REVIEW:
Coming off the first Dune movie, there were lots of cool ideas introduced, but also a lot of questions left unanswered. Would the sequel deliver on answering these? That was the hope. Would we see and meet the Emperor, who we had heard so much about? Would we actually get to see these sand worms up close, instead of just seeing hints of them. The answer to all of these questions is yes. Dune 2 definitely gives us what the first movie promised. And the action is better in this second movie as well.
That being said, it is still a dark and dirty distopian movie. The closest thing to it has got to be the Mad Max – Road Warrior movies, what with their dusty dirty backdrops and crazy imaginative ideas. Regarding imagination and world building, Dune takes it much further. Whereas those movies are about the vehicles, these are about the futuristic technology and mythical powers that some people possess. It’s part Mad Max, part Star Wars, and in this second film, Timothy Chalamet is front and center as the star.
Much of the premise here is about whether or not he’s the chosen one, and that feels like familiar territory. Be it the Matrix, The Return or the King, or even Harry Potter, the resisted hero who is called to action is a common mythological trope. But it’s handled well here, and the movie definitely takes its time to fully flesh out that idea. The romance between he and Zendaya is also pretty strong, and a lot of that credit has to go to her. One can’t help but notice that this actress is two for two as far as franchises go where she really has chemistry with the male lead.
Truth be told, the movie is good, but it is also somewhat flawed. It’s too long, (two and half hours,) and too dirty. The action might be more than we were given in the first film, but it’s still not quite enough. That being said, whatever we do get of it is done really really well, whether it’s a one on one knife fight, a gladiator style combat scene, or a bazooka shooting at a spaceship scene. Perhaps the thing that would have given this movie a little more edge would have been some trimming of the fat. In particular the Rebecca Ferguson, mother Mary – high priestess story. Take that story out, and the movie is easily a solid thirty minutes shorter, giving us and a much tighter film. As it is, this is a good movie, that could have been a little better.