Dune: Part Two — the Fremen Finally Breathe
Denis Villeneuve's first Dune, released during the plague year of 2021, was a film I respected more than loved. Beautiful, austere, reserved — it was architecture. The buildings were gorgeous. I kept waiting for someone to live in them.
Part Two is the body inside the building. It is sweatier, messier, more political, and far more tactile than its older sibling. The Fremen, who in the first film were mostly silhouettes in a sandstorm, finally get their own movie. Stilgar is a revelation. Chani has an inner life. Paul's becoming-a-messiah is treated not as a blessing but as a gradual, visible tragedy.
Villeneuve, Unbound
Villeneuve has always been a filmmaker who respects the audience's capacity to sit still. He trusts silence. He trusts wide shots. Part Two holds its shots fractionally longer than a studio executive would probably like, and the film is immeasurably better for it. When the sandworms arrive, you feel them coming. When Paul speaks Fremen, the camera doesn't cut away to his companions looking impressed — it stays on him, on the slight unfamiliarity in his mouth, on the audience-of-one listening.
The film's largest visual coup is the black-and-white Giedi Prime sequence. Austin Butler's Feyd-Rautha arrives in a white-sun arena, gladiatorial, sociopathic, and pop-star beautiful. Villeneuve and cinematographer Greig Fraser shoot it in an IR-sensitive black-and-white stock that renders skin as polished bone. I have not seen anything quite like it in a mainstream film before. In IMAX, it is hallucinogenic.
If you can find an IMAX 70mm print, do not settle for digital. If you're in Toronto, that means Scotiabank Theatre Toronto's IMAX with Laser auditorium. It is worth the drive.
The Trouble With Messiahs
Dune has always been, among other things, a novel about the dangers of surrendering yourself to a charismatic leader who offers certainty. Villeneuve's adaptation is finally, visibly interested in that theme. Chani's arc — her growing disenchantment as Paul slips from freedom fighter to prophet — does something the book never quite managed: it gives the story a dissenting consciousness. When the credits roll, you do not feel triumphant. You feel the way Chani feels.
Where to See It
If you can, see Part Two in IMAX with Laser. In Canada that means Scotiabank Theatre Toronto, Scotiabank Theatre Chinook in Calgary, Scotiabank Theatre Vancouver, or the IMAX at SilverCity Yonge-Eglinton in Toronto. Cineplex UltraAVX is a fine second choice — Dolby Atmos and a full-size screen in a recliner auditorium. The absolute worst place to see it is on a laptop. The film was built for scale.
This is one of the big ones. Go to the cinema.