Dune Part Two: A non-spoiler review

Dune Part Two: Epic in every way.

First of all, I would highly recommend rewatching Dune Part One before going to see it. I watched a recap on YouTube and apart from the fact that I find most of those movie guys on YouTube annoying I feel like the movie has too much going on that I could really get right back into it for Dune Part Two. You could also read our review of Part One to help, though we’re not as focused as the YouTube guys. 

That being said, Denis Villeneuve and team have done such a fantastic job with the look of the Dune universe (Duniverse?) that I quickly found myself back in the story, visually at least. I debated about seeing the film in IMAX but chose seeing it sooner over seeing it bigger. I chose one of the big screens at my local cinema and even then I feel like if you have the opportunity to see it on the biggest screen possible then take it. The scope of this epic series is no less grand in Dune Part Two than it was in Part One and I really think you need to give yourself the space to appreciate it. The visual presentation of Geidi Prime, the Harkonnen homeworld, was particularly stunning. 

Story-wise, this is a dense one. At 2 hours and 46 minutes, this part is 10 minutes longer than part one and I can understand why. This is where the meat of the story is. We get deeper into the politics and beliefs of the Imperium and there’s so much going on that even without reading the book I know they’ve left a lot out. 

But I don’t feel like they’ve left out much of the action. While the religious and political plot points are all there, the action and character growth of Paul Atreides is still a major part of it. This film is equal parts sci-fi action as it is fantasy allegory. 

The cast of the Duniverse continues to grow, adding Christopher Walken, Florence Pugh and Austin Butler to the star-studded roster and everyone delivers in terms of performance. Though I have to wonder if Austin Butler’s Stellan Skarsgard impersonation was really necessary, or was it just to get over the effects of his ‘Elvis Voice’. 

I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t fully know if this was going to be a two-parter or a trilogy but as the movie went on I realised that it would have to be a three part. I don’t know the story, having not read the book or seen the 1984 movie and although there is a ‘final battle’ I knew there was a lot more to be said. This final battle is probably the only part of the movie where I felt like there could have been more. It happened reasonably quickly for my mind and this would be the only thing that put out the balance of politics & religion vs action for me. 

Having said that, there is definitely room for more epic action to blow up from where we are left at the end of this movie, with a true final battle set to come. 

Overall, the movie does well to build on everything that was set up in part one. The depth of the universe and the characters within it had me hooked from the start as we see Paul torn between ‘the hand of greatest advantage’ and the relationships between his mother and Chani. For me this is the greatest achievement of the movie. It ticks the sci-fi action and the fantasy boxes but as a complex story of personal relationships it is intriguing and engaging and the three main characters deliver in spades, particularly Chalamet and Rebecca Ferguson. The complexity of Arrakis and The Imperium drag us deeper into the world created by Frank Herbert and towards the end we even find out why the story is called Dune. 

If you liked Dune Part One you’ll settle right back into Dune Part Two. If you haven’t seen either then this franchise is setting itself as one with wide appeal for fans of action, scifi, fantasy or all of the above.