Even the great directors, the auteurs with many great films to their name, usually have one, maybe two films with which they become truly synonymous.
For Martin Scorsese, it’s “Goodfellas.” Quentin Tarantino has “Inglourious Basterds” (one could also argue for “Pulp Fiction,” given the ubiquity of the Uma Thurman poster). Stanley Kubrick has “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
And like his hero Kubrick, Denis Villenueve has produced the iconic film of his career in “Dune: Part Two.”
The sequel to 2021′s “Dune,” “Part Two” resumes the story basically minutes after Part One’s conclusion, with Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides stranded in the remote deserts of the planet Arrakis alongside his mother Lady Jessica, played by Rebecca Ferguson. The pair seek refuge among the native Fremen tribes, who live in hiding from the authoritarian and violent reign of House Harkonnen. With the help of the Fremen leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) and a young warrior named Chani (Zendaya), Paul and Jessica become embedded in Fremen society and begin an uprising against the Harkonnens to avenge Duke Leto Atreides’ (Oscar Isaac) death.
The first film in Villenueve’s “Dune” series received 10 Oscar nominations, mostly in the below-the-line categories, a testament to the entire crew’s superb craftsmanship. However, some viewers found it too slow-paced, lacking enough plot to justify its 155-minute runtime.
“Part Two” assuages any concerns about tempo from the first film, while maintaining superb design and even receiving a level-up from the already commanding performances of Part One.
The director himself recently received flak for controversial comments he made about dialogue, saying that he doesn’t “remember movies because of a good line.” When you remove the hyperbole from that statement, it’s easy to see why Villenueve believes that and how it affects his filmmaking philosophy.
Any discussion of Villenueve’s “Dune” adaptation must start with the cinematography and sound design, not the writing. “Dune: Part Two” is a film that demands to be felt, not just seen and heard. Just as in the first film, Hans Zimmer’s score sounds unlike anything before it and immediately transports the audience to Arrakis’ mystical deserts or the brutal coliseum of the Harkonnen’s homeworld Giedi Prime.
In this film, cinematographer Greig Fraser continues his work as one of Hollywood’s great blockbuster photographers, following “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” “The Batman” and the first “Dune.” Fraser and Villenueve create stunning, detailed images with massive scale that never even come close to CGI messes. Every element on the screen, from the geometry of a sand crawler to the way the sun sets over the desert, is immaculately designed, lit and placed within the frame. Nothing in “Dune: Part Two” suffers from a lack of thought or care. Villenueve has long discussed directing these “Dune” films, based on the classic Frank Herbert novel that the French-Canadian director loved as a child, as the opportunity of a lifetime. Fraser also makes an “Oppenheimer”-esque camera choice in the way he shoots Giedi Prime that simply elevates the art of sci-fi filmmaking.
But audiences already expected excellence from the look and sound of the film, Villenueve’s entire filmography shines in that regard. The challenge with “Part Two” was always going to be how the director portrayed the story’s epic scale and deeply religious themes with a cast of characters that don’t fall cleanly into hero or villain categories.
“Part Two” provides Chalamet with the opportunity to give one of the performances of his career and the young star absolutely runs with it. He compellingly grapples with his character’s relationship to power and prophecy, trying to escape his inevitable destiny while his mother Jessica pushes him toward it. Ferguson’s performance leans into a sinister space that provides a new dimension to her character from the first film and forces her to carry much of the film’s thematic weight, a burden Ferguson makes look easy.
And while Villenueve and his co-writer Jon Spaihts take the material extremely seriously, the script still has levity, helped on by the performances of Zendaya and Bardem in particular. Bardem assumes Jason Momoa’s role from Part One as a mentor to Paul who has well-timed moments of comic relief and brings a warm energy to an at times bleak story.
The sequel adds a handful of performers who have limited screen time, but still absolutely command the screen. Austin Butler plays Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, the sociopathic, murderous nephew to Stellan Skarsgård’s Vladimir Harkonnen who emerges as a foil to Paul. Butler makes a total physical transformation in this, becoming a hairless demon of a man who slits throats with soulless glee.
While not quite on the same level as these performances, Butler’s Feyd-Rautha is what you would get from putting the pure evil of Heath Ledger’s Joker in a blender with the eerily-calm killing of Bardem’s own Anton Chigurh from “No Country for Old Men.” The young actor’s decision to change his voice to play a certain rockstar has become a widespread meme, but his voice flexibility shines again in “Part Two” and makes sense for the character.
This film also sees the addition of Christopher Walken as the Emperor Shaddam IV and Florence Pugh as his daughter, Princess Irulan. Walken, an 80-year-old legend of Hollywood at this point, brings an automatic regality in his role as emperor, even if he has limited screen time, while Pugh plays a more expository role that helps explain the political machinations behind the Fremen-Harkonnen war and what it means for her father. Besides her striking costume design, Pugh plays a somewhat thankless role, but likely signed on to the film with an eye towards an increased role in Villenueve’s adaptation of the second book “Dune: Messiah,” which would complete his trilogy.
For some viewers, “Dune: Part Two’s” pace may even go too quickly. If you haven’t read the book, the religious and political movements and themes may get lost in the script’s churning through plot and the breakneck pace continues to the film’s very end. And if fans go in expecting Paul to emerge as a clear-cut hero, well… it’s not that kind of movie. Just like his previous films “Prisoners,” “Sicario” and “Blade Runner 2049,” Villenueve doesn’t make uplifting movies. He’s interested in power’s ability to corrupt and the ways in which regular people become caught in the crosshairs of evil forces.
His “Dune” films, and “Part Two” in particular, simply give him an elevated and more personally meaningful stage on which to investigate those ideas. And with that license, Villenueve certainly succeeds. “Dune: Part Two” immediately earns its place in the pantheon of great sequels and vaults the director into the top tier of both commercially and critically successful directors, if he wasn’t there already.