Jacked In Reviews ‘Dune: Part Two’ (2024)

Picking up from where we left off, Denis Villeneuve’s sequel gives us a more granular, in-depth experience for the desert planet known as Arrakis in Dune: Part Two.

We follow Paul (Timothée Chalamet) as he immerses himself amongst the Fremen people and their ways, slowly becoming one of their own and projecting himself more and more as the proclaimed prophecy (“Mahdi”) that will lead them to freedom.

This sequel’s best qualities could arguably also be its worst.

Villeneuve takes his time with this galactic Middle-earth of religion, politics and war, delving deeper into the lore and characters created by Frank Herbert. However, even though everything hasn’t been crammed into one instalment (like David Lynch’s adaptation) and nothing is rushed, it’s almost to a fault. Therefore, this sequel’s best qualities could arguably also be its worst.

Hanz Zimmer (Dune: Part One, Inception & The Lion King) compliments the stunning visuals and cinematography by Greg Fraser (Dune: Part One, The Batman & Rogue One), perfectly – creating this very grand space opera. For the most part, though (unlike Part One), it very much is just desert from start to finish. At times it feels a bit arduous, with intermittent explosions here and there to break things up (maybe the addition of some laser-breathing, humanoid fish would have jazzed things up a bit?)

Dreary, deprived of colour and lacking personality.

Tonally, this instalment almost feels like planet Giedi Prime (one of the more stand-out segments of the movie, for sure) – dreary, deprived of colour and lacking personality. Although the 1984 original was all over the place (feeling more like Star Wars on bath salts), for all its faults, it was filled to the brim with variety and character.

In saying that, one of this feature’s strengths, is its avoidance of pointless dialogue, showing and not telling, with authenticity sweeping the screen throughout. As well as feeling like you’re right there in the desert alongside Paul, you can almost touch the ships and their big, clunky, industrial design. This is a nice change of pace to the more obvious CGI spacecrafts we’ve seen in recent years – that feel rushed and detach you from the story.

Stealing the show and floating into his role as Baron Harkonnen with ease once again, is Stellan Skarsgård…

Stealing the show and floating into his role as Baron Harkonnen with ease once again, is Stellan Skarsgård with his uncanny ability to draw your gaze with his mere (unsettling) presence. Austin Butler’s intensity as sociopathic warrior, Feyd-Rautha somewhat disappears when an accent that feels like a Skarsgård impersonation leaves his mouth.

Although Zendaya plays a more pivotal role this time round, she, Chalamet and a lot of the supporting cast, almost feel relatively one-dimensional, in that they don’t beckon emotional investment (positive or otherwise) from the audience, they’re simply our tour guides for this epic world.

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