Dune: Part Two

Genuinely hard to express what I felt watching this film. We are witnessing the birth of, not the next franchise, but an epic. It’s the only world I think which is deserving of this film, it’s an epic in every conceivable way. It’s scary how unfiltered and passionate every single element of this film feels, it’s clear how much care was put into everything from the grand vistas to even the smallest grain of spice.

It’s funny to watch Villeneuve’s words get minced through the media recently, I don’t love how he went about diminishing another medium just to express his love for another, but I think it’s so apparent what he meant by his statements in this film. He has so many films where dialogue is secondary but watching a blockbuster epic where the small simple moments, small pieces of acting on faces, are what stick with you, and often more is said in a look than in a line, it becomes apparent his talent for non-verbal storytelling.

Part of the reason these small moments stick with you are due to the unbelievable cinematography from Greig Fraser. I have sang this man’s praises for a while but my god he’s outdone himself in this film. His close ups, which are not something I have given him credit before, are gorgeous and utilised to perfection. When the film calls for a more intimate and complex moment we get real close to the characters and are left to read them all on our own.

It’s no surprise that his cinematography is wonderful even when it’s not in close ups. He has such an eye for colour and scale, when we go to Geidi Prime and we see the black and white scenes, and the transition from colour, I was in shock. The opening action sequence under the eclipse with the harsh orange contrasted by the black of the suits. So many scenes just had me in complete disarray as to what was on screen. He is an unrivalled talent and a master of his discipline

It’s hard to speak about this movie without speaking about the acting of literally every single actor. Not a single actor gives a bad performance and furthermore some turn in the best performances I’ve seen in a while. To start with the main man himself, Lil Timmy Tim gives possibly his best performance. Paul in this film is so nuanced and complex and Timmy handles all of his complexities with such ease. It’s such a fascinating arc continuing from the first part as he slowly loses himself to power. He’s soft in moments he needs to be and ruthless in others, helming an epic especially when the majority of the runtime is Paul is no easy task but he makes it look so simple.

The counterpart to Paul is Zendaya’s Chani, who thankfully is just as nuanced and well realised. I adored her journey of scepticism and how messy her relationship with Paul became. I was honestly shocked I bought into their love as much as I did cause normally this kind of stuff annoys me when it’s just not properly set up. Not only did I adore their slow build of love, and how it’s shown from both perspectives of them falling in love, but it’s a testament to how well acted both of these characters are that i truly believed they were in love.

I really could go on about everyone in this cast it’s just so strong but to name a few standouts. Florence Pugh was magnificent and regal and seemlessly fit into this story. She had a wonderful presence and was able to show her conflicting views in such a short amount of time. Austin Butler blew me away, I really was in disbelief with his performance, I feel like it will be remembered as one of the great villain performances. His ability to morph his voice to Stellan Skarsgård is actually horrifying. Javier Bardem provides some of the most comedic scenes, which I was really surprised at how funny this is, and has some of the most genius writing about religion. Also Rebecca Ferguson continues just astound me with her portrayal of Jessica and honestly has some of my favourite glances I’ve ever seen.

I think this story not only serves as an epic to get lost in but also has such pertinent and relevant musings on religion and the horrors and dangers of faith. It’s thematically something I’ve rarely witnessed in cinema let alone a blockbuster, obviously this is a testament to the original source material but also to the screenwriters who were able to translate this idea so clearly. It also touches upon the how enchanting the idea of being a saviour is and the addiction of having people willingly give you power. Power transpiring through class and how the wealthy seed their beliefs in those who are less wealthy in order to keep things the way that are is beyond fascinating especially when you look at this through the lens of our current society.

Long live cinema