My experience with the anticipated “Dune: Two” movie was overwhelmingly positive. The movie is a beautiful mix of heart-racing action as well as political and romantic tensions. Not only is the movie a cinematic masterpiece with an incredibly talented cast and impressive editing, but the score written by the music legend Hans Zimmer is just as beautiful as his other famous scores. The music matches the ethereal, outerworld experience that the movie portrays as well as the tense action that is the pinnacle of the entire movie. I know I am not the only person who has had the main theme of “Dune” stuck in my head for the past month and I am not upset about it in the slightest.
The cast of “Dune: Two” is chalk full of A-listers from Florence Pugh and Zendaya to Christopher Walken. I found that all the actors portrayed their characters beautifully and there were multiple actors that surprised me with their performance. One of these actors was Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha. I am positive I wasn’t the only one that was a little worried with this casting as Butler had some intense personal changes after Elvis and wouldn’t be able to pull a character like Rautha off in the same fashion. However, I shouldn’t have doubted his acting chops and his dedication to character authenticity. His performance was sadistic and maniacal which is perfect for the character he is portraying. Another major actor that surprised me was the lead himself, Timothee Chalamet. There were multiple people who believed Chalamet may lack the maturity to play a character like Paul Atreides. However, Paul starts off as immature and naive to the struggles of the Fremen and the tensions of the empire. It’s his progression to maturity that makes his character who he is and I believe Chalamet is a perfect casting choice in this way. After his last movie “Wonka” I was definitely ready to see Timothee Chalamet in a much more serious role to see his acting diversity and he did not disappoint.
Character progression was also a major part of the movie that I noticed. The progression of Paul Atreides from the heir of a great house to the prophecy-bearing messiah of the Fremen is laid out extremely well in this second movie. With this progression of roles for Atreides, there is also his dissent into a power-hungry version of what we originally thought to be a sort of hero in this story. This is where we see the author’s true intentions of creating an anti-hero out of Paul Atreides. My favorite part of the movie and I think a key point in the novels as well is the importance of the female characters and how we see the world change due to their actions. The main group I am referring to are the Bene Gesserits. This group of what I like to refer to as “space witches” are the puppet masters of not only the politics within the empire, but also intergalactic religions across worlds. The elder Fremen, specifically Stilgar, represent the blind hope and obedience that widespread religion does to people. Zendaya’s character Chani says that the religion that the Fremen hold so dear is just a way that people from the outerworld enslave them and this is very much a correct statement. I don’t think it is incorrect to say that the Bene Gesserits have a hold on all aspects of the empire and we see this with how they manipulate people like the emperor and Feyd-Rautha. In the story, The Bene Gesserits are the embodiment of intelligence, careful planning, and a twisted web of lies. This includes Jessica Atreides, Paul’s mother. However there are always two sides to a coin and the other side comes in the form of Chani. Chani is the embodiment of strength of body and will as well as a holder of justice and truth. While the Bene Gesserits push Paul to stand in his role as the Messiah, Chani is Paul Atreides’ rock who grounds him to reality and tries to keep him pure of character. The women of this world push and pull at the strings of character and fate which is something that science fiction, as well as many other genres, has seen little of.
Overall this movie was a huge success to me and I loved it so much that I ended up seeing it in theaters twice! I recommended not only Science Fiction lovers but movie lovers in general to come see this movie and create your own opinions of the story. I may have nerded out about this movie a little too much but I hope that I am not the only one who saw the incredible versatility of this movie. I am very excited for the prospect of the third movie, “Dune: Messiah”.
May thy knife chip and shatter,
Jackie Pento