Review of the IMAX film ‘Dune part two’ (2024)
The Dune series offers one of the most complex fictional universes ever created. It is vast in time: its action, set in the future, spans from about 10,000 AD to 27,000 AD, with the story of the film happening around the year 22,000 AD. It is vast in space: it happens on a Empire extending over several star systems. It is vast in complexity: there is a feudal regime, with noble houses governing the planets and an Emperor governing the Known Universe; there is the Guild of navigators that hold a monopoly on space travel; there is the religious order Bene Gesserit; there are no computers but Mentats, human calculators. And all of these groups keep a delicate balance because of their common dependency of the spice, produced only in the desertic planet Arrakis, also known as Dune. It is never clear why spice is so much vital to all of them, and only the 1984 film makes an attempt to provide a good explanation by saying it allows space travel by folding space, but it doesn’t really matter: every reader and spectator assumes that it is a metaphor for petroleum, as it is something of great value extracted by foreign, advanced people in deserts populated by native, undeveloped people.
SPOILER ALERT. Revelations about ‘Dune part one’ (2021) follow. In the first part, the Emperor and the House of Harkonnen conspire to destroy the House of Atreides: the Emperor is to appoint the Atreides to run the spice-extraction operations in Arrakis and the Harkonnen are to launch a devastating surprise attack. Paul and Jessica manage to escape alive and hide amongst the Fremen, inhabitants of the desert.
In this second half Paul leads the Fremen against the Harkonnen, sabotaging the spice extraction operations to the point of creating a serious crises for the Harkonnen and the whole Empire. Besides that, Paul’s latent powers begin to develop, providing himself with visions of the future. Will he become the Kwisatz Haderach?
Villeneuve’s script has a tremendous mistake, beginning in part one – Reverend Mother Mohiam, sent on behalf of the Emperor to conspire with the Harkonnen, imposes the condition that Paul Atreides must survive – something that is in fact against the interest of the Emperor. As I wrote on my review of part one, Villeneuve gets Mohiam to actually betray the Emperor. In fact, in this second part, Princess Irulan confronts Mohiam about that and gets little more than a ‘so what?’ for an answer. Frank Herbert created the Bene Gesserit as a prototype of ‘soft power’, an organization with no military power that outsmarts its rivals through patience, secrecy, influence and manipulation. Villeneuve makes the mistake of turning it into a ‘hard power’ instead – by having Mohiam admit to future Empress Irulan that the Bene Gesserit created the crises that puts the whole Empire at risk and Irulan doing nothing about this treason, it is shown that the Imperial Throne is but a toy in the hands of the Bene Gesserit, and that the Emperor can never win because of being blatantly backstabbed and being too blind to notice. Also, Villeneuve makes the Atreides use the Voice to manipulate others so many times that the spectator wonders why they don’t use it for combats too.
But this mistake is compensated because Villeneuve embraces Frank Herbert’s core view, the one that all adaptations so far failed to assume: the use of religion as manipulation to gain control of people. The script shows the Atreides taking advantage of religion to set Paul as a Messiah for the Fremen and provide himself with an army.
There is another mistake: Fremen are shown boarding spaceships and straight out piloting them. The idea of desert warriors climbing into a spaceship for the first time in their lives and being able to pilot it is so much absurd that the spectator slips instantly into metaphor mode: no, I am not seeing what I am seeing, this is not literal, Fremen are not piloting spaceships, this means anything else. In fact, the Dune fictional universe is the opposite of Star Wars’ – there is not a single space battle, because there is not a single space warship, because the Guild of navigators are the only people with the ability of piloting spaceships. So, this is just a visual way of foreshadowing that the film is not conclusive.
Of course, I will not tell you the end of the film. But I, as a reviewer, can tell you that it is not conclusive. Yes, the novel is conclusive. Yes, the 1984 film that adapts it is conclusive. Yes, the 2000 miniseries that adapts it is conclusive too. So, how can Villeneuve make it inconclusive?
The answer to that is that Frank Herbert’s second novel of the Dune series is based on the premise that the first novel is not as much conclusive as it seems to be – quite the opposite, in fact. And what Villeneuve does with this image of Fremen boarding spaceships is in fact to assume this view and to wordlessly promise a third part.
Another change, not necessarily bad, is not showing Alia, the baby Jessica is pregnant with. Rather than having Jessica delivering the baby in part two, Villeneuve postpones the delivery for later. Another change that is a small loss: Villeneuve makes the puritan decision of eliminating the concept of concubines getting called wives by History.
One last thing about the script: the dialogues are excellent. In my review of the first part, I had to review them as unremarkable – this has been hugely improved upon. There are even a couple of voice-overs that seem appropriately used.
As for the direction, it makes the film an amazing audiovisual experience. Villeneuve is aesthetically brilliant, as in the first part. One exception must be noted: the scenography goes so much beyond minimalistic that falls into poor. The Emperor’s palace is mostly empty, as is Baron Harkonnen’s, as was Duke Leto’s in the first part. Again, as in the first part, Villeneuve’s direction of actors lacks tone. As for the music, the soundtrack from Hans Zimmer is excellent.
As for the IMAX version: this film is an extraordinary spectacle in IMAX format because of both the improved image and the improved sound. The scene of the giant sandworm approaching is so much impressive that I thought of describing it as ‘incredible’, only to realize that it would be wrong, for the truly adequate word is ‘credible’ – the image and the rumbling sounds can really convince you that there is a giant sandworm on the screen, mere meters away from you.
As for the acting, Christopher Walken delivers a weak performance that does not feel at all like the character of an Emperor should. Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Florence Pugh and Charlotte Rampling are just about. Good delivery from Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Josh Brolin, Zendaya and Alison Halstead. Brilliant delivery from Austin Butler. And, above all, outstanding performance from Timothée Chalamet, that manages to make everything belivable.
All in all, an excellent science-fiction film. The only things preventing it from being a masterpiece are Villeneuve’s nonsensical alterations to the story. 4 out of 5.
Comparison with the book: The best part of Dune part two is managing to convey the idea from the book of religion as manipulation, a controversial matter that Villeneuve is the first filmmaker to embrace, and that makes Villeneuve’s Dune the best adaptation so far.
Comparison with the 1984 film: the David Lynch film has better script, dialogues, scenography and cast, while the Denis Villeneuve films have better direction, music, and special and visual effects.
Title: |
Dune part two |
Genre: |
Science-fiction |
Year: |
2024 |
Nationality: |
United States, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Jordan, Gambia |
Colour: |
Colour |
Director: |
Denis Villeneuve |
Writer: |
Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, Frank Herbert |
Cast: |
Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling, Souheila Yacoub, Roger Yuan, Babs Olusanmokun, Alison Halstead, Giusi Merli, Kait Tenison, Tara Breathnach, Akiko Hitomi, Imola Gáspár, Alison Adnet, Hamza Baissa, Hassan Najib, Jasper Ryan-Cater, Omar Elbooz, Abdelkarim Hussein Seli Mohamed Hassanin, Joseph Beddelem, Xavier Alba Royo, Rachid Abbad, Affif Ben Badra, Botond Bota, Abdelaziz Boumane, Abdellah Echahbi, Zouhair Elakkari, Noureddine Hajoujou, Mohamed Mouraoui, Adil Achraf Sayd, Hamza Sayd, Hopi Grace, Havin Fathi, Kincsö Pethö, Cat Simmons, Burt Caesar, Remi Fadare, Amer El-Erwadi, Tedroy Newell, Oxa Hazel, Hajiyeva Pakiza, Leon Herbert, Sima Rostami, Yvonne Campbell, Joseph Charles, Vic Zander, Dylan Baldwin, Marcia Tucker, Nicola Brome, Kathy Owen, Huw Novelli, Moe Bar-El, Serhat Metin, Amra Mallassi, Adam Phillip Bloom, Luis Alkmim, Jordan Long, Omar A.K., Zdenek Dvoracek, Billy Clements, Anton Valensi, Lex Daniel, Dominic McHale, Paul Boyle, Niall White, Tony Cook, Gabor Szeman, Jonathan Gunning, Will Irvine, Alan Mehdizadeh, Rex Adams, Molly Mcowan, Ana Cilas, Kajsa Mohammar, Sara Bacsfalvi, Zsófia Kocsis, Matthew Sim, Steve Wall, Italo Amerighi, Tim Hilborne, Cecile Sinclair, Tracy Coogan, Zoe Kata Kaska, Jimmy Walker, Rand Faris, Fouad Humaidan, Manaf Irani, Dora Kápolnai-Schvab, Joelle, Georgia Farlie |
Producer: |
Diala Al Raie, Cale Boyter, Amanda Confavreux, Fuad Khalil, Tanya Lapointe, Robbie McAree, Patrick McCormick, Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve |
Co-producer: |
Jessica Derhammer, James Grant, Toby Hefferman, Brice Parker |
Executive producer: |
Herbert W. Gains, Joshua Grode, John Harrison, Brian Herbert, Kim Herbert, Byron Merritt, Richard P. Rubinstein, Jon Spaihts, Thomas Tull |
Production designer: |
Patrice Vermette |
Cinematographer: |
Greig Fraser |
Film editor: |
Joe Walker |
Casting: |
Francine Maisler |
Art Director: |
Andrew Ackland-Snow |
Set Decorator: |
Shane Vieau |
Costume Designer: |
Jacqueline West |
Music: |
Hans Zimmer |
Running time: |
166 minutes |
Language: |
English, Fremen |
Comments
Post a Comment