If you were perhaps underwhelmed by the first DUNE movie, DUNE: PART 2 brings the real pay-off for the hype of the first. DUNE: PART 2 is a true movie epic, with big name cast led by Timothée Chalamet, great special effects battles and a fight for freedom with a tense, stirring tale with competing ambitions more in the vein of “Game of Thrones” than Marvel’s straightforward good versus evil battles, with a religious prophecy mixed with space-spanning political ambitions in a fight for independence and over valuable resources. The first movie was needed to set the stage for this epic struggle but it was mere prologue compared to this massive, immersive tale that is part coming of age, part fight for freedom by an oppressed indigenous people, the power of belief, a master plan for power, and a struggle for control of an empire, all brilliantly pulled off in grand entertainment. A struggle for self-determination on a resource-rich land, a struggle for control in a grand chess game of power, along with personal dreams and the power of belief, has the ring of the contemporary world and human history, as well as enduring themes of literature.
Oscar-winning French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, whose past successes include BLADERUNNER 2049, again directs, and truly makes this one a thrilling epic. In addition to stunning visual effects, masterful direction, great storytelling, DUNE 2 has an impressive cast of international stars, including Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling, Austin Butler, Léa Seydoux, and Josh Brolin.
Nearly all good science fiction tales are commentary on human society, despite being set of distant planets and battles in outer space. Not everyone is a fan of science fiction, and no matter how good the story, and the novel “Dune” also added the challenge of blending in medieval-like aspect of fantasy tales, with nobles, wizards and court-intrigue. But for those of us who enjoy science fiction’s ‘what-if” speculations, like this writer, or the space-set fantasy novels that followed Frank Herbert’s genre-bending novel, DUNE 2 is that rare movie that truly captures the imagination and message of a classic science fiction world, and experience that is magical and thrilling both.
DUNE 2 picks up where the first film left off, although it opens with a little recap to refresh the memory, on the desert planet of Arrakis, called Dune by the native population, the Fremen. Young Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) are all that remain of their family after the invading brutal House of Harkonnen, led by bloated, floating, evil Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) and his nephew Beast Rabban (Dave Bautista), wiped out both the fighting forces and other members of the House of Atreides, including Paul’s father, Duke Leto Atreides.
Although it was the House of Harkonnen that attacked, it was the Emperor (Christopher Walken) who was behind it, advised by his Bene Gesserit priestess-advisor Reverend Mother Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling). The Emperor removed control of the valuable planet Arrakis, the lucrative source of the “spice” essential for interstellar travel, from the House of Harkonnen with hopes it would spark a war that would wipe out the House of Atreides, a secret plot revealed in the first film. With the Atreides seemingly eliminated, the Harkonnen, led on planet by Dave Bautista’s hot-tempered Beast Rabban, set out to subdue the troublesome Freemen and re-start the lucrative “spice” mining industry.
Escaping from their Harkonnen captors, with the help of the special psychic skills of Paul’s mother, a member of the powerful, witch-like order of the Bene Gesserit, Paul and Jessica flee into the desert. Two connect with the indigenous Fremen people, meeting Fremen leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) and beautiful rebel warrior Chani (Zendaya). Aided in part by a prophesy about a messiah that Paul seems to fit, young aristocrat Paul and his mother Jessica join the Fremen in their fight for freedom, setting the epic on its way.
But that prophesy is also part of a chess game set in motion by the shadowy Bene Gesserit. They have blended in with the Fremen, whispering about a savior from off-planet among the Freemen until a religious belief takes hold. When Paul appears, he shows all the foretold signs and, despite his denial of being the Mahdi, the belief grows among the Fremen along with a powerful following.
Previous attempts to bring Frank Herbert’s bestselling science fiction novel “Dune” to the big screen have not met with success, despite the novel being an enormous, genre-changing hit when it was first published in the mid-1960s and into the 1970s. But that has changed with this film, partly because of advances in F/X but also due to this director and fine cast, and the decision to treat the story as the human epic tale it really is. Although set in a future time and place far, far away, the story is grounded in human struggle, greed and ambitions, against a backdrop of the power of religious belief and filled with battles over precious resources and for freedom.
DUNE 2 works on every level, with fabulous special effects, a twisty tense story grounded both in human history and the present, and an epic hero tale on a grand scale, with excellent action performances and pulse pounding action. Director Denis Villeneuve brings to bear the same skill he showed in his previous science fiction tale BLADERUNNER 2049, and his skill with difficult human storytelling he showed in films like Incendies
Art direction helps craft the worlds along with world-class F/X. The Harkonnen world is often in black-and-white, suggesting increasingly the films of Nazi power and even the military parades of the Soviet Union. At other times, it is the coliseum-packing gladiator battles, with Austin Butler, shedding his Elvis charm (and most of his hair) as a crazed, violent young member of the famously-vicious Harkonnen. Location shooting in Jordan helped create the desert planet of Arrakis, called Dune by the native Fremen, and the sandworms are huge, impressive and plentiful.
Even if you didn’t care for the first one, DUNE: PART 2 is an epic delight well worth a trip to the theater, hopefully to see in on the biggest screen possible.
DUNE opens Friday, Mar. 1, in theaters.
RATING: 4 out of 4 stars
