This is my Desert. My Arrakis. My Dune: Part 2 Review

     Dune: Part 2 was far and away my most anticipated movie of the year. Nothing really came close and I want to say right away, nothing will probably come close to being as good as it was. I will have a spoiler free review first, but then I’ll get right into all the greatness that is Dune: Part 2. 

    Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) unites with Chani (Zendaya) and the rest of the Fremen as they fight for revenge, and for their planet. Paul must choose between love and the horrendous fate that he foresees. 

    This movie comes with a star studded cast including Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, and so many others. The stars of today are officially here in my opinion and everyone plays their roles perfectly; however no one outshines Chalamet. He plays the son of a humble Duke Leto turned into a revenge seeker, and you cannot help but be drawn in every time he speaks. 

    Not only is the acting top tier, but the visuals and music are as well, just like the first one. If you read my previous post, you know how important music is to me in movies. Hans Zimmer delivers another great score that should, and probably will win him another Oscar. It makes you feel like you’re truly in the desert with the music blasting out of the speakers, making your seat vibrate in the theater. 

    Also just like the first one, everything looked phenomenal. The costumes were great. From the stillsuits the Fremen wore to the designs of Lady Jessica’s outfits as a Bene Gesserit and Princess Irulan’s royal costumes, nothing falls short. The scale of everything was amazing. It was so large and the cinematography that got it there felt very reminiscent of my favorite trilogy of all time, The Lord of the Rings. 

    Spoiler free, this movie is excellent. It is a perfect compliment to the first movie, while also being its own with visual perfections and great performances. This is a movie you have to see on the biggest screen possible. 

    Now onto spoilers. The way I see it, there’s three different ways to review this movie, as a Part 2, as its own movie, and as an adaptation. I’ll go into all three a little bit but I’ll mostly stick to the adaption part. 

    Right off the bat, Paul Atreides is not a good guy. He wants revenge, and he’ll kill anyone in his way to do it. I’ve read the first two books in the Dune saga and the fact that they had Paul become this revengeful character in the movie was great. In the books he wants power, but we don’t really see his ruthlessness. The movie shows him being fine with being a foot soldier while playing a key role in the Fremen army, but when he fully decides to become the Muad’Dib or the Kwisatz Haderach, it’s a sight to see. 

    

    This is where I think Timothée Chalamet’s performance takes charge. He’s a religious figure to the Fremen, he is their messiah, and he plays it so well. However, the biggest change from the book to the screen is that Chani does not believe in the Muad’Dib. She doesn’t think it’s real and that the prophecy is a lie to enslave the Fremen. In the book all Fremen have completely bought in to the prophecy of the Muad’Dib. I did like this change a lot as it really made it feel like there was a lot of tension throughout the movie between the Fremen. 

    The next biggest, and best change was what the director, Denis Villeneuve decided to do with Paul’s younger sister, Alia. Dune, the book, is split into three parts and between part two and three, there is about a four year time jump. During that jump, Alia is born. Alia is born as a Reverend Mother in the Bene Gesserit because as Jessica was pregnant with her, she became a Reverend Mother. In the book, Alia plays a pivotal role in taking down the Harkonnens. She is the one who kills their leader. However, in the movie Alia is only seen in Jessica’s womb, and in a brief vision that Paul has. Alia is never born, therefore she isn’t the one to kill the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. That’s left to Paul to do in the movie. Personally, I think this was a good change. I wasn’t sure how audiences would respond to a four year old killing a main villain. 

   

    I do think this movie worked very well as a Part 2, and maybe that’s because I really liked the first movie, and I read the book. I think most people would tend to agree with me. With that, both movies showed Paul seeing the future and seeing that there will be a religious war in his name - horrifying reality to see being played out on screen. Probably my favorite part about these movies is that it shows us Paul’s visions of the war to come. 

    Overall, this movie is excellent and has very, very few flaws. From the score to the action to the visuals, nothing lets you down. A near three hour experience is a must watch on the biggest screen possible. 

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