Dune: Part Two Review

Dune: Part Two is the long-awaited sequel to director Denis Villeneuve's 2021 epic sci-fi space opera, Dune. If sequel fatigue plagues you like it has for many of us, rest assured that Dune 2 lives up the hype and more. Not just that, it is one of the few film franchises where this reviewer can confidently say that the sequel improves upon its predecessor.

Ther majority of Dune 2 takes place on Arrakis, the same planet young Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) was stranded upon in the previous movie. Now on the run with his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) from the murderous Harkonnens, Paul must along with her brave the immediate dangers of the inhospitable desert and the overarching political intrigue they have been embroiled in.

Dune 2 is a film with a running time of almost three hours, most of it put to good use. It is going to be very hard to write about what I enjoyed in this film, purely because everything is a potential spoiler. Dune 2 is chock full of scheming and plotting - every single faction has its own agenda that we are slowly introduced to. There is the secretive order of women - Bene Gesserit, whose political ambitions were central to the looming conflict in Dune 1. Then there are the various families - Atreides, Harkonnen, and even the Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken) of House Corrino himself - all involved in plotting and scheming against each other. Finally, there are the Fremen, native inhabitants of the planet who just want their planet back and are willing to throw themselves into holy war to win Arrakis back.

Just like the prequel, Dune 2 is visually stunning, albeit in muted tones. There is a distinct colour scheme for every faction of people - the greyscale used in scenes featuring the Harkonnen being a stark contrast to the dusty spectacle of Paul and the Fremen, for example. Cinematographer Greig Fraser's lens captures the drama of the moment spectacularly, with the wide, panoramic shots being of particular brilliance. Hans Zimmer's soundtrack is similar to that of the first movie, but with more variety. Or at least it seems so - I enjoyed the music much more this time around, as it didn't feel as intrusive.

Dune 2 still suffers from pacing issues and visual overload like the previous film, but it reaches higher peaks overall. The pacing issue is perhaps more evident because of how good the first half of the film is. The movie seems to be more at home when it focuses on Paul's journey with the Fremen than the political cloak and dagger that characterises the second half. Regarding the visual (and sometimes auditory overload), it might be an issue exacerbated by an IMAX screen. Dune 2 is making me realise why the number of the IMAX (and lieMAX or digital IMAX) form factor is slowly declining.

I have a slight feeling that this write-up is not convincing enough, in my effort to avoid spoilers. I'll make it convincing now - go for it, don't miss this one (assuming you found Dune 1 interesting). It is the exact kind of epic cinema people were lamenting doesn't get made in today's day and age. Well, it just did, so what are you waiting for?