Dune: Part Two

As someone who has very little interest in space and science-fiction media (I find Star Wars...boring [I'm sorry! I'm sorry!]), I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Dune: Part One when I saw it in theatres in 2021. In addition to having a lot of actors I like (Chalamet stan here), I thought the film shared a lot of similarities with a genre I DO love: horror. The unsettling soundtrack by Hans Zimmer and the incredibly disturbing language and throat-singing of the Sardaukar made my stomach do flip-flops. The floating spectacle of Baron Harkonnen creeped me out. And the enormous ships...well, the enormity of everything in the movie made me feel small and in awe. And I haven't even gotten to the sandworms yet!

So, Dune: Part One had an entry point for me and I loved it. 

Dune: Part Two is even better.

I saw the nearly 3 hour epic in an IMAX theatre, which definitely added to the experience. My seat rumbled and trembled underneath me during action sequences, making me feel a tiny bit like I was on a roller coaster. The film brings back nearly all of the beloved characters (pour one out for Leto Atredies and Duncan Idaho--y'all were real ones. RIP) and adds a few new ones: Javier Barden reprises his role as Stilgar, a true believer in the prophecy that suggests that Paul Atredies is the Messiah who has come to lead the Fremen to paradise (and Bardem serves as the film's only comic relief); Austin Butler plays the sociopathic fuckboi nephew of Vladimir Harkonnen; Christopher Walken plays the Emperor of the known universe (that crown must rest heavy) and Florence Pugh plays his daughter. 

Chalamet continues to be, in my opinion, very good as the reluctant (or is he?) Messiah of the Fremen. Paul's character arcs moves from complete denial that he is the "outworlder" that the Fremen speak of who will come to lead them to paradise, to a genuine fear that worship of him will lead to a Holy War and many deaths, to an acceptance that he must lean into his role as the Messiah in order to bring together the cynical Fremen of North Arrakis and the fundamentalist Fremen of South Arrakis. Now, I haven't read the books so I don't know how Paul is portrayed in the original source material, but to me there was ambiguity at the end as to whether Paul was, essentially, pretending to be the Messiah in order to unite the Fremen...or if he actually believes he is the Messiah.  

The real acting MVPs here are Rebecca Ferguson as Paul's pregnant mother who becomes a religious figure as the Reverend Mother of the Fremen and who actively promotes Paul as the Messiah, and Zendaya as Chani, a Fremen warrior who falls in love with Paul the man (not Paul the Messiah, which she thinks is bullshit), only to have her heart broken. But make no mistake: Chani isn't solely defined by her love for a man. She's a fierce fighter and an independent thinker who believes that the Fremen can save themselves--they don't need this (white!) outworlder to do it for them.

The actions sequences, which range from a gladiator-style fight on Giedi Prime (the planet where the creepy-ass Harkonnens live) to the infamous sandworm-riding scenes, are great. I'm also not much of a lover of action sequences in movies, but I was enthralled. Dune's out here getting me to love all the things I normally don't! 

But what I loved the most was the whole "reluctant Messiah" plot and the focus on how faith can be something that unites people for a common good...and also can lead to the deaths of thousands. Kind of relevant, huh?! I know that the next Dune movie will explore the consequences of Paul's acceptance of his Messiah role, but this film already sets up that big question: at what cost?  

Chalamet (and in the Lynch version, Kyle MacLachlan) is an usual Messiah type: boyish, not a big, burly man. Someone who could easily be underestimated...and therefore all the more dangerous. I love that in the world of Dune some of the most deadly people look like they would immediately lose in a fight. Take Charlotte Rampling as a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother who can bring men to their knees with her voice...well, all men except Paul of course. The way gender is used in Dune is fascinating. The Bene Gesserits, who are among the most powerful people in the universe, are all women (well, except Paul, LOL). They basically run the show through their influence. Then you have the Harkonnens, which are Andrew Tate's wet dream: a world in which men are violent, cruel, and judged by their ability to fight...and women are nearly non-existent slaves. And then you have the Fremen, and especially the Fedaykin (Fremen warriors), where the genders are equal. 

There are a lot of layers to Dune, and I have only uncovered a couple of them as a casual viewer of the recent films (believe it or not, I haven't seen the David Lynch version of Dune yet!). I'm not sure if I'll read the books, but I will certainly watch any future films in this franchise. The Dune movies present a wonderful alternative to the superhero exhaustion in cinema these days: how about an action-packed film with stunning visuals, great actors, and a little moral ambiguity? 

Grade: A

What's better than a forbidden butthole? THREE forbidden buttholes!