Review | Dune: Part Two movie review – Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya return in Denis Villeneuve’s masterful sci-fi spectacle
- Dune: Part Two is everything you would hope for and a more-than-worthy successor to its 2021 predecessor
- The acting is an embarrassment of riches – watch out for Austin Butler – while the set pieces, stunning cinematography and music leave you open-mouthed
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5/5 stars
A vast and far-reaching spectacle, Denis Villeneuve’s masterful take on Frank Herbert’s Dune continues, arriving with all the energy of an express train.
No longer the callow youth of the earlier film, Timothée Chalamet returns as Paul Atreides, the exiled Duke of the now-decimated House Atreides. Alongside his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), he begins learning the ways of the desert people, the Freman, with enthusiastic tribe leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) believing he is the prophet who will bring victory.
Enchanted still by young Freman warrior Chani (Zendaya), Paul is initially reluctant to lead, haunted by dreams that billions will die because of him. But gradually, he comes to realise it is his destiny to defeat House Harkonnen, the aggressors led by Stellan Skargard’s corpulent Baron that destroyed his family and currently control Arrakis.
Once again scripted by Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts, Dune: Part Two truly embraces the galaxy-wide power struggle that Herbert so eloquently wrote about.
Christopher Walken enters the fray, gloriously, as Shaddam IV, the Emperor of the Known Universe, while Florence Pugh appears as his daughter, Princess Irulan, a royal who seemingly knows her place as a bargaining chip. Léa Seydoux also features as a confidante of the emperor.
Of all the newcomers, however, it is Austin Butler that makes the biggest impression as Baron Harkonnen’s youngest nephew, Feyd-Rautha, a knife-wielding psychotic being groomed as his uncle’s successor.
With Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista and Charlotte Rampling also reprising their roles, it is an embarrassment of riches. But that only speaks to part of the film’s achievements.
The set pieces simply leave you open-mouthed, from the opening Harkonnen attack on the Freman to Paul learning to ride a “grandfather” sandworm. Patrice Vermette’s otherworldly production design, Greig Fraser’s stunning cinematography, and Hans Zimmer’s thunderous, horn-led score all dovetail perfectly.
As for Villeneuve, “visionary” may be an overused term these days, but he truly merits it. So alien in appearance, so human in its themes, Dune: Part Two is a peerless sci-fi film for the ages.
