Timothee Chalamet, playing Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides, duels with Austin Butler, as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, in a scene from "Dune: Part Two." Photo / AP
We’re going back to Arrakis for Dune: Part Two, Dennis Villeneuve’s long-awaited sequel to the 2021 film that reimagined author Frank Herbert’s famous science-fiction series.
With a constellation of stars and an explosive cinema launch this week, collecting US$81.5 million at the American box office on its debut, NZ Herald’s Karl Puschmann and Emma Gleason share their spicy takes on the blockbuster sequel.
Karl Puschmann: Sci-fi epic Dune: Part Two is the movie everyone’s talking about right now. And what everyone’s saying is that it’s better than the last.
Emma Gleason: It was an improvement on the already excellent first film — which I loved — right?
Karl: Yes that is what they’re saying and yes, I have to agree with the consensus. Dune: Part Two is better than the first one. Quite an achievement considering the first can be considered a modern sci-fi classic.
Emma: It was also a smash hit, grossing US $435 million — the film cost $165 million to make — and won six Academy Awards from 10 nominations.
Karl: While I have not gulped down the deep blue sandworm venom and had psychedelic visions of the future I still foresee that Dune: Part Two will better that. There’s a long list of impressive things about the movie but one of the things that impressed me most is how seamless a continuation it is. By their nature sequels have to go bigger — and Dune: Part Two certainly does — but often a second movie can feel jarringly larger with bigger budgets, bigger stars, sets and bigger set pieces. Watching them back to back it can feel obvious they were made later.
Emma: The famous curse of the sophomore film, dodged by cinematic classics like The Godfather Part II, Aliens and Paddington 2, and now Dennis Villeneuve.
Karl: Exactly! If you edited out Dune: Part One’s end credits and Dune: Part Two’s opening credits and pasted the two films together it would feel like one seamless, albeit extremely long, movie. There hasn’t been a sequel this cohesive and natural since Sir Pete’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. With that in mind do you think people need to see the first before heading to the cinema?
Emma: While you’ll always get more out of a film having seen its predecessor — I also recommend watching David Lynch’s 1980s adaptation — you could conceivably go to see this without any other experience of Herbert’s world. It’s a fun ride, and beautiful to look at (worth a trip to IMAX for sure). However, given the sprawling plot, complicated politics and esoteric mysticism of the story, you might leave a bit confused.
Karl: I’ll confess that I haven’t read the books but I didn’t find it that hard to follow. Although I’ll concede that there is no doubt depth and meaning flowing like spice over my head. The biggest thing I was confused about was Zendaya’s character being named Johnny. I just figured Herbet was incredibly progressive. Turns out I’d just misheard the pronunciation of her actual name: Chani.
Karl: I’d describe Dune: Part Two as sort of like Game of Thrones meets Star Wars meets… the Bible? On acid. There are some very trippy visuals. Even simple things like ship design often looks completely odd and unexpected. The outfits and costumes of the various factions are incredible and often startling. What I really love about these films is just how strange and visually weird they are — a trademark of director Denis Villeneuve.
Emma: It’s visually stunning, breathtaking at times. Villeneuve is clearly drawing from archaic references as, if not more than, futurism and science fiction tropes. Designer Jacqueline West’s costumes are beautiful, with everything from the military garb to the Fremen’s desert wear richly thought out. The Bene Gesserit look almost Byzantine.
Karl: If I had to brief someone who hadn’t seen it my barebones explanation before going to Dune: Part Two would go something like this; on a barren desert planet inhabited only by desert folk and giant worms a resource called spice is fought over politically and physically by various factions. A violent and dastardly scheme by the emperor to wipe out one of these great houses backfires when the leader’s son, Paul, escapes into the desert instead of being killed like he was supposed to be.
Emma: That’s pretty much it.
Karl: It’s pretty straightforward really but it feels much more opaque than it is due its brilliantly bizarre otherworldliness.
Emma: The narrative is a barely veiled metaphor of mineral extraction, colonialism and the violence of empire building. Not to mention religious fanaticism. Timeless and prescient? subject isn’t it?
Karl: Sadly, these seem to be evergreen topics for humanity. There are some fantastic performances in the movie. Did anyone stand out to you?
Emma: Austin Butler was surprisingly good as Feyd-Rautha — that sinister physicality! Apparently he chose to mimic the accent of co-star Stellan Skarsgård (who plays Baron Vladimir Harkonnen) to reinforce his character’s devotion to his uncle. On a less nuanced level, his fight scenes were very impressive.
Karl: Yes, his unhinged menace certainly escalated the already considerable threat level facing Paul, his dear old mum and the Fremen freedom fighters. He had to be doing something right to be half the size yet double as frightening as Dave Bautista. How much of that had to do with the no-eyebrows look he was rocking do you think? It’s an instantly unsettling style…
Emma: Yeah the visual style of house Harkonnen their home planet, Giedi Prime, is eerie and striking. Villeneuve really hammers home the fascism and homogeneity of their culture. His rendering of Giedi Prime in black and white — an idea that came from Herbert’s book — was brilliant; the planet’s Black Sun saps the colour from everything on it, so outside scenes look like they’re shot in black and white. It’s startling.
Karl: It is. I didn’t realise it was a black sun causing that. I just thought it looked unpleasantly cool and oppressively distinctive. It really did hammer home their militant culture. While it wasn’t particularly subtle it’s interesting that this was Herbet’s choice and not Villenvue being uncharacteristically on the nose with visual metaphor. That said, I thought it was really neat how even the Harkanen’s celebratory fireworks looked like giant smeared ink blobs in the sky rather than cheerful bursts of light.
Emma: Yes! So eerie. Villeneuve explained these choices to Moviefone recently, and it gives insight into his approach to the canon. “One of the aspects that I love in the book is the idea that, the book is a study of the impact of the ecosystem on human beings, all from the nature of the ecosystem, the human-developed religions, techniques, and ways of survival, all their culture, we are the product of our environment and when you want to know about the Fremen, you just look at the desert and it will inform you about the native people.”
Emma: Humanity has really been scaled up in this film; Villeneuve zooms out from the key players to show the followers that give them power; the exploitive hope and religious fanaticism stoked by the Bene Gesserit, and the proto-fascist crowd scenes on Giedi Prime.
Karl: The film’s very cynical of politics and religion. and shows how both can be manipulated for nefarious purposes. It takes an equally dim view on having faith in the system and having faith in a higher power.
Emma: It’s quite heavy to sit with, and warrants thinking about. As a temper to all that, there’s exhilarating action; that first ride-the-worm scene blew my mind. I could hear the sand inside my head.
Karl: Every worm scene blew my mind. It’s the sort of thing that could have easily looked very CGI-y but they look about as real as terrifyingly gargantuan worms can. And these things appear a lot in the movie. And you’re right, the sound design plays a huge part in really selling the believability of not just the worms, but the entire universe of Dune.
Emma: The auditory storytelling is just as impressive as the visuals, from the mechanical grinding and instruments of war to the undulating shivers of sand — it helps that they shot on location in the Abu Dhabi Desert. And, of course, there’s the score by legendary composer Hans Zimmer.
Karl: It’s one of the best-sounding movies I’ve ever seen. Or should that be ever heard? Either way, the sound alone is reason to go to Dune: Part Two. It’s all-encompassing and puts you right in the movie. There were moments when it felt like the whole cinema was shaking from the low rumbles of burrowing sandworms or a heavy barrage of explosions. But also the quieter moments are just as impressive. As you say, the wind shuffling the sand over the dunes or the soft chanting of prayer. These softer moments are just as immersive as the showstopping booms. Best of all, there was never any problem understanding what people were saying. Can someone please get Christopher Nolan to hire Villeneuve’s sound guy?
Emma: That memo needs to be sent stat! Another distinctive part of Villeneuve’s Dune is how the production draws heavily from Middle Eastern and North African culture and history — which makes sense given Herbert’s colonialist critique — in both implicit and explicit references, like the Mahdi prophesy around Paul, a name that is lifted directly from Islam, and more contemporary visual allusions to events like the Gulf War and US Afghanistan. Do you think the film has enough actors from this background in speaking roles?
Karl: The film has a diverse cast although representation is mostly limited to being faction-specific. This suits the themes of the film and, from what I understand, the source books. It never felt whitewashed or tone-deaf to our current cultural moment. Indeed, we spend most of the film with the Fremen, the folks who live in the desert. Villenueve’s design inspriations make sense given the source material and the biomes the story is set in. But this inspiration always felt respectful and often looked visually stunning and was given a suitably sci-fi twist.
Karl: To wrap up, would you recommend Dune: Part Two? It’s obvious by now and hardly a spicy take to say that yes, I thoroughly recommend going to Dune: Part Two.
Emma: Yes! You might love it. And even if you don’t, it will leave you with plenty to think about.
Karl: In a world of endless spectacle blockbusters this raises the game through intelligence, care and a distinct and thoroughly realised vision. It’s astounding. It’s art. The whole time I was watching it I kept thinking ‘this is why you go to the cinema’.
Dune: Part Two is screening in cinemas nationwide now.
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