I decided to rewatch the first movie before seeing part two. I am glad I did. I was definitely not in the correct mind-space when I watched part one. Between text messages, being tired, and little coffee, it felt like the movie was too long and a bit disjointed. Watching it the other night though, I picked up more, and felt that it flowed much better than I remembered.
I enjoyed Dune: Part Two even more than the first. The story picks up right where the first left off. Paul is learning the ways of the Fremen, while his mother takes over as their Reverend Mother. The spice continues to enhance Paul’s prescient dreams. He struggles with the choices he must make, which will bring down House Harkonnen, but could also lead the Fremen to their doom.
Denis Villeneuve truly captures the essence of the book. I do not want to spoil anything, but Villeneuve managed to make it look amazing, but at the same time adapted an insanely long book (I think the book is like 32 million pages long). Yes, I am sure there are characters and sub-plots missing that people will freak about, but that is always the case of adaptations.
Okay, some of my other thoughts…with SPOILERS!
-I love the idea of Paul Atreides being a manufactured messiah. The movie does a great job of showing how the Bene Gesserit manipulate events to achieve their goal of bringing about the Kwisatz Haderach. Paul fights the idea that he is the Lisan al Gaib, but fulfills the prophecies in order to gain acceptance within the Fremen for his fight against the Harkonnens. Some of it reminds me of Jesus fulfilling prophecies from the Bible (hey guys, go get me a donkey so I can ride into Jerusalem…look, he is the one who is prophesized! He comes to the city on a donkey!!! I am simplifying the whole thing, relax). The question ends up being, is the prophecy fulfilled in that way, or was this exactly what the original seer saw? Fun things to ponder.
-Austin Butler continues to crush it. I never would have guessed the dude from The Shannara Chronicles would be such a fantastic actor. His portrayal of Feyd-Rautha was incredible (and he managed to capture the speech/accent of Stellen Skarsgård’s Baron Harkonnen). The fight with Paul at the end was well done.
-I love how the movie ended. I have never read Dune: Messiah, but it looks like there is room to make another Dune film. Things are a little different from the books, Chani leaves instead of becoming Paul’s concubine, while he is married to Irulan. I could see a third movie focusing on Chani going back north, and trying to gather the Fremen who are not fanatics. Maybe Paul reconnects with her, and they have to try to end the religion that has formed around Paul. Or maybe we just see the Fremen going around the galaxy murdering all the Great Houses. Who knows…
