Dune: Part Two

©2024 Legendary and Warner Bros

Power over spice is power over all

 

After the Harkonnen attack on the planet Arrakis, the Atreides ruling dynasty is destroyed. Paul and his pregnant mother Jessica have fled and found shelter with the native Fremen.

 

The desert dwellers are generally critical of the two refugees. After all, they see them as intruders on their home planet and have brought the war there. Only Chani (pictured below) and the warrior Stilgar have a little faith in them.

 

 

The Madhi is too humble to say He is the Madhi

 

Thanks to a political move, the new Harkonnen rulers are not prosecuted for their unauthorised attack. Baron Vladimir Harkonnen commissions his supposedly best fighter, Beast Rabban, to keep an eye on the new planet.

 

However, the inhospitable Arrakis is not so easy to control. In the meantime, the Fremen keep launching attacks on the Spice collectors and the sandworms living in the desert are a danger to the here inexperienced Harkonnen. Vladimir's nephew Feyd Rautha, meanwhile, proves himself to be a nefarious warrior and joins the troops.

 

 

Lady Jessica the reverend mother

 

Jessica realises that she can strengthen Paul's influence over the Fremen by believing in the Bene Gesserit. Through a ritual, she becomes a reverend mother whom the desert dwellers trust and thus succeeds in proclaiming her son as the Messiah. Some Fremen, such as Stilgar, already believe in the myth of the approaching Kwisatz Haderach, who will set them free.

 

Paul Atreides is well prepared for fighting and his girlfriend Shani and Stilgar teach him the special tricks he can use in the desert. As the rider of the worm, "Mahdi" becomes Lisan Al Gaib, the expected Messiah. By drinking the water of life, he also gains a kind of foresight of events.

 

 

Dunes of spice

 

Dune Part Two is an extra-long epic to which the first part only seems like a short prelude. Compared to the popular version by David Lynch (1984), there is therefore much more time to incorporate numerous details from the book by Frank Herbert.

 

You can tell that director Villeneuve wanted to create a balancing act between a lot of narrative content and yet many decelerated passages. This leads to a very concentrated film experience. As he said, the director nevertheless cut out many scenes, otherwise the film would have been three hours long.

 

 

Myth in the distant future

 

The trick of the Dune saga is that it is hardly science fiction, but a mythological story set in the distant future. Extraterrestrials, technology and astronomy play no special role.

 

The story can therefore concentrate on the people and feels approachable. The Fremen language sounds like a mixture of Arabic, Greek, Hebrew and Sanskrit. The majority of the actors were specifically chosen to reflect the Fremen desert people.

 

 

Black and white battle arena

 

Infrared cameras were used for the scenes on Giedi Prime, the home planet of the Harkonnen. Their recordings were then elaborately reworked.

 

Even though this episode looks impressive, the viewer has no idea how much work went into these scenes. For example, many of the costumes had to be re-sewn because they were too difficult to recognise in infrared.

 

 

Elaborate make-up

 

Actor Stellan Skårsgard had to spend almost 8 hours in make-up for his scenes until his greasy exterior was in place. After that, it took another two hours for the skin to come off again.

 

The slight heartthrob Austin Butler had to be shaved bald as the Harkonnen warrior and train over 10kg of muscle mass. Nevertheless, he was not cast, but Villeneuve offered him the role.

 

 

Dune films

 

There have been a number of B-movies that have used the name Dune but have little or nothing to do with Frank Herbert's epic. "Planet Dune" by Asylum is one such abomination.

 

 

Dune Games

 

To date, there are four computer games in the Dune universe, all of which have a certain appeal. Dune 2 was even one of the first real-time strategy games, after "Herzog 2" for the Sega Saturn (1989). The biggest criticism of Spice Wars: "Since when is House Atreides green, the Ordos are green!". And where are the Spice Girls...?

 

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Visualisation and effects

 

Emphasis was placed on down-to-earth visuals. The film was shot in real locations, where emphasis was placed on the appearance of untouched dunes. The effects are limited to vehicles, weapons, the blue eyes of the Fremen and, of course, the sandworms.

 

I found the attacks on the Spice harvesters and the ride on Shai-Hulud (the master worm) afterwards to be particularly powerful moments in the cinema. These come suddenly, are unpredictable in terms of their sequence and have a unique soundtrack.

 

 

Music and Sound

 

Hans Zimmer's orchestral soundtrack is just one element of the film music that moves discreetly in the background. With bagpipes, duduk, woodwinds, electric cello and drums, the musicians endeavoured to create an exotic ethnic ambience.

 

It was worth going to the cinema just for the sounds. Even during the first part, I noticed how much of the impressiveness was lost if you went to the cinema first and then watched Dune again on a small television.

 

 

Shortcomings

 

Despite all the effort, it was not quite possible to eliminate all the film's length. One stage about two hours into the film feels a little drawn out.

 

The Fremen suits in David Lynch's 1984 adaptation seemed functional, whereas now they just look stylish and tight-fitting.

 

What succeeded?

 

Dives deep into Frank Herbert's template

Picture, sound, editing and camera practically perfect

Good balance of rest and action

Actors are allowed to show development

 

 

Summary

 

An ambitious space epic, which shows the effort put into it at all times, has been skilfully completed

 

Sequels are often worse than the first part, but not here! The previous film was just a warm-up. The somehow twisted but unique material from the classic book is not easy to film.

 

The actors are given plenty of opportunity to play and show the development of their characters. This applies not only to Paul Atreides, his mother Jessica and Chani, but also to many of the supporting characters.

 

What I particularly like: while watching the film, someone might say that sandworms, strange powers of reverend mothers and prediction, including glimpses into the future and past, are rubbish. However, the film rolls such concerns into Arrakis dust with merciless vehemence.

 

 

 

Will there be a part Three?

 

Unknown. The chances of a follow-up film are not bad, as both parts were successful and continued in literature afterwards. Frank Herbert's second trilogy, meanwhile, is set thousands of years later.

 

According to director Villeneuve, everyone wants to distance themselves from the project for the time being. The story of Paul Atreides as the ruler of Arrakis, Irulan, Chani and Alia Atreides could form the basis for a third film.

 

 

Actors

 

With Léa Seydoux, Josh Brolin (pictured above as Gurney Halleck) and Christopher Walken, supporting characters have also been cast with celebrities. They are even allowed to be a little funny in some scenes without it becoming inappropriate for the serious subject matter.

 

Stunt coordinator Joseph Beddelem also portrayed the Fedaykin leader. Academy award-winner Javier Bardem also shines in the role of desert veteran Stilgar (pictured below).

 

 

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