A One Mann’s Movies review of “Dune: Part 2” (2024).
It’s early in the year to be this bold, but I’d say the 2025 Oscars for Sound, Visual Effects and Score all but wrapped up. And I wouldn’t bet against Denis Villeneuve getting Best Director and “Dune: Part 2” winning Best Picture. Because this is action/adventure Science-Fiction on a scale that I don’t think we’ve seen since “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
After betrayal by the Emperor (Christopher Walken) and Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), the House of Atreides is all but destroyed. But Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalomet) and his mother (Rebecca Ferguson) have survived and seek acceptance from the Fremin. Some see Paul as the new Messiah. But other non-believers see him as a dangerous spy.
Certification:
UK: 12; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC web site: “Moderate violence, bloody images, threat”. The violence is pretty “moderate” indeed (including dessicating fallen victims to extract their water!) so parents wanting to take young children along might want to check it out first.)
Talent:
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Austin Butler, Stellan Skarsgård, Christopher Walken, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Léa Seydoux, Charlotte Rampling.
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve.
Written by: Denis Villeneuve & Jon Spaihts. (Based on the novel by Frank Herbert.)
Twitter Handle: #dunemovie.
Running Time: 2h 46m.
Chani (Zendaya) and Paul (Timothée Chalamet) share a tender moment before finding they have sand in their butties. (Source: Warner Bros).
“Dune: Part 2” Review:
Positives:
- Action, adventure, revenge, death, new-life, love, loss and religion. Denis Villeneuve has delivered a heady mix of all of these against the epic sand-scape of the unforgiving Arrakis desert (actually the deserts of Abu Dhabi, Jordan and Namibia). It’s epic in scope and utterly engrossing.
- The sound design is striking… right from the deafening opening words – “Dreams are messages from the deep” – spoken in a sonorous alien tongue. This is a MUST SEE on the biggest screen possible with the best cinema sound system. There are moments (as in “Oppenheimer“) when the film makes your seat vibrate and your fillings loosen! Very impressive.
- Hans Zimmer again hits it out of the park with a glorious score that perfectly fits the movie. Dramatic musical motifs and choral additions make for an epic soundtrack.
- Denis Villeneuve knows how to paint memorable pictures on the screen. There are frames of this movie that could be placed on art gallery walls, no problem.
- The performances are excellent (some Acting Oscar noms perhaps?) with Javier Bardem and Rebecca Ferguson being particularly good. Also shining, if virtually unrecognisable, is Austin Butler as the psychotic Feyd-Rautha.
- There’s a surprise cameo from Anya Taylor-Joy that I wasn’t expecting.
Negatives:
- At 166 minutes it’s a long old film (even though it never felt that long to me). But I kept thinking that some of the scenes felt rather rushed. A potentially tender love-making scene between Paul and Chani (Zendaya) basically cuts-in while they are having a post-coital smoke; a big battle segment seems to be over and done in a heatbeat (compare and contrast with “Helm’s Deep”) and a final “Gladiator”-style showdown could have been a 10 minute spectacular but again seems over and done with in about 2 minutes. All in all, I could have seen this being split into two two-hour films as a “Part 2” and a “Part 3”.
- I mean, I’m being picky. But how the hell did they get the groups of people, together with the ceremonial howdah thing, on top of the worms? Is there a worms underground station somewhere that we didn’t get to see? (“Mind the Gap”!)
The worms are back and bigger and badder than ever. (Source: Warner Bros.).
Summary Thoughts on “Dune: Part 2”
Epic in scope, this is one that you really should get to see at the cinema if you can. It will not be half the film on the Telly-box.
By the way, this is a sequel where I think you definitely need to have seen the first film in order to get the context. (I rewatched “Dune: Part 1” on Netflix a couple of days ago so my brain was up to speed on the story!).
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Trailer for “Dune: Part 2”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2Qp5pL3ovA.
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