The Sandworms attack in Dune: Part Two – Photo: Warner Bros.
Denis Villeneuve’s stunningly realized film adaptations of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi saga Dune take an epic leap forward in Dune: Part Two, the sequel to the Oscar-winning first film starring Timothée Chalamet as possible Chosen One, Paul Atreides.
Last seen at the end of Dune trekking into the desert like a twink Lawrence of Arabia, Paul is still a refugee on the desert planet Arrakis. Following the massacre of his father and the House of Atreides by savage Harkonnen forces, he’s hiding among the native Fremen, plotting to avenge his House, while also evading death or capture by his clan’s universe of enemies, including ruler of all, Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken).
The first film felt mostly like a long-winded setup for a protagonist who took little action. This installment plants Paul in the driver’s seat for a spicier tale of revenge, and, as it turns out, religion.
The Fremen, as discussed in Part One, await the arrival of a messiah who’ll free Arrakis from the rapacious Houses who come to mine the planet’s all-important element, Spice. All signs point to Paul being the One, with Fremen tribe leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem, in the film’s most amusing turn) especially convinced that Paul’s presence proves the prophecy.
Paul’s wily mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), a sister in the mystical order of Bene Gesserit, sees the prophecy as a clear path to power. As her son leads revolts against Harkonnen forces commanded by the Baron (Stellan Skarsgård, excellent as always), Lady Jessica eagerly fans the flames of spiritual fervor among the Fremen, intent on converting all nonbelievers.
Dune: Part 2 – Zendaya and Rebecca Ferguson – Photo: Warner Bros.
The compelling moral quandaries behind Paul’s ascent, as either the foretold messiah or a false prophet, present Chalamet with a much richer part to play this go-round. He succeeds in painting Paul in intriguingly opaque tones, the rising leader’s true motives and beliefs veiled behind the heroic mantle of freedom fighter.
Fighting alongside him as Fremen warrior Chani, Zendaya — who had six minutes of screen time in the 155-minute first film — also has a more textured story to tell here. Chani is chief among nonbelievers in Paul’s purported destiny, but, witnessing his valor in battle, and his humility in embracing the Fremen and their ways, she falls for him.
Chalamet and Zendaya don’t spark a cinema romance for the ages, but Paul and Chani’s dalliance adds a thread of sorely needed sentiment to the slow-turning plot and cool visual splendor.
Again, Villeneuve and Dune cinematographer Greig Fraser capture the otherworldly scale of the landscape, creatures (those sandworms), and machinery on Arrakis. Filmed for IMAX, the action sequences — like a gladiator contest that features Harkonnen warrior Feyd-Lautha (Austin Butler) battling before a bloodthirsty crowd — pump the adrenaline, while also evoking the saga’s thornier themes on brutal colonization, and fighting wars on foreign soil.
And, just like the first, the movie is aurally amazing, especially during the awe-inspiring scenes of sandworm riding. Those who dare, stand atop the massive monsters and hang on for dear life as they barrel through the sand at frightening speed. The sound of it is tremendous.
Dune: Part 2 – Timothée Chalamet – Photo: Warner Bros.
Undoubtedly, the film elicits emotion, and stirs the imagination, yet somehow it still doesn’t capture the heart.
As a moviegoer who wept with Frodo and Sam all the way up Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings series, Villeneuve’s trips to Arrakis, while audio-visually enthralling, have yet to offer characters and circumstances that inspire the devotion this franchise seems to demand.
Maybe Part Three will make a true believer out of me.
Dune: Part Two (★★★☆☆) is now playing in theaters nationwide. Visit www.fandango.com.
Returning to the historically tense spring of 2020, Eddington, from writer-director Ari Aster, lands in a strangely familiar Twilight Zone of an America emerging from lockdowns, still gripped by fear and confusion over the pandemic, and roiling with anger over racial injustice.
It's late May in the dusty desert town of Eddington, New Mexico, and the distancing, caution, and paranoia, the fights over protocols and masks worn below the nose, have seemingly pushed folks here to their breaking point. Amidst the eerie calm of mostly empty streets, the atmosphere crackles with the potential for catastrophe.
In search of seventeen missing third-graders -- all of whom rose from their beds at 2:17 a.m. the same night, ran from their homes out into the dark, and then vanished -- the desperate adults in Zach Cregger's chilling Weapons go knocking on strange doors, and creeping down hallways they might be wiser to avoid.
Weapons relies heavily, and fruitfully, on the suspense of "Don't go in there! Oh no, she's going in there." The filmmaker's thrilling Barbarian similarly showed a penchant for sending characters down dark, winding paths against their better judgment.
Ready for his closeup in the '90s-set action-comedy Caught Stealing, Austin Butler is framed staring directly into camera more than once, his soulful eyes a clear window into his ill-fated character Hank Thompson.
The film -- directed by Darren Aronofsky and written by Charlie Huston, based on his own 2004 novel -- makes smart use of Butler's cherubic face and strapping physicality to solidify Hank's cred as a former high school star baseball player, now a nice guy bartender in a dive bar on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
His girlfriend Yvonne, a saucy paramedic played by Zoë Kravitz, even delivers a whole speech about how nice a guy Hank is. The movie also captures its stars' off-the-charts chemistry, solidifying Hank and Yvonne's emotional bonds through the couple's genuine caring for one another and cute shared catchphrases.
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