Dune Part Two improves on the original in every way

Adapting a beloved novel for the big screen is a tightrope for any filmmaker; you have to please the die-hard fans who have championed the book for over 50 years while appealing to the casual Friday night crowd.

2021’s Dune was effortless in introducing a vast, sprawling world to a new generation of fans, and we are pleased to say Dune Part Two does everything the first film did but better. 

Dune Part Two is a remarkable sequel that improves on the first film in pretty much every aspect.

All of the credit must go to director Denis Villeneuve who has now firmly established himself as an equal to the likes of Lang, Lucas and Cameron in the sci-fi pantheon.

Villeneuve walks a very fine line between making Dune a palpable popcorn blockbuster (with the loudest, bone-rattling sound design we’ve heard in a blockbuster film for years) and leaning into the weirdness that makes Dune special.

It is a tribute to Villeneuve’s talent that you can approach Dune Part Two as either a casual fan of the first movie or a die-hard fan of the books and come away equally stunned.

Fans of the book will be quick to tell you that Frank Herbert’s writing was a direct influence on George Lucas when he made Star Wars, and somewhat fittingly Dune now does massive sci-fi spectacle better than Star Wars does these days.

In a bid to sell Herbert’s esoteric, strange ideas to the masses Villeneuve has assembled an A-tier list of top Hollywood talent and they deliver with aplomb.

The secret to Dune Part Two’s success is that you are waiting for the illusion to crack, that one moment that takes you out of the movie and you realise how ridiculous the whole affair is on paper.

With Dune Part Two audiences are treated to mystical space worms, people with diamond blue eyes, and talking embryos.

It would be very easy for the whole thing to derail and for the audience to turn on the film for being too odd.

The directing, acting, editing and score are a cut above the typical Hollywood film so you are on your guard waiting for the balloon to pop.

It never does, and that is what makes the film so brilliant.

One standout sequence has the colour drained out of the film and the film takes on a Bergman-esque quality.

Austin Butler’s big introduction is in the form of a gladiator fight which takes place in a monochrome arena with the contrast cranked to 11.

There are so many stand-out “wow” moments that will leave you wanting to see the film a 3rd or 4th time and that scene is chief among them.

There is so much visual imagination and ambition in this scene that it is worth the price of admission alone.

Stanley Kubrick is the white whale that directors chase.

Christopher Nolan is seen as the heir to the throne with his high-minded thrillers that play like blockbusters, his technical proficiency and coldness are apparent in Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar-nominated film The Zone Of Interest but it is Villeneuve who has gotten the closest to emulating Kubrick and his clinical style.

There is an almost classical feel to Dune Part Two, in no small part because it feels like Lawrence Of Arabia.

We invoked Lawrence Of Arabia in our Oppenheimer review last July because the film had the sweeping yet intimate feel of a David Lean film, but Dune Part Two draws more explicit comparisons.

Both Lean and Villeneuve recognised that the vast sandy landscapes are a character and take full advantage of the setting.

Add in a stirring young movie star (Timothée Chalamet as our Peter O’Toole) and the link is complete.

The cast deserves just as much praise as Villeneuve and the cast list is absurdly stacked.

Chalamet, one of our great young talents and the heir to DiCaprio as far as we’re concerned, is effortlessly commanding as Paul Atreides.

Seeing Chalamet in the role stirs that great joy a book-to-film adaptation can pull off, it is the character you read on the page leaping onto the screen.

Fellow young hot things such as Zendaya, the aforementioned Austin Butler and Florence Pugh are there to attract the kids and look good on a magazine cover but the trio add real depth to Villeneuve’s palette.

Fans of Zendaya who complained she was a glorified cameo in the first one will be pleased to hear she is front and centre of this film, Florence Pugh brings a quiet dignity to her role as Princess Irluan but it is Austin Butler who shakes, rattles and rolls his way into the film.

Butler drew enormous critical praise for his star-making performance as Elvis in 2022 (and honestly, should have won the Oscar) but he does such a great job of vanishing into the role here that you may not notice that it’s him straight away.

The 1984 David Lynch version of the film looms large over any screen adaptation of Dune and while that film is enjoyable for its Lynchian style it is compromised for trying to fit in too much into a simple 2 hour film.

There are no such qualms here, and giving the film the room to breathe and go on these odd little tangents and hit strange plot beats makes the film all the richer.

Aside from the young, hip stars, the film has a superb cast with the returning Rebecca Ferguson doing a superb job as Lady Jessica and Javier Bardem making a meal of his scenes in the best possible way.

The real treat for fans of the books is Christopher Walken appearing as the emperor and adding his jazzy, Walken-ey line deliveries to the Dune universe. 

The film sets up the events of Dune Messiah perfectly, and with any luck people will be dressing like sandworms and doing the sandwalk in the streets by the time that film comes out.

As a young film fan, you become jealous when hearing how incredible it was to see films like Star Wars or Rocky in the cinema in the 1970s or hearing about how incredible it was to see The Lord Of The Rings in the early 2000s.

With Dune Part Two, the gap between generations has shortened; you finally understand what it was like to be there.