Certification. 12A
Running Time. 2 hours 46 mins
Director. Denis Villeneuve
Cast. Javier Bardem, Austin Butler, Dave Bautista, Josh Brolin, Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Florence Pugh, Charlotte Rampling, Léa Seydoux, Stellan Skarsgård, Christopher Walken, Zendaya.
Dune: Part Two is every bit as ambitious and epic as Denis Villeneuve's first effort, and successfully wraps up this near-perfect two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert's seminal science fiction novel.
Whereas Dune served as a prologue, Dune: Part Two isn't merely a continuation of the saga but a more sumptuous, developed secondary chronicle. The talented French-Canadian filmmaker has delivered an expansion and deepening of Frank Herbert's universe alongside a tale of romance, power and corruption of Biblical proportions.
The film elegantly weaves together astonishing special effects and breathtaking cinematography with Arrakis' folklore. The story evolves from the central themes of ideology and idealism into a tale of political machinations, blind zealotry, the ominous weaponisation of fear and the impending threat of an apparently devastating religious conflict. There are moments when Dune: Part Two feels uncomfortably true-to-life in the current geopolitical landscape.
Timotheé Chalamet bears the weight of Dune: Part Two as Paul Atreides, the principal character apparently unwilling to take up the mantle of messiah to the Fremen, but other supporting characters are every bit as influential. In particular, Zendaya, the true heart of the film, as the passionate Fremen warrior Chani. One of the central pillars of Dune: Part Two is the romance between Paul and Chani, as the Atreides heir - renamed Muad'Dib - tries, in vain, to avoid his inevitable fate, while Chani pragmatically fights for her people to be free. Whilst the relationship between Paul and Chani grounds the film and pushes the human aspect to the fore, the romance feels occasionally flat and emotionally inert.
In addition, Austin Butler delivers a gleefully over-the-top performance as the psychotic Harkonnen heir, Feyd-Rautha. A vast, epic spectacle like Dune: Part Two is no place for subtlety or understatement, and Butler's inordinate performance is fueled by malice and channeled through a smile that could strip flesh from bone.
But the standout performance is from Rebecca Ferguson, reprising the role of Paul's mother, Lady Jessica. Driven by ambition for her son, and twisted by the ritual that transforms her into the Reverend Mother of the Fremen, Lady Jessica takes on a ruthless, chilling malevolence, something that Ferguson manages to convey almost entirely through an increasingly inscrutable gaze.
Dune: Part Two is unapologetically cinematic. Villeneuve, and his director of photography, Greig Fraser have outdone themselves with universally breathtaking visuals, but more importantly, the pair have done justice to the scope and scale of Frank Herbert's novel. The astonishing visuals are more than matched by Hans Zimmer’s behemoth of a score. There are passages so thunderous, it appears as though the German composer has somehow harnessed the sound of colliding planets in place of percussion creating an almost immersive experience.
With films such as Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, Dune and now Dune: Part Two, Denis Villeneuve is fast becoming an absolute master of cinematic science-fiction. Dune: Part Two is an immense, breathtaking wonder and stunning spectacle. Quite simply, Dune: Part Two is what a true, off-planet science-fiction epic looks like.
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