March 1 brought the release of the high sci-fi movie “Dune: Part 2″. This story is based on the 1965 book by Frank Herbert. The film’s cast includes young all-stars such as Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, and Florence Pugh; some of the more seasoned and experienced stars are Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, and Christopher Walken.
“Dune” is directed by Denis Villeneuve, someone whose directing style is along the lines of Christopher Nolan and who makes what I would label as the anti-superhero blockbusters. The average big screen film tends to be filled with CGI, which is the opposite case for “Dune”. The genius behind “Dune” is that everything felt so real despite the story being set on an imaginary planet. In fact, filming took place in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. So in a world where the background in movies are usually made using green screens and AI, filming in a genuine location is now rare. Villeneuve has said whenever reshoots were needed, the crew would have to wait until the sun was in the right spot for the scene.
Another strength of the movie I found was the sound and music. Most sci-fis include classic western music, but composer Hans Zimmer strayed away from that typical sound. I particularly love his use of the human voice, something not usually heard in the score of films. He also used instruments in atypical ways which added to the feel of the music coming from another world. There were times where I felt the score encapsulated the feel of the desert and the sand. The music and sound of this movie is a major reason why “Dune” is a must watch on the big screen.
Moving onto the characters of this movie. I felt Austin Butler’s role as Feyd Rautha Harkonnen was a stand out performance. For those who do not know, there is a 1984 adaptation of “Dune”; the version of that character tends to get a lot of hate and mockery. Meanwhile Butler’s version of Feyd Rautha was completely terrifying. The strength in his character was the ability to create an accent which replicated the other villain: Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. Many actors tend to become typecasted after big roles, especially if method acting is involved. Butler dedicated a whole lot of time to his role as Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s biopic, so I would not have been surprised if no one could envision him in any other role. I felt through his portrayal of Feyd Rautha that he was able to prove otherwise. In addition, I believed that he and Chalamet did an excellent job at balancing off one another and creating that true rivalry in their characters.
Zendaya and Chalamet’s characters Chani and Paul did not have much of a relationship in part one of the movie. I appreciated how their chemistry was tapped into throughout part two. Chani received much more character development and attention in this film.
Speaking of Chani and Zendaya, she was a key player in the marketing of part one when it was released. The problem with this was the fact that she was not even in half of the film. I can see how this may have come as a disappointment for those who bought tickets solely on who was in the movie. This was a similar case for Florence Pugh’s major involvement of the part two press, when she did not play as big of a role as some other characters. I think this is a weakness because I can see this aspect discouraging certain viewers from continuing on and watching the next movie. But this is only for those who do not come to the theater for the storyline, but its stars instead.
Overall in my opinion, “Dune: Part Two” was a 10/10 film in all ways. Even though I enjoyed part one, I felt this one exceeded its predecessor, had more action, and truly kicked into the storyline.
