Dune: Part Two

Science Fiction 2 Minutes

This week I saw the second part of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Dune.

You’ve probably seen the glowing recommendations. I’ll confirm that the movie is very good, a visually stunning experience. I certainly think it cements Villeneuve’s adaptation as the definitive cinematic treatment of Frank Herbert’s novel. I recommend seeing it, although it’s worth first watching Part One again if you haven’t seen it in a while. Part Two takes off immediately from where it leaves off.

As I noted when reviewing the first part, it adapts Frank Herbert’s far future story of the rise of a new religion. This is a universe where AI has long been banned, requiring that humans develop in new ways to compensate. It’s led to a feudal interstellar civilization, but one with specialty societies of people with various superhuman capabilities, each with their own agendas.

The movie ends up focusing a lot on the Bene Gesserit “witches”, their political manipulations behind the scenes, and their long term plan to breed a Kwisatz Hederach, a male who would have the same powers they do, but see more than they can. One of their members does something she’s not supposed to, which leads to the Kwisatz Hederach arriving a generation early. The first movie establishes how the Bene Gesserit paved the way on Dune for a religious messiah to be expected. In this one, we watch as Paul Atreides and his mother make use of that preparation.

The movie, like the book, starts off inviting us to see this as a hero’s journey. It’s made explicit with the portrayal of the Harkonnen family, the Atreides’ bitter enemies, as villainous in a fairly comic book fashion. Their home world and society come off as a high tech version of Mordor. But Herbert’s portrayal of this story is pretty nuanced in the first book, making clear that there are many dark aspects to what’s happening even on the “hero” side, something Herbert became more explicit about in subsequent books in the series.

The movie front loads some of this. So we watch as Jessica, Paul’s mother, becomes radicalized after drinking the “water of life” and paves the way for her son to become exactly what the most fundamentalist factions among the Fremen are expecting. Paul is initially resistant, because he can foresee what will happen, a holy war that will kill billions. In the end, he’s forced onto the path, and ends up drinking the water of life himself, something that usually is fatal to males. He emerges as a changed man.

The movie does diverge from the book in a number of ways, some of which are cool and I won’t spoil. But a pretty big one is Chani’s skepticism, despite her love for Paul. She ends up giving voice to the unease we in the audience are feeling as we watch the story unfold.

All of which sets the stage for Dune Messiah, the second book which Denis Villeneuve hopes to eventually adapt into a third movie. I think it does this better than the book did. (Although it’s been decades since I read the first book and my memory is hazy, so I may not be remembering all the foreshadowing Herbert put in.)

So definitely a movie worth checking out. If you enjoyed the first one, you’ll definitely enjoy this one. (If you didn’t enjoy the first one, then be aware this movie doubles down on the weirdness.)

Have you seen it? If so, what did you think?

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18 thoughts on “Dune: Part Two”

  1. We’ve been anticipating this one since the first, and were impressed again! We made sure to see the IMAX version so the sound would be top notch. The theater sound was so good in the first one that I bought a JBL soundbar system for our bedroom that comes with a wireless amplified woofer. It’s certainly not theater quality, but pretty good when cranked up. I expected us to find lots of other movies to watch loud as well, but surprisingly there hasn’t generally been much incentive to turn the sound up much.

    The unresolved issue from last time was screen size given that it was on the wall across from us in a large bedroom. We’ve improved on that by putting a screen on a cabinet at the foot of our bed.

    By the way I also just picked up some Bose noise cancelation headphones for $350. This was mainly because my wife didn’t like how loud I’d play music on the lawn every weekend while blogging. Though not always quite as loud as I’d like, they’re generally more than I need out there. The best part for me however is that the noise cancelation works reasonably well. In the past when reading/writing in bed and my wife gets in to watch TV, I’d have to put on earphones for music to drown it out. Now I can largely cancel that out for relative silence. It’s these progressive little improvements to life that I appreciate most.

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    1. Obviously I saw this one in the theater this time (IMAX as well). The sound and picture were spectacular, but if I hadn’t known someone who wanted to watch it in the theater, I likely would have waited until I could stream it. The theater experience just doesn’t have the effect on me it once did.

      Glad you found a solution to the TV issue. Yeah, you can spend a little money and get about 80% of the way there for the theater experience, but going any further costs a fortune, ultimately leading to a dedicated theater room in your house. For me, the 80% solution scratches the itch. 

      My cousin actually cares a lot more about it, and makes very sure to reserve optimum seats when we go to the theater. Ever since spacious stadium seating become the norm, I’ve been mostly indifferent to where I sit, except for avoiding the very front.

      I’ve never used noise canceling headphones, although I know people who swear by them.

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    1. I gave a more comprehensive description of the premise in the linked Part One review from a few years ago.

      Sci-fi has been predicting disaster from AI since the earliest robot stories. Asimov’s rules of robotics were a reaction to those early Frankenstein-like stories. I think Herbert just used that long standing sentiment as an excuse for excluding AI so he could tell the type of story he wanted. 

      I also read that much of Dune was in reaction to Asimov’s Foundation series, shifting the viewpoint to the person who disrupts the grand plan. Although I wonder how real that is. I’m not aware of Herbert ever mentioning Foundation in interviews.

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    1. That reminds me of someone I know who went to watch Fellowship of the Ring when it first came out. I asked them what they thought, and they said they hated it. ”It just ended with no resolution.” I pointed out it was the first of three parts, and then they thought it was awesome.

      Sadly, they didn’t stream part two concurrently. You have to go to the theater this time, or wait.

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      1. I have to admit, when it comes to movies, I expect a solid ending. Maybe there was something saying “Part One in a trilogy”, and I just missed it. Oh well, thanks. I’ll wait until it comes out on streaming.

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  4. Another day another messiah. Another day another superhero. Superheros are a consistent feature of the human imagination, huma needs, human longing.

    Back in the second century AD the absurd claims of Christianity as we know it today from the canonical version of the Bible had not become established.

    Jesus as a superhero was by no means fixed in character or powers in those days.

    In the Infancy gospel of Thomas, a child disperses water that Jesus has collected. Jesus kills this child. At age one he curses another boy, which causes the child’s body to wither into a corpse.

    In other “gnostic gospels”, Jesus has somebody else crucified in his stead, impregnates the “virgin” Mary, and sells his own twin into slavery.

    Two thousand years ago, man had not invented science fiction. At that date man though space was a physical canopy above the earth and so early Superhero authors had to set their tal stories on the earth, since the earth was all they knew.

    Why do you like Dune, why did Herbert concoct the story, why were the books and films so successful?

    As you said in our previous discussion the subconscious is a strange thing – perhaps you too have a desire for “super-heroism” to be true. Even if not, you clearly find something about Dune amuses you, attracts you, interests you. And so do many thousands of others.

    And so now to “truth”. Eventually, the early church bigots kicked out all the inconvenient gospels and said the only true version of their super-hero Jesus “Christ” was contained in what we now call the new Testament. In that version JC was a real good guy and certainly did not impregnate his own mother or kill others out of sheer spite or anger.

    Do superheroes “really” exist? The Church believes so. Others may take a more balanced view: no, I do not believe that JC or any other superhero exists or ever has existed.

    But perhaps our longing for something beyond the physical world we can prod and measure does have some justification. In the sense I have so often spoken about. That the world is far more mysterious than we pygmies can yet imagine and that while there may be no “god” as such, perhaps we have the power to become “godlike”.

    That has always been my take on the matter.

    And Dune? What is it? On one level it is simply a fun story, an amusement. On another level it takes on a very much more significant shape which can sometimes have very severe consequences. ”Good” ideas, like socialism can have horrendous consequences in the warped hands of Stalin. The desire for a Superhero was cruelly exploited by the Nazis who seemed to offer a paradise, a way out for a Germany impoverished by Versailles and Weimar and hyper inflation.

    So Dune and stories like it point out tantalising images of possible, imaginary utopias. Which we have always sought.

    If I wax lyrical as usual, you will understand that this is a topic of great interest to me. Since I believe the issues go far far wider than one story, one book, one attempt to explain our world and to explore possibly better places or incarnations.

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    1. I’m actually not that attracted to the Dune premise. I recognize the original novel for the groundbreaking classic that it is. And I think Villeneuve’s adaptation is a masterpiece in its own right. But I personally find the Dune universe one of the least attractive of the science fiction futures out there.

      I think most people are attracted to it because of its pro-human stance, that individual humans are capable of amazing powers if sufficiently trained. I’ll admit this had appeal when I was younger. I love a good superhero yarn as much as anyone. But other aspects of the world are so grim that I have a hard time seeing it as a place I want to inhabit for too long, even just in imagination. 

      These days, I am attracted to the sheer cultural alienness of the societies portrayed. But in the movie, the Sardaukar and Harkonnen societies are so grim, so clearly designed to be disturbing, that it’s hard to see them as plausible. My reference to Mordor in the post reflected that skepticism.

      And I often struggled to feel much connection with Herbert’s characters. Paul Atreides is probably the most sympathetic in the original book series, and honestly he isn’t that sympathetic. 

      In terms of superheroes, these days my attitude is we can collectively make ourselves superheroes with scientific and technological advancement. Some get early access, but eventually it becomes cheap and widely available, the democratization of being a superhero.

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    1. Sting was already famous by the 1984 movie as the lead singer of The Police. But Patrick Stewart was still relatively unknown. I remembered him from Excalibur, but hadn’t seen him in anything else yet. And ST:TNG was still a few years in the future.

      That movie was okay for its time. I do think it suffered by trying to stuff the whole story into a single theatrical film, but it was probably the only option back then. I thought the later Sci-Fi Channel miniseries (“Frank Herbert’s Dune”) did a much better job, albeit without the famous names. But Villeneuve’s version leaves both of them in the dust.

      Just fyi, anytime you comment with your WordPress account, your name is a link to your blog.

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  6. Great review! I’m definitely looking to see this one next. I was such a massive fan of the first film which I consider a work of art. I loved the depictions of the Middle East in it. Curious to see how a sequel would fare. Here’s my review of the first “Dune”:

    "Dune" (2021)- Movie Review

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    1. One thing I noted in my own review of the first movie is how much it leans into the Islamic / Arabic flavoring of the Fremen. The earlier adaptations downplayed it, for obvious reasons given the politics at the time. Villeneuve betted on this generation being more enlightened, which seems to have paid off.

      If you like the exploration in these movies, the book is well worth checking out, if you haven’t already. (Although warning: the sequels get progressively weirder.)

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      1. Agreed. I think Villeneuve is such an amazing filmmaker that seems suited for this kind of material. Throughout an amazing career, he’s made incredible movies. Besides “Dune”, I also adored “Arrival” which came out a couple of years ago. Here’s why I adored that film so much:

        "Arrival" (2016)- Movie Review

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          1. Excellent review. I like how you got in depth analyzing alien communication in the film. Something that’s not talked of in most of the reviews I’ve read. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. Great review once again. I had the chance to watch “Dune” again and again was in amazement. I loved the ways in which the Middle East was depicted in the film. It reminded me about “Star Wars: the Force Awakens” and its authentic depiction of the Middle East where a few scenes were shot. Here is why I loved that movie as well:

    "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015)- Movie Review

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