Dune: Part Two (2024)
After a disappointing first film that
suffered from abruptly ending so the story could be fit in two installments,
director Denis Villeneuve recovers with a stronger effort in Dune: Part Two.
Based on Frank Herbert's epic sci-fi
novel, Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) is trying to avenge his father's death
at the hands of the Harkonnens. The Harkonnens decimated the House of Atreides
in an effort to control production of the valuable mineral called spice. Paul
is hiding with the Fremen, a group of people fighting a guerrilla war against
the Harkonnens.
There's a lot going on here and an
attempt to fully explain the plot and all of the character relationships would
exceed my word count. Villeneuve is a strong director, and the visuals are
excellent. There are some solid action scenes (a sandworm ride, an early attack
on a sand crawler). The characters have at least some complexities. The Fremen
aren't all cookie cutter noble victims. They have different factions and
disagreements. Paul has been victimized by both people and circumstance, but
the movie lets viewers see that his quest for revenge might be making him
power-hungry.
The strongest relationship in the film
is the one between Paul and Stilgar (Javier Bardem), a Fremen religious
fundamentalist. Bardem brings a humanity to the character that makes audiences
care about him, even when he is saying stuff that is at least a little crazy.
The romance between Paul and Chani (Zendaya) fails to ignite a lot of sparks, unfortunately.
Dune: Part Two's running time is
168 minutes, and I started to feel the length around the two-hour mark. One
climactic fight between two major characters is handled well; another feels
perfunctory. The ending makes it clear that the filmmakers are hoping to get a
green-light to shoot a third installment.
Overall, there is enough about Dune:
Part Two to recommend it, and it is a movie that will absolutely be better
served by seeing it on a big screen.
