[Discussion thread][Spoilers] Dune: Part Two - Denis Villeneuve - 2024

I saw it on the fan-first premier on the 25th. I also posted this in the Dune community, but here’s my review:

Amazing adaptation of the second half of the book. As expected, the cinematography, set design, and music are all beautiful. I was skeptical when Denis said a large focus of the film would be the love story, but was pleasantly surprised they were able to pull off a believable romance between Paul and Chani while trying to fit everything else in this huge story. Stilgar was amazing. The Giedi Prime scenes were gorgeous. I think they also pulled of Alia well, which is understandable since it's kinda hard to have a child character like in the books translated into film without making it cartoonish.

Now for my (minor) criticisms:

We all know how dense the book is, and even with only half the book remaining for this film and almost 3 hours, certain parts still felt rushed; which is understandable because there is only so much you can cram into a movie.

For example, the time Paul and Jessica spent in Sietch Tabr felt so quick, without having a reference/barometer to let audiences know how long it took for them to turn the Fremen to their side and Paul and Chani's relationship to develop. This took years in the book, and book readers will obviously know that, but I feel like non-readers will complain how "fast" it happened. It also doesn't help that since they cut child Alia in this version, this means all the events in the film happened in less than 9 months, which is pretty short for someone to integrate into a planet's native population, train in their ways, and rise up as a messianic figure for an entire planet.

The final big battle also felt rushed. I know it was generally glossed over in the book, but it would have been great if the film took a few more minutes to show some battles before Paul reaches the emperor. Gurney and Rabban's fight scene should've also been a little longer, given Gurney had to emphasize the scar Rabban gave him, which was kinda implying there was a big fight scene ahead.

While I love Christopher Walken, the emperor in this film had barely anything to work with such that you could've cast any other decent actor and it wouldn't have mattered. I was hoping for something special from Walken's portrayal given how unique of an actor he is.

All that being said, it was an amazing film and I was pretty satisfied. It needed 30 more minutes to flesh out the events more, but I understand you can't make a 3.5 hour movie without making general audiences bored. Now on to Messiah to complete a trilogy!

Just got out of seeing it in imax.

Just wow. One of the few movies that lived up to the hype and visually it is one of the most stunning films I have ever seen. The whole scene on Giedi Prime is otherworldly and sets the Harkonnens up as a malevolent force that is the complete opposite of the Atreides we see in the first film.

Only complaint is that while the first part was 99% faithful to the book, part two drops to about 90% and also cuts out what I think are pivotal scenes in the book. Still it was never going to be easy to choose what to drop without turning it into a 4 hour movie and overall it all works incredibly well.

Epic movie , really enjoyed it.

That said, it is screaming out for a longer Director's Cut. I know Villeneuve has said he won't release one, but if there was a film in the past five years that has more or less demanded one, it's this movie.

I watched this Saturday.

There was so much good stuff artistically in this movie!

The changes to the story worked really well, IMO, towards updating it for modern cynical sensibilities:

I loved Zendaya's portrayal of Chani and her girl friend calling out Paul and Jessica's colonialist bullshit.

Jessica's "strange" behavior as a pregnant woman. I agree with others that having Jessica speak for Alia worked better than having a child actor like Lynch's version.

Stilgar's parody of religious fanaticism was hilarious!

Visually, making the worm riding look like some kind of extreme sport worked well

The Giedi Prime black and white/infrared sequences were brilliant, although seeing the Baron and Feyd in regular flesh tones afterwards felt strange.

The Atreides nuke missiles flying across the sky felt apocalyptic

The Sardukar ranks were notably not as rigidly disciplined as we saw in the first film.

Unlike others, I thought that Christopher Walken's emperor was good. Age decrepit on the verge of doddering, but with dark intelligent thoughts behind his sullen face. The only problem with casting Walken was that he's too recognizable.

The one part I didn't like was the climactic dagger fight. I would have liked to see the action better choreographed and coordinated with camera angles to make the sequence of thrusts and parries clearer. I also would have liked to see contrasting fighting styles between whatever Feyd does, and Paul's classical Atreides training mixed with Fremen savagery. I'm still not sure how Paul's knife wound up in Feyd at the end.

I also noticed unlike other adaptations, they didn't do the weirding modules, the Atreides-developed sonic weapons that give the Fremen some kind of combat advantage. But I didn't miss them.

Overall I was very happy with the movie.

Fantastic adaptation. Finished God Emperor earlier this month and had a blast with this. I think most of the changes were good to remove the campy nature of Alia going full on demon baby.

So many beautiful shots, and it felt amazing to see the first sandworm scene for Paul look exactly like I expected it to.

Bravo

I watched it yesterday. Didn't watch part one or read the book.

The major plot symbolism went over my head. The plot as it was, was actually good in the term that it should be in the middle of the trilogy.

Sounds, Music, Visual effects, Composition of every shot were stunning. The creative direction really shines through.

Different factions really had a distinct visual style. Props and worldbuilding really pops up and blends into the screen.

This film really reminds me of "Andor" and I really liked that series.

I was sceptic at first but the worm riding is just that cool.

That scene where Paul was riding the Sandworm was nothing short of amazing. The bass was so loud, I felt like I was on a space shuttle!

The movie was everything I was hoping it to be. I have no reference to the books so I can only say what I saw.

The dune world once again sucked me in, like the first movie, I couldn't believe how long it actually was, because I wasn't paying attention, I just soaked up the emotions, pictures and music.

Now I see, why people have pointed out, that some parts where a bit rushed, but I also honor that I as a watcher was held to higher standards. It feels better that way, to understand time has passed, from the context, than breaking the flow.

I can't wait to see the final part. If it's anywhere near as good this dune movies will be forever in my all time favorites.

Just got back. It has been close to two decades since I read the books, but I will say that this is probably among the better adaptations I could imagine actually getting made. Focusing on Paul's resistance to his "destiny" but his leaning into it once it was obvious no better path was presenting itself was well done., as was the theme of turning faith to selfish ends, and how it all ends up muddled in a stew of motives deserving varying degrees of sympathy.

The plot was obviously compressed, and while I feel that Chani's feelings of betrayal were kind of amped up to the point where it was a weakness, I can see it as an early attempt to show us the consequences of Paul accepting the KH role. A bit clumsy, but thematically logical given what DV focused on. At the very least, the romance itself felt earned. Certain other aspects felt a bit rushed, as was inevitable maybe, but I did think it was a pretty decent curation and adaptation of the source material, and it's a miracle the pacing and plot coherence were as good as they are. Sound and visuals were amazing and definitely capital-T "There" but without providing an excuse for bad storytelling.

On a couple of lighter notes: First, I think DV with these movies has mastered the art of finding the precise minimum, neither more nor (and this is critical) less, of humor and humanity to keep a movie from feeling like a joyless slog. Second, not to body shame a movie star, but everything that made Austin Butler feel "off" to me as a casting choice in Elvis and Masters of the Air worked perfectly as Feyd Rautha. He still sort of looks like a carnival caricature drawing of 1980s Val Kilmer, but those features complemented the Harkonnen makeup in exactly the right way. As a piece of production design, Austin Butler is unimpeachable, LOL.

Mostly OK but largely underwhelming after how good first part was. My main gripe is that some of the changes were just baffling and some boil down to having Zendaya more prominent role for the sake of it. Spoilers ahead.

The good:

• Jessica change after becoming reverend mother, her ruthless abuse of believers and complete disregard of social norms when talking to Alia was top tier,
• Showing the division between believers and sceptics among Fremen,
• Skipping Leto the Elder,
• Skipping Jessica/Gourney drama,

The meh:

• Feyd Rautha while acted well was just Jared Leto Joker,
• Stilgar going full moron,
• Giedi Prime color palette was annoying,
• Paul changing water of life was almost glossed over and had to make room for Chani giving her tear to bring Paul back,
• Correct me if I'm wrong here but book Paul wasn't fully aware of the consequences of going on revenge path before becoming KH and it's the opposite in the movie which is going to make Messiah part even weirder,

The wtf:

• Chani drama at the end is extremely bad writing. It doesn't stand the test of "would two adult people who talk to each other do that?". It's unnecessary too since Chani could be similarily displeased with instrumental use of Fremen but the acting makes it obvious this is about marrying Irulan (who's the tragic story here, not Chani ffs),
• There's no Spacing Guild in the last scenes, therefore there is noone to explain how big of a deal to prescience Kwizatz Haderach is,
• The end where Landsraad rejects Paul ascendancy and everyone immediately hops on spaceships to do battle. Like get some rest, maybe have a drink and orgy, I don't know.

Coming back from the theater.

Solid movie, but I guess the Dune universe isn't for me. Definitely beautiful cinematography, however.

Just noticed one thing reading critics on the Internet

I saw it on Wednesday and just like with part 1 I was blown away by the visuals and especially the sound, but the story left me unimpressed.

Creating this thread as it releases already tomorrow in some countries

Has anyone seen it?