The Dune saga is a strange outlier in recent mainstream cinema.
Despite being based on one of the most iconic science fiction novels of all time, been adapted by David Lynch with legendarily disastrous results, then helmed by Denis Villeneuve who had a high profile box office flop with Blade Runner 2049 before taking on this mammoth project, Dune, and now Dune Part 2, is a resounding success.
With movies based on specific existing IPs, or more specifically, movies based on superhero comics, fantasy, and sci-fi books unable to rely on their rapidly-disappearing core audiences, why does Dune get a pass? Easy, it’s amazing.
Let me count the ways in which Dune: Part Two is better than most blockbuster fare of the last few years (apart from perhaps Godzilla Minus One). The performances are universally fantastic, filled with a group of actors who make their characters feel vivid and lived-in whether it’s in comparatively smaller roles like Florence Pugh or Lea Seydoux, or Austin Butler swaggering in like a human xenomorph snatching villain duty away from Stellan Skarsgård and Dave Bautista. Timothée Chalamet adds layers to Paul as he tries to discover whether his destiny is to be a saviour or a demon, and Zendaya as Chani juggling a romance with Paul with her own belief in free will. As in Part One, Rebecca Ferguson steals the show as Jessica Atreides. Along with her very vocal unborn daughter (Frank Herbert was a weird dude), Jessica plots her way into favour with the Fremin to keep Paul safe from harm, which just so happens to coincide with her order’s prophecy. The internet’s boy moms have nothing on her.
Like the first film, Part Two has a tremendous sense of its own grandeur, whether it’s the size, scale, and danger of the titular desert, or the opulence of the Emperor’s ship and the Harkonnen’s mock-wrestling bouts. When it comes to these types of films, you have to measure them on the Star Wars scale. Does Dune, like Star Wars, present a universe teaming with life? A resounding yes. After watching Part Two, Denis Villeneuve could convince me that he actually found the planet Dune and shot both movies on location.
Here is the big BUT. Is Paul a white saviour, and is Dune a white saviour narrative? I’m not going to say this question doesn’t matter – it matters because Dune Part Two is the biggest film of 2024 so far. I personally don’t think it is, but I do think Villeneuve is trying to investigate this point with Paul. Throughout both films, Paul is apprehensive about the paths his life will take and the control (or lack thereof) that he has. His choices are personified by the two most important characters around him, Chani and Jessica. Chani represents free will and Jessica is destiny, and Paul’s path shows that one person’s saviour is another’s conquer. Paul is a saviour to some (especially Stilgar – Javier Bardem is wonderful in this) but I think that, through what Villeneuve shows us in both films, he is telling us to keep our eyes open about the nature of the saviour narrative. Hopefully, this is something we’ll get into in more detail in the upcoming threequel, Dune Messiah, and, in the meantime, check out Nerds of Color’s great article and interview with Villeneuve on the subject here.
Dune Part Two may not have the immediacy of the first instalment due to it’s very status as a sequel; but it is miles ahead of every other blockbuster out there. Bring on Dune Messiah.
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By Kevin Boyle
(header image via Ruetir)
No But Listen 