[Review] Dune: Part 2 (8.5/10)

 

Title - Dune: Part 2
Production - Legendary Entertainment, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Villeneuve Films
Starring - Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte Rampling, Lea Seydoux, Souheila Yacoub, Alison Halstead
Writer - Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts
Director - Denis Villeneuve
Release - 28 February 2024

This was the Empire Strikes Back of the Dune franchise. We've gotten a nice introduction to the world of Dune from the first movie, and we know the characters and the plot; and now this sequel's job was to further the story and its characters with higher stakes, and it has succeeded. This was even better than the first movie.

Chalamet can be a contender for Best Actor with this role. I believe there was enough here to warrant a spot if the performance measures up with the best of 2024 come award season.

The entire cast performed admirably. Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem added levity and I wouldn't have minded more scenes with the pair. Austin Butler came in sounding exactly like Stellan Skarsgard and I wonder if that was intentional. 

But actually, the real star here was director Denis Villeneuve. There are some very rich source material from the book and he was able to present a lot of them in a cinematic vision that was no easy feat. 

There were a few action pieces that looked really impressive, especially the hand-to-hand combat. And this movie ended with one as well, just like the previous movie's ending. However, the action sequence with the ornithopters alone looked very fake though. 

But just the fact that the movie was again actually shot in the desert made everything onscreen looked very real, giving the movie legitimacy. And the sand-walking scene looked exactly like what I would imagine from reading the book.

But after reading the second book, I don't know how Timothee Chalamet or Zendaya, or Florence Pugh, can keep playing these roles for the third movie if they are going to use Anya Taylor-Joy in it. They look the same age but they are supposed to be at least 15 years apart. Sure, the Hollywood make-up magic can age them up, but will it be convincing enough not to be taken out of the movie.