Dune: Part Two

By Joanna Langfield

In his follow-up to the masterful first chapter, director Denis Villeneuve barrels through a complex story line to offer a visual feast, serving up one of the most jaw dropping cinematic events in years. You can almost feel him say “let’s have some fun here” and, indeed, if you don’t look for a whole lot of story detail, you can gorge on the groundbreaking beauty in each and every frame. And you’ll be in on all that fun, too.

Yes, there is a story. Paul (Timothee Chalamet) meets up with Chani (Zendaya) and the Fremen, combining forces to revenge the death of his father. There are a lot of themes almost flirted with, everything from hero worship to the fury of war. And while there are moments of emotional depth, this is very much more a movie about art, both human and computer generated. Even at a length of 2 hours and 46 minutes, Villeneuve hardly has time for transitions. Instead, we pretty much leap from vista to vista, battle to battle. The few scenes that allow more traditional story telling, relying on words and actors to say them, work nicely. But at some point, I stopped trying to figure out how some things happened, or the particulars of why. I just sat back and enjoyed the amazing looking ride. Resistance, I learned, was futile.

There’s star filled cast, also including a nifty Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Florence Pugh, Christopher Walken, Lea Seydoux and Charlotte Rampling. Two treats come from a surprising Austin Butler and an in-on-the-joke Javier Bardem. But the heart of this one involves Chalamet, at his best, stripped away from the cutesiness of some of his other work and a wonderful Zendaya, whose physical performance is every bit as compelling as are the computer generated goodies that surround her.

While this one looks hard to beat, it also leaves us assured, knowing the Villeneuve and his team are eager and very much up to the challenge.