Dune: Part Two

✰✰✰✰​ ​ (out of five)

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.

Review: I have tried to dive into the Dune universe by starting the first book. Within a short while, I understood this was going to be a dense undertaking, notably for it's themes reflecting our real-world's politics, faith, religion, social classes, immigration, colonization and economics--very much themes tied to the history of America, especially of of Manifest Destiny.

Dune: Part Two follows directly where Dune: Part One ends with a definitive next chapter in a story as old as time, a form of the hero's journey theory from author and mythologist Joseph Campbell.

Director Denis Villeneuve is clearly having a blast in this world. His past films thrive on a methodical nature coupled with hyper-inventive visuals. Sicario, Blade Runner 2049, Prisoners--all slow burn onion peeling; Dune was exactly that. Some criticized Dune: Part One for being TOO methodical, especially considering it was only going to cover about half of author Frank Herbert's first book. Considering the thickness of the copy of Dune that I own, that may have been a good choice. Having been previously adapted by cult director David Lynch in 1984, much was excised of the dense book in that version for an audience-friendly running time. Villeneuve doesn't do that. In fact, he doubles down.

I understood why some were turned off by Part One, whether it was the slow pacing or the incomplete nature of the film. They are fair criticisms to have. I happened to like it very much placing my reservations, too, with it's pacing. It's a two-plus hour of lots of setup.

Part Two, thankfully, is quite the pay off. Bigger, louder set pieces are balanced with the poignant, potent and purposeful soul of Herbert's books. Despite the settings, the actors are definitely along for the ride. My problem there is that the performances are quite good but take a back seat to the direction. Villeneuve has some education in the Kurbick school of filmmaking: the director's visuals are the storytellers. So my hesitation in giving Dune: Part Two a full-on rave is because there may be some over-direction to the film but also an imbalance. Grand scale and scope is fine by me, and the film scratches that itch. The running time doesn't bother me either. But let everyone on the team play equally in the sandbox. Because the audience definitely is having fun.