'Dune: Part Two' Elevates the Original

I was too young to see the Lord of the Rings trilogy when it hit theaters a little over two decades ago. When I heard that one of Hollywood’s finest working directors, Denis Villeneuve, would shortly be adapting Dune to the big screen, I was determined not to miss out. 

After two years and four months’ wait, the most common criticism of Part One has been answered: The incomplete story set up in the first installment is now complete. We rejoin Paul (Timothy Chalamet), Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), Chani (Zendaya), and Stilgar (Javier Bardem) in the same stretch of desert where we left them over two years ago and follow them seamlessly to the climax where they confront the Harkonnens with an army of fanatical jihadis at their back. Two decades hence, no one will remember the supposed anticlimax of the first film — the two will run together in our collective imaginations. 

This is not to say that Part Two is without its own identity. Indeed, while the film takes some bold risks with the source material, in many ways, it is more conventional than its predecessor. The first outing was surreal and immersive, cutting away from the action seemingly at random to show us cryptic fragments of Paul’s visions. As is so common in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy genres, balancing the exposition and the action was challenging, and though Part One largely succeeded, there was some clunky info-dumping. For the most part, however, the director trusted the audience to accept his occasionally-abstract presentation, and the product did not disappoint. 

Part Two is a much more straightforward, plot-driven war story, though no less visually breathtaking. Villeneuve demonstrates an even greater faith in his viewers’ intelligence by refusing to rehash most of the worldbuilding of Part One. Nor does he simplify the moral ambiguity of the novel — it is made abundantly clear to the viewer, as it was in the source material, that rulers have to make impossible choices. Paul does not wish for the holy war he is about to unleash upon the galaxy, but in the interstellar game of thrones, you jihad or you die. 

Speaking of Paul, the most shocking revelation from this film was that Timothy Chalamet can act after all. While well-cast for the mopey teen that is our protagonist in the beginning, I worried that his schtick would fail to mature into the cold, ruthless, yet melancholic ruler he is supposed to become. I was happily wrong — after the key turning point at the end of the second act, he seems to be playing an entirely different character, as the script demands. 

Sadly, Zendaya cannot act after all. While she manages to be largely inoffensive, she is easily overshadowed by her castmates. What is more interesting about her Chani is the bold risk the filmmakers took in changing her character from the novel. This Chani is more empowered, more skeptical, a Fremen nationalist in a sea of religious fanatics. She could easily have been portrayed in a manner one might call (dare I say it?) woke. 

Shockingly, it actually works. The debate between the older, religious Fremen from the barren south (at one point cringingly referred to as “fundamentalists from the deep south”) and the younger, nationalistic Fremen from the industrialized north of Arrakis was an interesting angle to explore. Chani works as the Fremen who challenges Paul as an equal. She is skeptical of him at first, is slowly won over, falls in love, then sours when Paul decides he has no choice but to exploit the religiosity of her people to avenge his father. This brilliantly culminates at the climax, which I dare not ruin here. 

Without ticking off every name in the star-studded cast, two other performances stood out. Rebecca Ferguson continues to be the most skilled actress in the series, balancing maternal vulnerability with sinister mass manipulation, this time with a self-aware fetus talking through her from time to time (the film is unexpectedly pro-life in that regard). The show is almost stolen by Austin Butler as the new antagonist, Fayd-Rautha Harkonnen. Small hints of his Elvis idiolect remain, but they are mostly disguised by a raspy impression of Stellan Skarsgaard’s Baron Vladimir. His thirst for violence and irrepressible sexuality beams through his unblinking, steely gaze in every frame. May he continue to reinvent himself for future roles. 

I could list my nitpicks here, such as how Bardem’s Stilgar has gone from a fearsome and respected bedouin chieftain to a Marvel-tier joke machine, but that would detract from the gestalt of my experience. My overall impression was one of awe and even chills — especially during the aforementioned mini-climax at the end of the second act. 

In sum, longtime Dune fans will once again be able to lose themselves in Villaneuve’s realization of Frank Herbert’s world, as long as they don’t insist upon total accuracy in the book-to-screen adaptation (and they shouldn’t). Fans of the first film who haven’t read the books will enjoy this satisfying culmination of what was set up in Part One, and remember the first film more fondly now that the story is complete. I will even venture to say that this planned trilogy is already shaping up to be one of the greats, up there with Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, provided they stick the landing with Dune: Messiah. I am increasingly confident they will. 

James Erwin is a native of Yarmouth, Maine, with a B.A. in Film Studies from Bates College. He is a Young Voices contributor working on free speech and tech policy in Washington, DC.