmare: an absolute monster who delights in pain and torture. (It does not pay to be a female commoner, in House Harkonnen.) Butler plays this role with chilling, gleeful ferocity.
Skarsgård’s Baron continues to be a dark, sadistic, gravity-defying monster of a man, brought to nightmarish life by an impressive blend of makeup and CGI.
Princess Irulan and Lady Margot remain under-developed. Although both clearly take their marching orders from Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling) — who administered the painful Gom Jabbar test to Paul in the first film — Pugh and Seydoux aren’t given enough screen time to add any depth to their characters.
Walken, even worse, sleep-walks through his handling of the Emperor.
On the production side, Villeneuve has retained the same team: editor Joe Walker, production designer Patrice Vermette, cinematographer Greg Fraser and visual effects supervisor Paul Lambert, all of whom won Oscars for the first film. Their work here is equally splendiferous; the Fremen assaults on spice-mining operations are tense and exciting, and the sandworm “taming” sequences simply jaw-dropping.
On the other hand, Hans Zimmer’s so-called “score” remains nothing more than thundering, insufferably monotonous, low-end bass synth chords. Granted, such unsettling cacophony is a suitable backdrop for Harkonnen misdeeds, but there’s no melodic counterpoint for — as just one example — time spent with the Fremen in Sietch Tabr. It’s all just noise.
As the curtain falls on this 166-minute film, it’s hard to be satisfied with the outcome of all this sturm und drang. After nearly six hours of intrigue, violence and diminishing hope, the story still feels unfinished. No surprise, then, that Herbert followed his novel with five (!) sequels ... and, yes, Villeneuve already has the second book, 1969’s Dune: Messiah, in development.
Not sure how I feel about that...
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