‘Dune: Part Two’ Review: A Terrifying, Masterful Revelation

You can’t talk Dune: Part Two without talking Denis Villeneuve first. Within the last two decades or so, he has single-handedly revived two long dormant sci-fi franchises, directed and written a half-dozen critical darlings that completely changed their respective spaces, and raised the ceiling for serious blockbuster filmmaking like few could ever imagine. The man is a master of the craft, and deserves to have his name plastered across every poster and piece of marketing for this thing, and really anything, going forward. He’s the definition of a living legend.

And, unbelievably, Dune: Part Two may be his best work. Where the first film burned slowly, allowing the ashes to fall and settle in the solemn wake of tragedy, Part Two is nastily ablaze. The fire never dims. Even as the credits roll, a symphony of doom whines over the speakers, ensuring a spill-over experience that’ll still have you fighting to catch your breath on the drive home. This is a “cry after it’s over” kind of film, one that you’ll have to pick at for weeks, and in repeat viewings, to even begin to fully grasp. 

Villeneuve’s sweeping vision of Arrakis’ political landscape, one that he spent much of the first film painstakingly building, comes to a head here. He manages to maintain an immense sense of scale in every single scene, from conversations and declarations to episodes of palatial battle. The last-mentioned of which benefit greatly from the sandy vistas of Villeneuve’s Arrakis, baring every feature on the miserably open dunes of the planet. Bodies drop, comrades weep, and the fight rages on. This is an awfully convincing vision of far-future war reminiscent of the same sort of thing The Two Towers accomplished 20 years ago with The Battle of Helm’s Deep, only reversed in time. It has been said for years that we may never see anything like The Lord of the Rings on the big screen again, yet here we are (and how lucky we are for it).

Dune: Part Two is an instant classic that asserts the value of creative storytelling

The consequences of the aforementioned conversations and declarations are splayed out in the same manner of laborious detail. This is a suitably unforgiving narrative that doesn’t shy away from the difficult relations it has to the modern world, even going so far as to extrapolate to the results in order to leave no room for questioning in regards to the point being made. Sometimes it even feels as if characters are staring through the screen, shouting past their opposers and right at us. Not in plea, but in warning. 

All of that is underscored by an indescribable Hans Zimmer score; wildly, he may be with Villeneuve in presenting his best work in this film. A work of music so impactful arguably hasn’t been seen in film since Interstellar. Zimmer’s work here is equally effective and perhaps even more distinctive. Cinematographer Greig Fraser, too, makes a similar case. The best in the business are at the top of their game across the board.

Fraser’s usage of silhouettes is, among a book’s worth of beauty, what everything seems to come back to. In the same way that the film seems to speak to us as a people, Fraser disposes characters’ harshest traits in this way, often pulling away from an arc’s revelation to paint the bigger picture and put the nail in every suggestion the scene was offering up to that point. The silhouettes, often backlit by oranges and blues, transform dreary shadowed environments into systems of irreversible change. 

Not to say that Part One is a far cry from this sequel, it’s still a great film, but the jump in Part Two is immeasurable in every manner. Without a doubt, we’re witnessing one of the greatest sequels ever made, as well as an inevitable pillar of sci-fi cinema going forward. Dune: Part Two is an instant classic that asserts the value of creative storytelling, as well as the necessity of the moviegoing experience. It goes without saying that you can’t miss this one. 

Dune: Part Two is now playing in cinemas worldwide.

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