BY YOSEF IBITAYO/Staff Writer and JOHN ENABOIFO/Staff Contributor
Every once in a while, we get a movie that shakes everything up and imprints itself into the public consciousness. In our age of divided entertainment, in comes a blockbuster that seems to unify people to travel in one of the biggest hype trains in recent memory. And is it worth the hype? YEAH, it is.
Denis Villeneuve’s sequel adapts the second half of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Following on from the fall of his House in 2021’s Dune, Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides and his mother, Rebecca Ferguson’s Lady Jessica, ally themselves with the native Fremen people of Arrakis in rebellion against their mutual enemy, the brutal House Harkonnen. In telling the tale of their war, Villeneuve deftly explores how a society can be manipulated into a state of fanaticism – and the horrors that lie in such a transformation.
SENSE OF GRANDEUR
Nearly everyone involved in the production of Dune returns for Part Two, including cinematographer Greig Fraser, composer Hans Zimmer, and production designer Patrice Vermette. Under the direction of Villeneuve, the trio bring a sense of grandeur and scale to the film.
Zimmer’s horns echo their mournful notes over IMAX-wide shots of Arrakis’ windswept sands, while Vermette’s underground lake of reclaimed water and walls of pale stone stretches back into a high-vaulted darkness, all under Fraser’s expert camerawork. Experienced as a whole, it is clear to see why the trio won their respective Oscars at 2022’s Academy Awards.
It’s beautiful. It’s out of this world.
Unfortunately, the film cannot escape its nature as an adaptation, leading to disjointed depths in characterization. Because Villeneuve centers Part Two around Paul’s transformation from Duke of Arrakis to the Fremen’s messianic ‘Mahdi’, Chalamet and those actors surrounding him possess compelling arcs and struggles. Meanwhile, villains like Stellan Skarsgård’s Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Austin Butler’s Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, or Christopher Walken’s Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV come across as “stock” villains.
Was this imbalance intentional by Villeneuve? Perhaps. For his part, Chalamet turns in in Part Two what may be the best performance of his career, immersing us in the struggles of a young man torn between the figure he must become and the son and lover he was and is.
CULMINATION OF TRAGEDY
Thus, the moment of “divinization” – Paul’s acceptance of his religious and mental power – comes across as the culmination of a tragedy of the highest order. It is a moment of fear and awe, setting hearts to pound and skip at the sudden realization of inevitable fate. The die is cast, and holy war and untold death has become the only certain path.
Ultimately, despite its weaker supporting cast, Dune: Part Two is another masterpiece from one of the greatest directors of the modern era. It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest science-fiction films of the decade, if not the past 24 years, and is well-deserving of acclaim and a trilogy-defining sequel.
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