Warning: Minor spoilers ahead
Score: 5/5
The future of sci-fi is in good hands.
In the late ‘70s, George Lucas pulled audiences from their seats into a galaxy far, far away. Where he led them was the cinematic universe of Star Wars that continued to expand rapidly with every subsequent film and other canonical media addition.
At the turn of the century, Peter Jackson brought J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth to life with his adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. With a story traversing three films – including the Academy Award winner for Best Picture The Return of the King – The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a beacon in cinematic worldbuilding and storytelling, spearheading a new standard for sci-fi and fantasy filmmaking into the new century.
What was witnessed with the magnificent scale of the Star Wars universe and The Lord of the Rings world is unfurling before all of us with Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s book series, Dune. With two films in the trilogy down so far, the story is expected to conclude with an adaptation of the second novel in Herbert’s series Dune: Messiah.
Set in the distant future, Dune follows Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) on the bleak desert world of Arrakis. Gifted with powers not fully understood by him, he embarks on an odyssey through the desert inhabited by gargantuan sandworms and the mysterious natives of Arrakis, the Fremen, who speak of a prophecy in which Paul finds himself in the centre of.
Released on March 1, Dune: Part Two is even more monumental than its predecessor, Dune: Part One or simply Dune. Villeneuve and the entire crew are all working on overdrive in their respective departments to bring the colossal Dune universe to the cinematic medium at a level unseen before in sci-fi cinema.
It’s almost impossible to comment on one film only of the two currently released, as they feel like a seamless transition from one to the other. Where Part Two diverges from Part One is the striking role intimacy plays in the story and the maximization of nearly every worldbuilding element.
Compared to its successor, Part One feels like merely dipping your feet into the cold universe of Dune. It hardly makes a splash unlike other sci-fi universes such as Star Wars which feels larger than life, flexing on-the-nose worldbuilding details like space battles, hyperspace and lightsabers.
By contrast, Dune’s universe feels almost uncomfortably quiet. The architecture is harsh and brutalist, made to appear strictly mechanical and not for show. The lack of explanation or insight into the universe’s externally sleek and simple design feels both oddly familiar and profoundly distant from humanity.
Although Part Two works in tandem with the first film to conserve a certain level of secrecy to the universe, it banks far more heavily on utilizing every scene to forward the worldbuilding and lay more breadcrumbs for the audience to follow. The consistency of this technique along with the astonishing scale of the visual effects and shot composition keep audiences constantly engaged.
It’s safe to say now that Villeneuve is solidifying a prominent authorship within his films, notably in the polarity between emotional nuance and sheer scale of worldbuilding. To some, a filmmaker cultivating their authorship may signify a dangerous road towards overly formulaic, creatively bankrupt habits, but this is certainly not always the case, especially not with Villeneuve. From Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival to the Dune trilogy, he has expressed a consistent devotion to fully realizing his creative vision which seeks to depict the immense scale of a story through cinematography.
Part Two further deepens the emotional core of the story, beating its heart faster to generate delicate conflicts between Paul and the characters themselves, adding an intimate depth less present in the first film. The result of this is an additional layer of humanity to the characters, even those left previously underdeveloped in the first film.
The somber desolation of Arrakis foregrounds the film’s most human moments between characters, making the consequences of battle sequences feel exceedingly heavy. Part Two is a large improvement over this area whereas the first film occasionally created distance between the audience and the story’s emotional stakes.
It’s evident that Chalamet is stretching his acting range, and in doing so he deepens the impact of Paul’s character arc. He keeps Paul an engaging protagonist to root for while introducing enigmatic development in his behaviour that makes audiences question his authority over conflicts.
Alongside Chalamet’s formidable lead performance is Zendaya’s role as Chani, a Fremen woman and Fedaykin, meaning she is part of the guerrilla warrior order of the Fremen. Zendaya flexes her acting chops in a way that expresses the vigour of a warrior hellbent on being responsible for her people’s freedom this time around.
While her role in the first film was rather minor, it was made clear she would play a pivotal role in Part Two as she strikes up a romantic relationship with Paul in the first act of the film.
Because of their newfound romance, Chani constantly acts as an obstacle to Paul’s morally questionable arc in the film, serving as the reference point of an important perspective against the Fremen’s fanaticism towards him.
The austerity of Dune as a cautionary tale is never sidestepped by its technical grandeur. While without a doubt a spectacle for the senses, at its core the story is a dark commentary on corruption and the path towards it. The slow evolution of Paul as a protagonist to someone more fitting of an anti-hero title challenges the audiences to recognize and question who truly has power, and if that power is ultimately eating at them to feed a more sinister monster.
The tonal shift between films is further clarified by their respective original scores, both composed by Hans Zimmer. A living legend in his craft and revered for his various iconic scores in films like Inception and Interstellar, Zimmer ups his game in Part Two’s score to perfectly reflect the nature of the film.
Where Part One’s score is noticeably less warm or even melodic, Part Two’s uses the warmth of a larger woodwind section to create an intimacy reflective of Paul’s relationship with Chani even in the seemingly endless sea of sand dunes. This musical shift represents the added layers of humanity and emotional weight, as opposed to placing the physical characteristics of the Dune universe at the forefront.
As it stands, Dune: Part Two has surpassed over $300 million in the global box office, landing its spot as one of the year’s first true blockbusters. A story with this level of grandeur and intensity is served the best justice being witnessed on the biggest screen possible.
The immense scale of the story is handled with the utmost care from Villeneuve and the entire crew, making the final result feel like something fully realized firing on all cylinders. It’s a refreshing reflection on the power filmmakers have to create meaningful stories of this magnitude when executives do not breathe down their neck, quenching authorship and exploration. Dune: Part Two reassures us the sci-fi film is in trustworthy hands.
