"This prophecy is how they enslave us!"

In both my reviews of part one, I raved about how incredible the balance of faithful adaptation and making it accessible as a movie was. In this one, I feel the latter won out. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though, I’m not a book purist and I like to judge movie adaptations on their own merit, so long as they’re true to the core of their source material. I think Villeneuve succeeded there. All the major themes and the most important scenes are present, wrapped in a great movie. Most of the changes he made serve to get the ideas across in movie format, and I can respect that.

The biggest changes, in my view, are for Jessica and Chani. The former felt, to me, more reluctant and remorseful about the path she was taking in the book and more focused on her and Paul's survival than on scheming, while the latter got way more motivation to see things Paul’s way in the end. However, I understand Villeneuve’s choices here. In the book every character has (almost) as much complexity and inner conflict as Paul, but by simplifying everyone around him somewhat, the movie manages to bring conflict of morality that mostly happens in thoughts and introspective dialogues to a more action-reaction driven format needed in a visual adaptation. I would compare it to the Lord of the Rings trilogy: it’s a great adaptation that cuts out or alters some difficult to translate parts, and that’s okay. Leaves some magic to be discovered for those who feel inspired to pick up the book, while delivering a fantastic movie. Yes, there’s some parts I wish were left in, but I also recognize that such a movie would probably be boring to many people and likely horribly paced.

I love the comedy of Stilgar constantly denying Paul in his humility. It’s very apt for our times and for the human need to see signs. It’s almost frustrating to watch, knowing where it leads and thinking about real world parallels the book meant to address. We love to deify people, we always have, and eventually every prophecy becomes self-fulfilling. I love Austin Butler’s dedication to playing an absolute little freak here. Same can be said for Rebecca Ferguson, really leaned into the mad woman angle. Perhaps my only true complaint would be that she deserved a bit more screen time, given how crucial the character is. Irulan getting a bit more to do works well though, it brings the political schemes to more engaging scenes and when you’ve got Florence Pugh on your cast, you might as well give her at least a few scenes to shine. Very interesting how well this second part conveyed the weight of Leto’s absence on the events that unfold, a credit to Oscar Isaac's memorable performances in the first part I think.

Part two presents more action spectacle, more visuals with grand scope (thank you Greig Fraser), and more excitement. It condenses a complex book into an engaging movie, that ends with a fantastic fight. I was very happy with it. Arrakis feels familiar but gets more exciting as we see more of the Fremen and the worms, while Giedi Prime presents a whole new feast for the eyes. Incredible stuff there (thank you, again, Greig Fraser). At the same time, spectacle never gets in the way of the core themes, the explorations of prophecies, political power, leaders, schemes, religion, oppression, indoctrination and war. “There are no sides.” There are only dangerously charismatic, and ultimately self-serving, megalomaniacs in the game of galactic politics.

But perhaps my favorite part of the film was Chani. Dune is not the kind of story where you’re supposed to believe the righteousness of the protagonist, and I love how she was used to convey this, I would almost say she’s the protagonist here, almost. Zendaya stole the show with a fantastic performance that centers the movie around its main theme, that grounds the grand scope of this story of galactic holy war around the simple but crucial decisions made by Paul. Even if it departs from the book in some aspects, it works brilliantly as a central, personal tragedy. And here again, I understand that choice. Without it, the ending would too easily feel like a triumph, while Villeneuve's choice of final moment helps drive home the fact that this is a tragedy, and that the protagonist is no hero. Galactic holy war is a hard idea to grasp, but the pain and betrayal in Zendaya's eyes makes sure we understand this isn't a glorious moment. Not just betrayal in love, but the enslaving of her people. The belief she has in Paul as the little desert mouse who will survive until summer, the charming budding romance, leading only to the utter cruelty of his grab for power. I genuinely think this movie wouldn't work at all without that performance at its heart.

Lastly, this was my first time watching a movie in IMAX, and it was a great experience. Adds a whole level of excitement, and it made the incredible Zimmer score and overall sound design hit even harder than I could have imagined. I did watch it with subtitles in a language I don’t fully understand yet, but I was impressed with how well the scenes in Fremen/other fictional languages still felt understandable. I’ll be thinking about this one nonstop for a good while!