Film Review - Dune: Part Two (2024)

Dune Part Two picks up right where 2021’s Dune Part One left off and Denis Villeneuve returns to the directors chair and he and Jon Spahits co-wrote the script (Eric Roth who wrote Part One with them hasn’t returned) and Timothee Chalamet once again is Paul Atreides now in hiding with the Fremen and their tribal leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) but House Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard, Dave Bautista and Austin Butler) has occupied the planet Arrakis and only sees Fremen and Atreides they want to kill.

To say that I was excited for this movie is a big understatement, not since X-Men Apocalypse in 2016 did I crave the next film in a series like I have this one after rewatching Part One on 4K disc in 2022 and when the film was delayed from it’s November 2nd 2023 release date due to the actors and writers strikes last year I was heartbroken but now it is finally here.

And man oh man it was so worth the wait as this movie not only met my huge expectations it surpassed them right from the first scene which like Part One’s opening scene does such a good job at bringing you into the world of the film right away in a way that you can understand and follow what’s going on, something the 1984 Dune film failed utterly and miserably in doing.

And the craftsmanship on display here is simply top notch, the cinematography by Grieg Fraser, Joe Walker’s editing, the costumes, the production design it is just marvellous to see on a big cinema screen and some shots in particular look absolutely beautiful and Denis’s direction is just as confident and assured as it was in Part One and now that both parts of this book have been properly told on film these 2 films feel like the films that Denis has been building to.

And this feeling came to mind for me when getting to rewatch Part One on the big screen last week before Part Two came out and the sandy/dark edge of Sicario, the thoughtful Sci-Fi of Arrival and the scope and visual effects of Blade Runner 2049 all feel like they were building in their own way along with his own long time love of the book towards Denis making Dune as a proper film adaptation and they are both something very special indeed.

Secondly this movie has a lot more of the Harkonnens and much more action and both are fantastic, there is this great arena fight that is in ink blacks and strong contrast whites and it is beautiful and violent at the same time and serves as a great introduction to Butler’s Feyd which is delicious and he is clearly having a total blast playing this role.

As for the Harkonnens well they cement themselves with this movie as my favourite movie villains in a long long time and other genre film franchises could well learn to make the villains ACTUALLY. FEEL. IMPORTANT!!!!! and no that is not a typo I am being deadly serious because I am so fucking sick to death of sitting through endless genre films that treat their villains like a goddamn afterthought here they are important to the plot, are very memorable in their scenes and in this movie they deliver on the promise that Guerney gave in Part One that they were brutal.

As for the other major action scenes they are simply spectacular especially in the third act where you really feel the cultivation of Desert Power and it is at times simply jaw dropping to watch, though at times the battle scenes feel too brief in terms of their length they are not disappointing in the least.

And lastly I have to talk about the performances as all involved deliver the goods in this movie, Chalamet builds on his work in Dune Part One and Wonka here and comes into his own as a leading man and along with Butler and Glen Powell will hopefully lead to a renaissance for the leading man in films, Zendaya is very good as Chani and has a great role in the films second half, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Florence Pugh, Charlotte Rampling, Christopher Walken, Josh Brolin and Dave Bautista are also very good in their roles while I have to give a shoutout to Stellan Skarsgard as Baron Harkonnen, I love that character and I love him as that character.

Dune Part Two is simply a marvel of a film and along with Part One and Avatar: The Way of Water represent big scale filmmaking at it’s very best and these films should be the standard we accept and not the increasing laziness we see over and over again nowadays and audiences are starting to reject in the cinemas, I can’t recommend this movie highly enough but please rewatch Part One before seeing Part Two, 5 out of 5.