Review: ‘Dune: Part Two’ confidently rises to its epic occasion with an acceptable level of eye contact

Two particular sentences capture the essence of Dune: Part Two, and one cannot exist without the other. The first: “Frank Herbert’s legendary novel continues its reputation for being unfilmable.” The second: “Denis Villeneuve is more than capable of pulling all the right strings and pushing all the right buttons to come admirably, if only relatively, close to the feat.”

Indeed, in trying to improve upon just about everything that Dune: Part One had to offer, the highly-anticipated sophomore entry in Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic film series takes one of the biggest cinematic swings we may see all year. And while that’s resulted in its thematic reach exceeding its grasp on far more than a few occasions, the director’s eye for earth-shattering set pieces, a slew of piercing performances (particularly that of Austin Butler), and Greig Fraser’s hypnotic cinematography ensures that Dune: Part Two brings home the proverbial spice.

Now, let’s get something straight; had I viewed Dune: Part Two on an IMAX screen with top-of-the-line sound, this movie could have very well gotten a perfect score. But, if you’re like me and millions of other people who don’t have access to such a luxury, the visuals — spectacular as they are — have that much more of a ceiling on their overall contribution to the film’s quality as a whole (which, as James Cameron’s Avatar films are well aware of by now, have a pretty notable ceiling in the first place). Such is the bed you make when you prioritize spectacle above anything else, which the film is not shy about doing in any way, shape, or form.

That being said, the masterful visual craftsmanship on display here is fundamentally undeniable; whether it’s a sand-dusted calm before the storm, watching an army of Fremen warriors unleash their dazzling potential for violence, or, of course, Paul’s goosebump-inducing acclimation to the title of sandworm wrangler, Dune: Part Two commits hard, fast, loud, and proud to spectacle filmmaking, and even the most academic audience members will likely find themselves tipping their hats to the film’s immersion goals, even if they don’t ultimately buy into it.

Speaking of which, Villeneuve’s Dune films have done an extremely impressive job of stripping away the more turgid, academic ideas of the original novel, focusing instead on the more widely-resonant themes that remain. The philosophical framework of Dune: Part Two, while still solid, doesn’t match up to the success that Dune: Part One achieved in this realm.

Much of this has to do with the ideas that Dune: Part Two seems to want to grapple with; namely, the push and pull of determinism and free will, colonialism, and the role that religion and nature plays in both of those conversations. In other words, it’s no easy task to explore what Dune: Part Two wants to explore, and the whole of the film’s execution exemplifies the dilemma; everything is bigger, including its personal thematic goalposts, which the film struggles to reach in a consistently cohesive manner. Still, the fact that those goalposts are very clearly visible is also a victory in its own right.

Which leads us into the strongest individual piece of Villeneuve’s ambitious puzzle: Austin Butler’s turn as the wickedly sadistic Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, the nephew of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen who’s tipped as the successor to the Harkonnen throne.

Long-gone is the charming Southeastern swagger of Elvis Presley, and in its place we find Butler at his most unrecognizable yet, crackling in every scene with a barely-contained penchant for spontaneous bloodshed, and a demeanor that simultaneously makes you want to punch him in the face and fall through a hole in the ground, lest it’s your jugular that ends up on the floor next.

And perhaps this has to do with his shorter amount of screentime relative to the rest of the characters, but it’s Feyd-Rautha who’s served the best by Dune: Part Two‘s script. Thematically, it’s not Feyd-Rautha’s ruthlessness that makes him captivating; no, it’s that he takes such tangible action in a world obsessed with destinies and messiahs, and unabashedly embodies the otherwise thinly-veiled, structurally heinous nature of the Great Houses and the Empire of the Known Universe, all while functionally inhabiting the headspace of a true freak of nature. Indeed, there’s perhaps no more nutritious cog in the Dune: Part Two machine than that of Austin Butler’s Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen.

In no way does Butler entirely carry the show, however; Timothée Chalamet’s marks his return to the role of protagonist Paul Atreides with a strikingly haunting energy befitting of such an intense inner and outer journey, and his fellow returnees Zendaya and Rebecca Ferguson together boast an entire spectrum of incredible intensity across Chani and Lady Jessica, respectively. Florence Pugh, in the little time we see her as series newcomer Princess Irulan, stamps her impact on the film just as effectively. All four, however, are only given so much room in the script to truly reach the heights of their individual power; this makes the highs very high, but infrequent enough that some may be left wanting, especially as we mostly struggle to buy into the interpersonal chemistry and tension between these otherwise excellently-realized characters.

When all is said and done, Dune: Part Two is sure to leave audiences determined to get another viewing in, for all the right reasons and a few of the wrong ones. The sheer technical achievement of the film is worthy of the utmost respect on its own, and the epic nature of its presentation, production, and storytelling will, on some level, guarantee willful captivation for just about anyone, to say nothing of the applause-worthy kineticism on display from its cast. Unfortunately, the scale just isn’t quite tipped enough in the other direction — that of typically less-verbose cinematic aspects like theme, plot, and sense of chemistry between the characters — to reach the level of uniquely soft cohesion that the film probably would have preferred, in order to complement the louder part of its personality. Another viewing, then, might see one head back to get gleefully swept away in Arrakis once more, or conversely, to dedicate themselves to the toil of parsing of the film’s thematic nuances — to what will likely be very, very limited success.

Be that as it may, the two sides of this aforementioned personality still get along more than well enough to make Dune: Part Two the second sure victory in Villeneuve’s film series, and I’m sure number three is right around the corner.