PREMISE
Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.
THE GOOD STUFF
Denis Villeneuve– Contrary to popular opinion, the biggest star that emerges from both of these dune movies is the Canadian national treasure known as Denis Villeneuve. He is one of the few Hollywood directors around (and quite possibly one of the few in film history) that’s been given the green light to go as stylistically gonzo as he wants with a film trilogy based on previously written material. The DUNE microcosm is not that of bright colors and vivid imagery, everything is heavy and dreary. Hell, this movie might only fully embody six or seven colors overall when it comes to the costumes, and the exterior and interior shots, and yet… It is a feast for the eyes and ears.
Villeneuve has been pretty good for a long time but this recent public declaration of cinematic genius is more justified with these DUNE flicks than it was with that hot garbage trashfire called BLADE RUNNER 2049.
TIMOTHEE– I do think this may have been the role that he was born to play. Timothee is a man who’s always been good, but he does a lot of stuff where I come out of it thinking that somebody could have played his role better, or at least fit his role physically better. Not here. The juxtaposition between Paul the fictional character and Timothee the artist playing him is very similar, no?
Think about it……..
*Paul Atreides is a man who is overlooked and underrated by damn near everybody who comes across him at first…
*Paul Atreides is a man who defies expectation when s*** starts getting real, and hits you in the face with how overwhelmingly skilled he is at what he’s been trained to do.
*Paul Atreides is a man surrounded by more experienced veterans in his “profession”, and holds his own even when those vets are doing impressive things on screen.
Now, replace the words Paul Atreides with Timothee Chalamet and these statements are true even still.
To whom it may concern, stop questioning if Chalamet is a leading man. I think that conversation was over when the first movie came out, and that it exists to this day shows how delusional some of y’all really are.
THE SANDWORM RIDING SCENE– Trust me, it is not with any kind of recency bias that I say that the scene in which Paul first rides a sandworm is one of the most impressive scenes ever shot on imax. Breathtaking stuff.
THE H2H COMBAT– In speaking of both dune movies the really impressive action stuff has to do with the hand-to-hand combat sequences. The scene with Duncan Idaho before his death, and the climactic one-on-one fight scene between Paul and Jamis in the first film stood out in that first movie, and it’s almost as if Villeneuve understands that the 1v1 battles are perhaps even more poignant and exciting than any of the CGI battles he can conjure up.
There are no less than three hand-to-hand combat sequences in this film that are very impressive and extraordinarily tense. It is in these moments where the music just kind of shuts off and lets the tension of the moment shine.
THE BAD STUFF
THE HARKONNENS– Can we just keep it real? Or are we just going to start lying to ourselves when it comes to how f****** boring these Harkonnens are? Every entertaining aspect of this movie is directly tied to the Freman and Paul getting associated with one another, and how the Bene Gesserit are involved with all of that.
But then we get these cutaway sequences involving these boring ass villains doing boring ass villain s***. For a while, the Harkonnen scenes kind of followed the same pattern: Some of the Harkonnen worker bees have justifiable concern over a loss that house Harkonnen has suffered to a Harkonnen authority figure who then snaps at them and kills them. This pattern happens at least four times during this movie and at some point, I thought they were playing it for laughs. The Harkonnens are one-note characters turned up to max volume. I know that’s by design, but it’s not exactly entertaining stuff to watch in comparison to everything happening with the Freman.
THE LOVE STORY– Or is it a love story at all? I do find that there is a difference between telling a love story…and telling a story that involves two characters who are in love with each other. DUNE: PART TWO is a war film that thinks it’s a love story and it’s just not that at all.
I understand why it’s important to the lore, and I understand why it’s so imperative to the story, but it’s just mundanely executed. And it’s made all the worse because of the ending of this movie.
THE UGLY STUFF
THIS F******ENDING– I challenge any viewer of this movie to ask themselves once the end credits begin to roll if any of these characters remaining from the first film (outside of two very obvious ones) are more likable than they were at the end of the first film. Things go along swimmingly and then a little bit after the beginning of the final act, this movie becomes a fireworks show of douchebaggery from multiple different characters.
I’ve had some time to sit with this movie in my head and yeah, douchebaggery really ran wild for quite some time in the end. I find a lot of these characters to be somewhat unlikable now, and because I have not read the books, I don’t know if that’s by design.
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In closing, I will say two very important things:
1. You book readers really need to shut the hell up when it comes to having conversations about the film. I’ve lived through enough Harry Potter movies to know that that people who actually read the book are going to hear critiques of the movie, and they’re going to hit you with the “Well actually, in the book what happens is…”
We get it book reader guy, you know what happens later on in the story, and you want to tell us what happens as a flex. Not because you really wanted to discuss this film, but because you want to show people that you read books. You’re above it. You’re elevated from the rest of us movie-watching peon folk. You just want to flex. That’s all you’re doing.
2. This movie is very good, but the hype train has to calm way the f*** on down. I’ve been hearing empire strikes back and two towers comparisons from critics and people who saw this early for the past two weeks at least, and you dune fans really need to relax yourselves. Again, this is very good stuff. But it’s not in the realm of those classics.
DUNE: PART TWO is in theaters now