Dune: Part Two will without question go down as 2024’s most mind-bending blockbuster, boasting an epic scale and strangeness unparalleled in recent years.
Where else are you going to see Timothée Chalamet ride a sandworm the size of the Sky Tower, Rebecca Ferguson commune with her unborn daughter in the womb, and unpack complex themes involving power, destiny, and religion?
The sci-fi sequel's borderline incomprehensibility makes it pretty impossible to spoil, but if you haven't seen it, go experience it for yourself on the biggest screen you can before reading ahead.
Dune takes place in a futuristic society where intergalactic travel has led to the return of a medieval political system. Think Game of Thrones, but in space. Emperor Shaddam IV (played by Christopher Walken in Part Two) rules the galaxy, sharing power with a legislature known as the Landsraad, similar to our House of Representatives. The most valuable resource in the galaxy is melange, known colloquially as spice, a powerful drug that works as a hallucinogen with life-extending properties. The entire economy revolves around spice, which only occurs naturally on the desert planet of Arrakis, and controlling the trade is the fastest way to amass political power and economic prosperity.
For context, House Harkonnen were stewards of Arrakis before Shaddam reassigned governorship to House Atreides, a play that would provoke war between the two ancient rivals, weakening both and propping up Shaddam's own House Corrino as the ruler.
Part Two picks up just where Part One left off, Paul (Timothée Chalamet) and Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) are on the run with the Fremen following the Harkonnen coup against House Atreides which killed father and husband Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac).
There's a stunning scene where Harkonnen troops levitate up a rock formation to play the floor is lava with an approaching sandworm — all against the backdrop of a double lunar eclipse that bathes the arid Arrakis sands in a deep orange hue.
We spend a lot more time with the Fremen and soak up their culture, but just when it starts to verge on too much, Villeneuve throws in an masterfully-shot action scene that makes full use of its environment — a Fremen ambush on a Harkonnen spice harvester comes to mind.
Costume and set design work in tandem to create a world that feels lived-in. Everything feels somewhat familiar yet alien, exactly as it would after the 10,000 years of human evolution purported in the narrative.
The Bene Gesserit, a secretive matriarchal order who possess superhuman powers and abilities and pull the strings of humanity from the shadows, are an example of this, evoking religious iconography while still maintaining a distinctive otherwordly presence.
The sect practices religious engineering, spreading superstitions on primitive worlds and therefore opening these regions to Bene Gesserit exploitation. It is this tension that underpins Paul's inner conflict, will he embrace his inescapable destiny as the messianic figure and use it to get revenge on those who killed his father, or run from it?
To become a Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit and acquire centuries of past knowledge, Lady Jessica drinks the Water of Life, a poisonous blue liquid derived from the stomach's of young sandworms that expands the mind, in an Exorcist-like scene that Ferguson sells.
She isn't the same maternal figure from Part One, the transformation intensifies her machinations, and the audience can see that she relishes in fanning the flames of religious fervour among the Fremen, driving them to see Paul as their messiah. Oh yeah, and her unborn female fetus has also gone through the transformation, now sentient and aiding her in her schemes, played in a dream sequence by an uncredited Anya Taylor-Joy.
Zendaya is given more to do than star in brief perfume-commercial-like dreams this time around. Chani and Paul's chemistry is palpable as she shows him the ropes of Fremen culture, and he gains her respect slowly as he integrates himself into their society.
She later becomes the film's moral centre as the sole voice of anti-fanaticism in a departure from the Herbert's novel, expertly conveying her concern and disapproval of her people's growing faith in Paul with just a glance.
The Northern tribe's fanatical leader, Stilgar (Javier Bardem) is a welcome comic relief in the at times heavy film. His unflinching belief that Paul is the prophecised Lisan-al-Haib, or "the Voice from the Outer World" despite Paul's initial denial provides a much-needed levity to the film, while also providing a critique on blind faith.
Oscar-winning cinematographer Greig Fraser wields the camera like a hydraulic press, using tight zooming close-ups that give the subject nowhere to run. The weight of Paul's destiny as the Kwisatz Haderach, a super-being that the Bene Gesserit have been attempting to create for millennia, and the inevitable holy war that will come as Paul accepts his messianic identity are a constant burden throughout the film.
Newcomers to the cast include Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Christopher Walken and Léa Seydoux. While Pugh as the Emperor's strategist daughter Princess Irulan stuns in several metallic headdresses, it is a completely hairless Butler as psychopathic Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen that steals the show.
His introduction in a gladiatorial exhibition match for his uncle Baron Vladimir (Stellan Skarsgård) is shot using infrared cameras, creating a stark black and white atmosphere that really adds to the mythos of the militaristic Harkonnen. Before the match even begins, he tests the sharpness of his blade on slaves, which he then feeds to his cannibalistic pets.
It's clear that the sadistic apple didn't fall far from the tree here, Butler does an uncanny impression of Skarsgård's Baron, a floating figure who is still somehow intimidating despite spending his days in a spa pool full of oil and smoking hookah.
The Bene Gesserit are in attendence at the arena to determine if Feyd-Rautha is a prospective Kwisatz Haderach in the event that Paul proves to be "uncontrollable." Seydoux's Lady Margot Fenring watches on like a talent scout, but this isn't a match you would want court side tickets to, Feyd-Rautha tears through drugged-up opponents with terrifying vigour, killing for the fun of it.
Giedi Prime's harsh space-Brutalist architecture is particularly menacing under the black and white hues, even the fireworks bursting over a Nazi-like military procession are nothing more than inky splatters in the sky.
The sound design is astounding, the mechanical grinding of war machines, the blasts of artillery and explosions, and the piercing noise of the Bene Gesserit Voice all contribute to the film's epic scale and total immersion.
In a showstopping scene, Paul rides a gigantic sandworm through the desert, using a dune as a step up and grappling hooks to hold on. Not since Jurassic Park has the approach of a massive animal been so terrifying and awe-inspiring. The rumble as the sandworms close in shakes the entire theatre, as if it were to swallow the cinema itself. The ritual solidifies Paul as a Fremen, and he takes the name Muad'Dib, further gaining their trust and admiration as Chani looks on in worry.
Later, the entire Fremen tribe hops aboard a sandworm en route to a war council in the even more arid southern Arrakis, where Paul is nearly killed by the Water of Life and delivers an incendiary speech upon waking that unites the Fremen under his cause to get revenge on House Harkonnen and the Emperor Shaddam IV who masterminded the scheme.
It is here that Chalamet really proves his acting chops, we know he can play pensive and frail, he's built a career on it, but he is convincing as a commanding leader, whipping up fanaticism and using the Fremen belief in him as a tool to get his revenge.
Hans Zimmer's thunderous score highlights the dangers of zealotry, the weaponisation of fear, and the looming threat of a devastating religious war, that Paul's visions tell us will leave "billions dead."
My one nitpick is the ending. While it isn't as abrupt as Part One, it still wraps up at pace. Emperor Shaddam IV shows up in his gigantic mirrored ship after being summoned by the newly fashioned Muad'Dib. Paul then launches the Atreides family atomic weapons close to the landing site in an impressive frame, Fremen forces ride sandworms into battle against the Emperor's forces, and the Baron is killed by Paul as he crawls up the stairs leading to the Imperium throne. Did I mention that it has been revealed the Baron is Paul's grandfather and Jessica's father?
Paul challenges Shaddam for the throne as the other houses arrive in orbit, and he threatens to use atomics to destroy the spice fields if they do not accept the coup. He demands Princess Irulan's hand in marriage, much to the shock of Chani, who he had just declared his undying love for. The Emperor chooses Feyd-Rautha as his champion, and the pair engage in a well-choreographed fight, with Paul nearly being killed before he fatally stabs the Harkonnen heir. Irulan agrees to marry Paul on the condition her father is spared. And with that, Chani stares daggers at Paul and the film ends with the Fremen off to begin their holy war.
The final battle is visually stunning, as is becoming Villeneuve's trademark, but it can't help but feel a little rushed, especially when compared to the slower pace of the first two-thirds. The Baron's death should be more satisfying than it is, as should the death of Harkonnen commander Glossu Rabban (Dave Bautisa) at the hands of Atreides warmaster Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin) in revenge for the events of Part One.
Like its predecessor, Dune: Part Two builds a spectacular and sprawling world, and largely pulls it off. Immense visuals, standout performances, and earth-shaking sound design all create a singular cinematic experience that demands to be witnessed. It sets up an adaptation of the next book in Herbert's series, Dune: Messiah, which with Part Two's rave reviews and massive box office returns is all but certain.
For a book described for decades as "unfilmable", Villeneuve has come as close to adapting it as is possible and solidified himself as sci-fi royalty.
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