In 2015 I went to TIFF for the first time and saw Sicario, a new movie from a Canadian filmmaker I had never heard of named Denis Villeneuve. It blew me away and after not shutting up about it, a co-worker suggested I check out Villeneuve's previous film Prisoners. In case you haven't heard me gush about it for years since that day, Prisoners wound up being my favourite movie of all time, and that director I had never heard of has become probably my biggest inspiration. Since seeing Sicario I've watched every film of Villeneuve's I could find, including the incredible Incendies and some pretty raw but very interesting early work. In 2016 he jumped into science fiction with Arrival, a masterful adaptation of Ted Chiang's 1998 short story Story of Your Life, only to follow it up with a long awaited sequel to the classic Blade Runner that somehow lived up to it's groundbreaking predecessor.
Then came Dune, an 800-page book I read only for a pandemic to delay the movie. After waiting an extra year, Villeneuve's adaptation of the first half of Frank Herbert's iconic novel came and swept me off my feet. I eventually jumped with joy when Part Two was greenlit, only for myself and everyone else to be punched in the gut again as the second chapter was also delayed due to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes of last year. But the time is finally here, Dune: Part Two is hitting theatres and fulfilling everything that was set up with the first installment.
Dune: Part Two picks up right where the first film left us, as Paul (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) try to adapt to the ways of the Fremen in order to survive the desert and lay the path to revenge against those who turned on their house. Prophecies, religious fanaticism, and political turmoil follow as Villeneuve perfectly wraps up Herbert's first novel.
Part Two essentially takes everything great about the first film (AKA most things) and elevates them. The first film certainly has a grandness to it, but this truly becomes an epic in the vein of Lord of the Rings as the solid action scenes from Part One make way for grand battles and brilliantly choreographed knife duels. Perhaps one of the most notable upgrades for this second chapter is in the performance at the heart of it. Chalamet is really good in the first film, but this is some of his finest work. There are countless moments where we see the more intimate acting he has shown in films like Call me by Your Name or Bones & All, but as the myth around his character grows and he needs to perform a sense of grandiose he manages to truly command the screen in a way I never would have expected from him. Hans Zimmer's score is in a similar boat for me, I really enjoyed his work on the first film but this is something truly special, bringing music more in line with fantasy epics of the past to his sci-fi sounds to create something singular and perfect for Dune.
As far as the rest of the cast goes, Zendaya certainly has the largest role. She was limited to just a few minutes in the first film but her relationship with Paul is crucial to this half of the story so she is far more prominent. I'm not going to sit here and say she's the next Meryl Streep, but I thought she was pretty great here. Her performance is convincing from start to finish whether it be intimate scenes with Paul or scenes where she has to show some more power, but what I loved most was how deep the emotions of her character felt, especially in some areas where Villeneuve deviated slightly from the source material. Javier Bardem and Rebecca Ferguson are also highlight returnees, both of whom play a big role in the religious subtext of the film and do great work.
As far as the cast goes, a lot of buzz also circles around the new additions. Florence Pugh shines as Princess Irulan, setting herself up for a much bigger role if the next entry in the saga is greenlit. Christopher Walken reminds of how strong an actor he truly is as the Emperor, balancing power and insecurity really well. But by far, the most exciting new addition is Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha, the unhinged violent nephew of Baron Harkonnen. I loved Butler in Elvis but I was worried that would be a one hit wonder performance. That is not the case, as he is incredible here while offering something completely different. He truly feels like a dangerous loose cannon, intimidating every moment he's on screen and delivering lines with a cunning tone that I loved.
One of the biggest discussions surrounding these adaptations of Dune has been just how unadaptable the novel is considered to be. In 1984 we saw the incredible David Lynch try to bring the whole book to life and deliver something fascinating to watch but doing a wild disservice the novel. Splitting the book in two parts was just one brilliant move on Villeneuve's part, cutting it in two not to make more money but to ensure that the story could be fleshed out to its near entirety. He also did a pretty great job of choosing where to deviate from the source material. While there are moments from the book I do wish were present, there are some changes made that I think deeply benefitted the film's transition to film, taking away some things that would have just come across as goofy and others that would have convoluted the narrative a bit too much.
When Villeneuve and his team are taking right from the novel though, their success is frankly ridiculous. The climax is genuinely perfect, with the film's final scene especially feeling as though it was ripped right out of my head, it's uncanny how close to what I pictured this is. The riding of the sandworms, the gladiatorial introduction of Feyd-Rautha, these moments are brilliantly captured not only through the epic scale Villeneuve employs with this film, but perhaps even more so through Greig Fraser's visionary artistry behind the camera. Part One is gorgeous, but Fraser makes this a film that not only looks amazing, but also looks interesting thanks to some compositions and lighting that you could genuinely hang up in a museum. The look of the film also owes greatly to the costume and production designers, all creating looks that evoke genre classics but feel completely unique. The costumes Florence Pugh and Rebecca Ferguson wear especially wowed me.
When I walked out of 2021's Dune, my expectations for what's to come could not be higher. I considered that film a near masterpiece then and I still do, but Villeneuve managing to somehow exceed the sky high expectations myself and so many others had is truly astonishing. He brings to life a long and dense tale of fantastical religion and politics in an epic nature that rivals the greats of the sci-fi fantasy genre. Any quiet moment I had after the film was interrupted by Zimmer's score blasting in my head, and that's just one of many ways this film has stuck with me. I loved this deeply, it's everything I have waited for the past few years and more, and whether it's Dune Messiah or a departure from Arrakis, I will be waiting impatiently for whatever Denis does next. Long life cinema.
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