Dune: Part Two - Review Thread

[John Elden Ring]

​

• Rotten Tomatoes: 97% (102 Reviews)
  • Critics Consensus: Visually thrilling and narratively epic, Dune: Part Two continues Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of the beloved sci-fi series in spectacular form.
• Metacritic: 80 (40 Reviews)

Reviews:
Deadline:

To be fair to Villeneuve, it was never a given that there’d be a thirst for this franchise in the first place, and audiences went into Part One not knowing that they’d want a Part Two just as soon as it finished. Part Two would be an epic achievement from any other director, but it feels that there is something bigger, better and obviously more decisive to come in the third and hopefully final part of the trilogy. “This isn’t over yet!” says Chani, and if anyone can tie up this strange, sprawling story and take it out with a bang, Villeneuve can.

Hollywood Reporter:

Running close to three hours, Dune: Part Two moves with a similar nimbleness to Paul and Chani’s sandwalk through the open desert. The narrative is propulsive and relatively easy to follow, Hans Zimmer’s score is enveloping, and Greig Fraser’s cinematography offers breathtaking perspectives that deepen our understanding of the fervently sought-after planet. All these elements make the sequel as much of a cinematic event as the first movie.

Variety (80/100):

Villeneuve treats each shot as if it could be a painting. Every design choice seems handed down through millennia of alternative human history, from arcane hieroglyphics to a slew of creative masks and veils meant to conceal the faces of those manipulating the levers of power, nearly all of them women.

Rolling Stone (90/100):

The French-Canadian filmmaker has delivered an expansion and a deepening of the world built off of Herbert’s prose, a YA romance blown up to Biblical-epic proportions, a Shakespearean tragedy about power and corruption, and a visually sumptuous second act that makes its impressive, immersive predecessor look like a mere proof-of-concept. Villeneuve has outdone himself.

The Wrap (75/100):

For those already invested in the “Dune” franchise, “Dune: Part Two” is a sweeping and engaging continuation that will make you eager for a third installment. And if you were a fence-sitter on the first, this should also hold your attention with a taut, well-done script and engaging characters with whom you’ll want to spend nearly three hours.

IndieWire (C):

The pieces on this chess board are so big that we can hardly even tell when they’re moving, and while that sensation helps to articulate the sheer inertia of Paul’s destiny, it also leads to a shrug of an ending that suggests Villeneuve and his protagonist are equally at the mercy of their epic visions. No filmmaker is better equipped to capture the full sweep of this saga (which is why, despite being disappointed twice over, I still can’t help but look forward to “Dune: Messiah”), and — sometimes for better, but usually for worse — no filmmaker is so capable of reflecting how Paul might lose his perspective amid the power and the resources that have been placed at his disposal.

SlashFilm (7/10):

Perhaps viewing the first "Dune" and "Dune: Part Two" back-to-back is the best solution, but I suspect most people aren't going to do that — they're going to see a new movie. And what they'll get is half of one. Maybe that won't matter, though. Perhaps audiences will be so wowed by that final act that they'll come away from "Dune: Part Two" appropriately stunned. And maybe whenever Villeneuve returns to this world — and it sure seems like he wants to — he can finally find a way to tell a complete story.

Inverse:

“In so many futures, our enemies prevail. But I do see a way. There is a narrow way through,” Paul tells his mother at one point in the film. Like Paul’s vision of the future, there were many ways for Dune: Part Two to fail. But not only does it succeed, it surpasses the mythic tragedy of the first film and turns a complicated, strange sci-fi story into a rousing blockbuster adventure. Dune: Part Two isn’t a miracle, per se. But it’s nothing short of miraculous.

IGN (8/10):

Dune: Part Two expands the legend of Paul Atreides in spectacular fashion, and the war for Arrakis is an arresting, mystical ride at nearly every turn. Denis Villeneuve fully trusts his audience to buy into Dune’s increasingly dense mythology, constructing Part Two as an assault on the senses that succeeds in turning a sprawling saga into an easily digestible, dazzling epic. Though the deep world-building sometimes comes at the cost of fleshing out newer characters, the totality of Dune: Part Two’s transportive power is undeniable.

The Independent (100/100):

Part Two is as grand as it is intimate, and while Hans Zimmer’s score once again blasts your eardrums into submission, and the theatre seats rumble with every cresting sand worm, it’s the choice moments of silence that really leave their mark.

Total Film (5/5):

The climax here is sharply judged, sustaining what worked on page while making the outcome more discomforting. It’s a finale that might throw off anyone unfamiliar with Herbert, or anyone expecting conventional pay-offs. But it does answer the story’s themes and, tantalizingly, leave room for more. Could Herbert’s trippy Dune Messiah be adapted next, as teased? Tall order, that. But on the strength of this extravagantly, rigorously realized vision, make no mistake: Villeneuve is the man to see a way through that delirious desert storm.

Polygon (93/100):

Dune: Part Two is exactly the movie Part One promised it could be, the rare sequel that not only outdoes its predecessor, but improves it in retrospect… One of the best blockbusters of the century so far.

Screenrant (90/100):

Dune: Part Two is an awe-inspiring, visually stunning sci-fi spectacle and a devastating collision of myth and destiny on a galactic scale.

RogerEbert.com (88/100):

Dune: Part Two is a robust piece of filmmaking, a reminder that this kind of broad-scale blockbuster can be done with artistry and flair.

———

Review Embargo: February 21 at 12:00PM ET

Release Date: March 1

Synopsis:

Paul Atreides continues his journey, united with Chani and the Fremen, as he seeks revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family, and endeavors to prevent a terrible future that only he can predict

Cast:

• Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides
• Zendaya as Chani
• Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica
• Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck
• Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen
• Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan
• Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban Harkonnen
• Christopher Walken as Shaddam IV
• Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat
• Léa Seydoux as Lady Margot Fenrin
• Souheila Yacoub as Shishakli
• Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
• Charlotte Rampling as Gaius Helen Mohiam
• Javier Bardem as Stilgar
• Tim Blake Nelson

 

[Gediminas]

Gonna go on 29th. Part one was powerful.

 

[Sircaw]

I liked the remake a lot, looking forward to this alot.

 

[Polyh3dron]

I liked the remake a lot, looking forward to this alot.

If by "remake" you mean a new depiction of the events depicted in the Lynch film, Part 2 is still part of the "remake".

 

[Sircaw]

If by "remake" you mean a new depiction of the events depicted in the Lynch film, Part 2 is still part of the "remake".

I would never have guessed; thanks for that!

 

[Polyh3dron]

I would never have guessed; thanks for that!

The original book had way too much going on in it for a single film, Alejandro Jodorowsky's original script would've made for a 14 hour running time and what ended up as Lynch's film was an incomplete, incoherent mess. Denis Villeneuve ended up splitting the book into two films that run almost 3 hours each, and they play quite well. The next film looks to adapt the sequel book called Dune: Messiah.

 

[Gediminas]

The original book had way too much going on in it for a single film, Alejandro Jodorowsky's original script would've made for a 14 hour running time and what ended up as Lynch's film was an incomplete, incoherent mess. Denis Villeneuve ended up splitting the book into two films that run almost 3 hours each, and they play quite well. The next film looks to adapt the sequel book called Dune: Messiah.

watched both, it is more like trilogy than duology for me.