Dune: Part Two Review

By Phil Bothun

Dune: Part Two is a massive movie.

Big worms, wide expanses, sprawling battles, and cosmic consequences spanning 10,000 years. Dune: Part Two makes you sit with the scale of everything, breathing in the spice dancing on the winds. It's mesmerizing...and heart-breaking.

So much of Dune: Part Two is the soul-crushing payoff of Part One: Paul, against his own will, is transformed into the Fremen's messiah. He rebels against the Bene Gesserit propaganda that props him up, he denies Stilgar's constant refrain of "Lisa al Gaib!," and he tenderly tells Chani that he simply wants vengeance for his family's destruction at the hands of the Harkonnens. Paul doesn't want to lead, he wants to fight beside the Fremen and join them.

Even in knowing that he's simply a pawn, Paul—the most powerful person in the galaxy, laden with prophesied power—is powerless against the machinations of the Bene Gesserit. And it's palpable throughout the film: the further Paul steps towards the visions that show death and destruction, he grows darker and more withdrawn. His power grows—Bene Gesserit training at work—and is othered more and more by the Fremen around him. By the end of the film, Paul is alone, a black Stillsuit emerging from the haze of swirling sand as Arrakeen is sieged around him.

There's a lot of chatter calling Dune this generation's Star Wars. It's hard not to see the comparison, but it's daunting to think of a film saga beginning in the depths of Covid-19 lockdown as the sci-fi tale of our times. Where Star Wars is a fable of a young farmer boy discovering himself, destroying evil, and redeeming his twisted father, Dune is the story of a young prince robbed of friendship and family by politicking and transformed into a person he feared and hated.

I left the theater loving Dune: Part Two. It wasn't the adoring, excited love of seeing a piece of art that I look on fondly, no, it was a heavy, somber love. It's hard to leave Dune feeling hopeful; if Denis Villeneuve makes the rumored Dune Messiah film to round out his Dune trilogy, it won't be a happy film. The whole trilogy will not end with a triumphant Paul cheering as the symbol of empire is destroyed in the stars above. No, it ends with Paul, battered by those forcing him to be something he never wanted to be, walking into the desert, blind and alone.

I've never had much concern for spoilers: I find more joy in watching a twist or end happen than what the twist or ending actually is. This is no more true than with Dune: Part Two; I had recently finished the first three books in the Dune trilogy, but, like Paul, knowing what was coming didn't make it any more palatable. You should see Dune: Part Two. It is a masterful film of massive scale, a powerful score, and a cautionary tale of religious fervor and the power of propaganda.

And I suppose, simply for that final reason, it is the Star Wars of our generation, for good and for bad.