Film: Dune – Part Two (2024)

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Off to the local Odeon with Janet and Jo (freshly returned from their holiday in the USA) to see the follow-up to the first instalment – Dune. This one is imaginatively titled: Dune – Part Two. Catchy huh! 😉

Having seen Dune back in October 2021, this was an easy decision, having given it a mighty 4½ stars. ‘Official’ Reviews so far have also been very positive indeed, but it is one for strong bladders, coming in at ten minutes longer than 2021’s outing (2 hours 46 minutes). Is it me, or are films getting longer these days? 🤔

OK, do the citizens of Kettering know something we don’t? 🤔. Here we go…

Synopsis

Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the universe, he must prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.

Any Good?

If the SciFi genre is your thing, then this is an obvious choice. Just like its predecessor, Dune – Part One, it all felt a bit like the lovechild of Star Wars and Game of Thrones (no bad thing in my book!) and was of a similar scale – big landscapes, big cast, and gazillions of extras support actors. The plot is pretty faithful to Frank Herbert’s book (1965) apart from one (or two) character shifts, but the story moves along at pace so you’ll need to pick your loo-break with precision. The acting was top-notch, and those special effects were some of the best I’ve ever seen.

Then why did it all feel like such hard work? ☹️

For the first hour, based on the dialogue, I was still working out where it was all going and kept asking myself ‘how does this scene fit into the overall narrative?’ Obviously, there’s a lot of sand, but that’s outnumbered by SO MUCH TALKING in the first 60 minutes and very little else! Talk, talk and even more talk, and to make it more irritating, it was mostly ‘SciFi babble’. Second only to the sand was the amount of subtitles that were just distracting. In the grand scheme of things, I think I was expecting more of an action movie, but what I got was a lot of dialogue punctuated by explosions. Overall, it all felt a bit pretentious – and for me, about an hour too long!

In fact, if you’re attempting to introduce a friend to the SciFi genre for the first time, then this was just the sort of film that would send them running for the hills! 😨😱. Point them in the direction of Star Wars instead! This one felt so different to Part One! ☹️

Any good bits? Well, the smoothness of Austin Butler’s skin – especially his forehead – should have been sponsored by Oil of Olay! The final act involving the predictable good vs evil character showdown was superbly choreographed and full of tension. As previously mentioned, the SFX were outstanding and the creativity behind the look and feel certainly made it all feel very real. Any music by Hans Zimmer gets my vote – and this was no exception.

Would I buy this on DVD? Nope! Worst of all, it looks like there is going to be a Dune – Part Three! 👎👎👎👎👎

Does seeing Part One before seeing this latest instalment help? Maybe! Would reading the book beforehand help make more sense of things? I think yes!

Cast & Creatives

Pretty much all the stars from last time are back (see below), but for added star quality, Elvis has left the building, with Austin Butler joining the cast here as baddy Feyd Rautha Harkonnen (no Brylcreem required!) – I think you’ll hardly recognise him! 🤔. He was so absolutely evil that he made Darth Vader more like Dick Dastardly! Other newcomers to this sci-fi saga include: Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken.

• Timothée Chalamet
• Rebecca Ferguson
• Austin Butler
• Oscar Isaac
• Christopher Walken
• Josh Brolin
• Florence Pugh
• Stellan Skarsgård
• Dave Bautista
• Stephen McKinley Henderson
• Zendaya
• Chang Chen
• Sharon Duncan-Brewster
• Charlotte Rampling
• Jason Momoa
• Javier Bardem

• Directed by Denis Villeneuve
• Screenplay by Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts
• Based on the book Dune by Frank Herbert
• Produced by Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Patrick McCormick, Tanya Lapointe and Denis Villeneuve
• Cinematography by Greig Fraser
• Edited by Joe Walker
• Music by Hans Zimmer
• Production company: Legendary Pictures