Review: "Dune: Part Two" Takes The Franchise to New Heights

It isn't altogether better than its predecessor, but Denis Villeneuve's sequel delivers a solid, and much needed, blockbuster.

Recent Release

Ian Scott

March 16, 2024

Evaluating movies is fickle. Everyone has their own criteria, which usually change depending on whether pre-determined ideas hold water. Many decide their thoughts before entering the theater; nothing will deter acclaim or derision based on those notions.

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Thus, Dune: Part Two benefits somewhat from its audience's desire to like it on principle. Though curtailed by the pandemic, the first film was a critically acclaimed box office success, sweeper of the technical Oscars, and foundation layer for a vaunted trilogy. Its execution, though revered, exposed director and co-writer Denis Villeneuve’s skills and shortcomings. As a visionary, he’s nearly unrivaled regarding creative flair and ambition. As a writer, he's uninspiring. The dialogue was stilted and clunky, desperate to evoke the famously unadaptable novel and establish its expansive universe while forgetting to sound naturalistic. We cannot be convinced of the world if the world feels unnatural.

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It was a tale of two halves: the first, where, unlike Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, the characters’ interactions sound forced and unpolished, failing to relay the film's ideas or immerse us into a new world, was slow, meandering, and reminiscent of a teenager’s creative writing project. The second, where everyone goes silent, and the film becomes a purely visual and auditory experience, was a unique cinematic experience that left us hungry for what the next installment could offer.

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So, when the sequel’s trailer was released last summer, there were two possibilities: a rehash of the first film’s triumphs and tragedies or a leap forward for a franchise overflowing with potential.

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The questions now are simple in concept but more nuanced in explanation: which one was it and, to criticize it fairly, does it matter?

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The first answer is easy. Despite a seeming progression, Dune: Part Two is the same as the first film. Its general premise is more inviting: Paul Atreides, after his father is murdered by rival house Harkonnen in the first film, has escaped with his mother, Lady Jessica, into the desert with the Fremen on the planet Arrakis. Although some fear they are spies, many Fremen believe they are the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy that decrees a mother and son from an “outer world” will liberate the planet.

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But, sadly, it is unnecessarily long, clocking in at 165 minutes, the first 100 of which is spent in the same manner as the 155-minute first installment: endless dialogue that feels unnatural, failing to convince us of its socio-religious allegory, fully develop its characters or their arcs, or make us believe that Timothee Chalamet’s Paul and Zendaya’s Chani have any romantic chemistry. It is the equivalent of someone making the same argument five different ways, naively believing that if they alter their approach and pursue our sensibilities from a different angle, they can convince us of what we know is untrue. The same rings true for its thematics.

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It's frustrating because the novel’s 1965 publication date plainly renders author Frank Herbert’s oil metaphor. One can add as many layers to that allegory as desired, but if the underlying idea is topical and evident, which it has been for the last 59 years, a potent sense of urgency should constantly be at play. Unfortunately, Villeneuve mistakes repetition for elaboration, so we get subjected, once again, to ceaseless exposition that feels unexplored and baseless.

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But, once Paul, exalted by the more radical Fremon, embraces being Lisan al Gaib, the prophet from another world, it becomes what the first film became: an enthralling visual and auditory experience that, once again, leaves us curious for the next installment.

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It hints at this throughout, particularly during the introduction of Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, nephew of Baron Vladimir. He is a menacing villain, unrestrained in his lunacy without feeling cheesy, and his battle on his black-sunned home planet is enough to win next year’s Best Cinematography Oscar.

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Unfortunately, Dune: Part Two offers visual splendor significantly less than it believes and far less than its predecessor. As such, it becomes an anomaly.

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The deficiencies of the first film’s opening half remain but tempered, thus giving a significantly easier viewing experience. On the other hand, what made the first film’s second half so revelatory is similarly present but so reduced that it feels like a cheap copy. Hans Zimmer’s music is criminally underused, whereas, in the first film, it made Arrakis a textured world begging for exploration instead of another colorless desert landscape. The ever-shifting contrast during the first movie’s illustrious battle sequences gets replaced with a visual experience that, while technically faultless, lacks the substance and excitement of the first film.

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So, what do we make of a movie delivered in the same conceptual packaging as its predecessor but improves on its deficiencies (though not enough to eradicate them) while regressing in its successes (though not enough to be entirely underwhelming?)

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We point to the simple things. In the film’s final act, which begins when Paul asserts himself as the prophet before a kneeling Fremen army, Chalamet commands the screen with such tenacity that he entirely disappears into the role. He is no longer an awkward actor lost in strained dialogue and messy storytelling. He is a prince who’s given himself to a new identity that demands idolatry and adds power to the narrative. For once, we believe him.

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That mastery gives Dune: Part Two a welcome feeling of arrival, even if we wish that feeling would’ve struck when the movie, you know, arrived. But as the old saying goes, better late than never, and from the moment Paul embraces his messianic destiny and unleashes Arrakis’ fury, culminating in a full-fledged coup, his movie feels like a work of art far beyond the visual realm.

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That isn’t enough to disregard the feeling that we're convincing ourselves to herald Part Two because we're counting on it to rescue a gloomy box office; neither are Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, or Austin Butler’s fantastic performances as Lady Jessica, Fremen tribe leader Stilgar, and Feyd-Rautha, respectively. On the other hand, it is enough to earn a smash opening weekend at the box office and potentially reach $700 million globally.

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Part Two has its flaws, like characters who seem pointless and whose names you barely know, and the inevitable third film will likely do precisely what this one has: fix them enough to surpass its predecessors without entirely resolving them to achieve genuine excellence. If that happens, we’ll still get a very good movie.