A Sci-Fi sequel that keeps pushing itself to new limits.
When we last saw the House of Atreides heir Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) in the first part of “Dune,” he joins his dream girl Chani (Zendaya) and her Fremen tribe on the journey to defend his family against the evil Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard), the Baron of House Harkonnen. In “Dune: Part Two,” he goes through a series of tests to prove his worth among the Fremen, including the final test when he rides on a giant sand worm. And the spices in the desert, give him visions, sometimes even nightmares, which may threaten his relationship with Chani. But it could also threaten the very core of who he is.
These are the among the many elements to make “Dune: Part 2” one of the best sequels to follow in the tradition of “The Empire Strikes Back,” on par with “The Dark Knight” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” Denis Villeneuve is back to adapt Frank Herbert’s novel without cramming everything the way David Lynch did 40 years ago. He is a fearless and artistic filmmaker, who takes us to fascinating worlds and gives us complex characters. He and Jon Spaihts both continue to write the screenplay with the ability to boggle our minds and digest what the regular mind can process.
When I wrote an article (under the title “Dune, Where’s My Car?”), I was talking about the differences in quality between the 1984 version and the 2021 version. “I like to make this article about the quality of each film. When you see the old version, you’re looking at special effects as if they were part of an old “Star Trek” episode. When you see the new version, you’re amazed at the spaceships with dragonfly wings.”
And as we enter “Part Two,” we’re dazzled at how the bad guys have the suits to make them float. We’re also at the edge of our seats, as Paul rides those giant sand worms. Our eyes are able to see most scenes in color, and an arena sequence in black and white. And all of this looks utterly amazing on an IMAX screen.
Among the other elements in the story, the Fremen tribe leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) takes Paul under his wing in the training process, and believes the boy is able to fulfill a prophecy. He’s able to have a romance with Chani, until she starts to lose her faith in him based on how he believes in the prophecy more than she does, and the outcome of it all.
We also learn that this tribe has machines that suck all the liquid out of their fallen people, and when you drown a small sand worm in it, you would produce magic blue water called “The Water of Life,” which is poisonous and can kill you, unless you were worthy of a higher purpose. His mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) drinks the water and becomes the new Reverend Mother, whose mind now becomes opened to the infinite possibilities on life, and she eventually persuades Paul to drink it.
And new antagonists include Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler), the power hungry nephew of the Baron and younger brother of Glossu Rabban Harkonnen (Dave Bautista), who isn’t someone to mess with; and Emperor Shaddam (Christopher Walken), whose daughter-Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh)-is crucial to his schemes.
I’m still processing a lot of things, and I’m sure you people will do so too after you see it, but it’s all about opening your mind to the horizons this franchise is leading into. The performances from Chalamet and Zendaya are levitating, and the narrative makes us demand a “Part Three.” Villeneuve crammed nothing in the first movie, and he crams nothing here. He knows what popcorn entertainment is all about.