A film by Denis Villeneuve

2021 was a tumultuous time in the film industry, with the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic impacting studios and theaters alike. To adapt, theaters began showcasing older and foreign films, a trend that continues today and one I personally appreciate (how else would I have discovered so much anime last year!). Studios also experimented with innovative approaches, such as charging premium streaming prices for films intended for theatrical release or offering simultaneous releases on streaming platforms.

HBO Max (before Discovery’s buyout) took a particularly bold step by announcing that the entire 2021 slate of Warner Bros. films would be available to their subscribers. The headline attraction? Denis Villeneuve’s highly anticipated adaptation of the science fiction classic, Dune, all from the safety and comfort of your own home. Fast forward to 2024, and thankfully, things have improved. Now, it’s finally time to experience the second installment of Dune, this time on the big screen in theaters!

“Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the universe, he must prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.”

For those unaware, Dune by Frank Herbert is a sprawling science fiction series of novels set in a distant future where noble houses vie for control over the desert planet of Arrakis, the only source of the universe’s most valuable substance, Spice Melange. The story follows young Paul Atreides, whose family assumes control of Arrakis, leading to political intrigue, betrayal, and his own journey through complex power dynamics of the universe. Paul confronts the enigmatic Fremen desert-dwellers, veers towards being cast as a messianic figure, and grapples with his own burgeoning psychic abilities. Herbert’s masterpiece explores themes of politics, religion, ecology, and the human condition, creating a richly detailed universe that continues to captivate readers with its depth and complexity.

This complexity, in the past, caused issues when trying to adapt the scope and gravitas of such a story into film. Most will know of David Lynch’s 80’s adaptation that was received in a somewhat divisive manner, leading to it being a commercial failure in 1984. That film had trouble with attempting to cram all of the exposition from the books into a relatively short film, confusing the audience. There was also a failed attempt at a film directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky, whose production was highlighted in the documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune. SyFy, the American cable channel, even adapted the first three books into a couple of lower-budget TV miniseries, which were also met with mixed reactions. While Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is not perfect, in fact the first part suffered the exact opposite problem as Lynch’s film in my opinion, it seems to have struck a chord with audiences, finally giving the franchise the cinematic success that has eluded it for so long.

I think a lot of this boils down to the film having an artistic vision rarely seen today with a lot of studio-driven films. Let’s face it, Disney has cornered a lot of the market on big genre films, and they have an almost committee-based way of directing and producing their projects. This has led to many films being far too homogeneous and lacking the vision that a director would put into a project wholly their own. Denis Villeneuve, in stark contrast, does an amazing job of setting a tone and adapting the film’s world-building in his own way, and with the help of the musical score by Hans Zimmer, it just feels more like a “real movie”, more so than the manufactured cinema we have grown accustomed to.

One scene, in particular, that really impressed me was a scene that took place on the nigh-inhospitable Harkonnen home planet of Giedi Prime. This wasteland of a planet was portrayed as having a black sun, so as a result, daytime was the harshest white light one can imagine, with any sort of light showing up as black almost. For example, there is a fireworks display scene that is truly a sight to see. A recent Variety article points out how this was done: “With Villeneuve’s approval, the sequence was shot on an Alexa LF camera that had been modified to be an infrared camera, which meant, “all the camera could see was infrared, and that became their world.” It was surreal and nothing I had ever seen in a film, which truly made it unique. It was a definite far cry from having alien worlds in films being filmed in rock quarries or forests.

Some of the big unanswered questions at the end of the previous film were all related to the whereabouts of various prominent characters such as Princess Irulan, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, and The Emperor himself. This was thankfully put to ease with the casting of Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, and Christopher Walken, respectively. I was most interested in seeing how they would handle Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, a character famously played by Sting (the singer, not the wrestler) in the 1984 film. Austin Butler adds a bit of sadism to the character that makes him not only unstable, but rather scary. It was especially unnerving to see his harem of cannibalistic women that travelled with him.

Aside from great performances, solid casting, and an artistic flair from the director, not everything was perfect with this adaptation, but with Dune that comes with the territory. Many things were omitted or changed, likely for time, which may have not hampered the story here, but could cause issues if Dune Messiah (the second book) ever gets greenlit. Most notably is the (almost) exclusion of the character of Alia Atreides as a young girl, seeing that she is an unborn (yet sentient) fetus during a lot of the movie. Paul does have a “vision” of Anya Taylor-Joy in the role hinting at possible sequels in the future.

A lot of this is because in the film version of Dune, everything happens very fast, perhaps six months at the most, whereas in the book years have passed. Paul and Chani have and lose a child in the book, and other characters come and go. this is all brushed aside for a tighter product. I’m not saying the film is bad or wrong for this, but I wanted to make purists aware.

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Part Two is not a perfect film, but I will go out on a limb and say that it’s the best Dune film ever made. In my opinion, Part One was somewhat slow and lacked a lot of the exposition needed to fully understand what was going on, whereas I feel that Part Two got everything mostly right. Purists will likely not be big fans of the changes made to make it not a seven-hour film, but I feel that great care was taken to not make anything too weird, and to remain in the spirit of the source material. Overall, Dune could be the breakout science fiction franchise of the 2020s, which is honestly crazy to me after 50 years of missteps.