Dune: Part 2 - The Prophecy Fulfilled

 

Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and Chani (Zendaya). These two characters are the protagonists of Director Denis Villeneuve's sequel.

The Kwisatz Haderach Rises

"You shall die. You may see... the Beauty and the Horror!" - The Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) to her son Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) as she wills him to become the Kwisatz Haderach foretold by the Bene Gesserit Prophecy

Dune: Part 2 is another truly great film from Canadian Director Denis Villeneuve. In it, he tells the second half of the story begun in 2021's Dune. As adapted from Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction classic, this is the story of Paul Atreides's ascendancy to become a Messiah figure and Emperor of the known universe.

Part 2 opens exactly where the first film ended, with Paul and his mother the Lady Jessica traveling to Sietch Tabr, a Fremen stronghold, with Stilgar (Javier Bardem), the tribe's leader and his people. Paul and his mother are the last survivors of House Atreides, the rest of whom were killed during an ambush under cover of dark by their Harkonnen rivals. 

 

Villeneuve jumps right into the action, since all of the exposition was done in the first film. So it helps to have done your homework by reading the book and seeing the 2021 movie beforehand. Right off the bat we see some truly awesome visuals. Particularly cool is seeing the insect-like Harkonnen troops using anti-gravity boots to float up the face of a rock wall so they can avoid a Sandworm attack.

 

The opening fight scene immerses us in the struggle for control of Arrakis, the only planet in the universe that produces Spice - a substance that extends life, and one that facilitates travel between planets. The struggle is between the native Fremen, who come to embrace Paul as their leader, and the Harkonnens, led by the grotesquely corpulent Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) and his nephews Beast Rabban (Dave Bautista) and the psychotic Feyd Rautha (Austin Butler). Where the good guys are sand coloured and dirt covered, the bad guys are black and resemble giant bugs. Villeneuve seems to have taken a cue from the Star Wars movies here.

 

Na-Baron Feyd Rautha embraces his uncle the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen after being named
Planetary Governor of Arrakis.

 

 

The bad guys are truly sinister here. Austin Butler's Feyd Rautha is introduced to us on the polluted Harkonnen homeworld of Giedi Prime. He is first seen preparing for a gladiator match set in a triangle-shaped arena that was shot entirely in black and white. The exploding fireworks from above look like so much ink temporarily staining an otherwise colourless sky. Butler does a damn good job at stepping into the leading villain's shoes. He achieves a neat trick by doing an uncanny impersonation of Skarsgård's accent. As the Baron's heir apparent, he is a genuinely scary villain.

Speaking of standout performances, for me the film's best character by far is the Fremen leader Stilgar. He is a true believer in the Bene Gesserit spread Prophecy of the coming of the Lisan al Gaib (Voice from the Outer World) who will lead the Fremen to a 'Green Paradise.' Set against the skeptical and non-believing Fremen, Stilgar does a wonderful job of providing comic relief in an otherwise serious film.

One bit of casting that had me wondering was Christopher Walken as the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. At one point, speaking to Baron Harkonnen, he says: "More! I need more!" To me it seems like a deliberate reference to Walken's famous SNL Cowbell sketch. Another bit of welcome humour. 

 

All of the action and decisions our hero makes lead up to the climactic final duel between Paul Atreides and Feyd Rautha, after which Paul assumes the title of Emperor and launches his Holy War across the stars. This sets the stage for a possible third film - Dune: Part 3, which would cover the material from the second of Frank Herbert's Dune novels, Dune Messiah.