Dune: Part Two (2024)

Wow, when was the last time a new movie had this much up-front popularity? Going by both IMDb and general social circles, I'd say 2003, with The Return of the King. Of course, it's been released only a week in the states, so I don't assume lasting momentum. But between its initial reception and my appreciation of the first part, I saw fit to check it out almost ASAP.

In keeping with where we left off, young adult Duke Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) now walks among the desert-dwelling Fremen, with his clan's killers initially uncertain whether Paul still lives. He and the Fremen are warring to stop House Harkonnen from taking over spice operations on Planet Arrakis. His mom, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), and Fremen leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) look forward to Paul awakening as the prophesied messianic Kwisatz Haderach, but most Fremen don't believe it. And Paul hopes to avoid it, because his own spice-induced visions appear to foretell consequent mass devastation more than salvation.

We get a few new characters in addition to welcome returns. Hope you can take Christopher Walken seriously enough to accept him as the corrupt Emperor of the Known Universe. His daughter (Florence Pugh) takes a somewhat nuanced view of the Arrakis conflict, while counselor Margot Fenring (Léa Seydoux) doesn't even see sides per se. Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) is phasing nephew Rabban (Dave Bautista) out of power in favor of a previously unseen nastier nephew, Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler). And Jessica reports that her unborn daughter can psychically communicate with her, showing adult-level wisdom.

If you think that's weird, trust me: The book gets weirder. I notice a few more deviations this time around, and they're for the best. I doubt Frank Herbert would mind. The ethically complex spirit is still captured.

There's certainly a similar feel to before, with patient pacing and a limited color palette. Perhaps the best difference is a greater focus on the shaky relationship between Paul and a Fremen woman, Chani (Zendaya). You may also like the action sequences better. The worst difference, to my mind, is that many scenes can elapse before we see Paul again, and the characters in the interim are typically unpleasant. The baron, for instance, only gets more gratuitously violent in his growing frustration. At several points, I considered checking my phone's clock.

Is that the main reason I like D:P2 a little less? I'm thinking it's more for reasons the filmmakers could hardly help. When Paul finally stops resisting his destiny (that's no spoiler; you knew it would happen), he gets suddenly harder to relate to or like. The ending, while more resolved than last time, paints a pretty unsatisfying picture that doesn't bode well for a threequel. And yes, I read the next book.

We'll see whether D:P2 gets an Academy Best Picture nomination next year. As it is, I applaud Denis Villeneuve for doing about the best he can with warped source material. By all means, check it out, but you might want to wait for streaming so you can pause during the 165 minutes.