Film Review: Dune: Part Two is a gloriously intoxicating epic
Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides in Dune: Part Two. Picture: Courtesy Warner Bros
- Dune: Part Two
- ★★★★★
- Cinema release
“Power over spice is power over all,” begins Dune: Part Two (12A), which opens with Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) joining the native Fremen on the barren planet of Arrakis — the universe’s source of spice — as they fight a desperate rearguard action against the predatory Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) and the Emperor (Christopher Walken).
Once a noble of the House of Atreides, Paul is hailed by Stilgar (Javier Bardem) as the prophesied Mahdi, or Messiah, who will lead the Fremen to future glory — a prospect deeply troubling to Chani (Zendaya), who isn’t so blinded by her love for Paul as to believe that he is the semi-divine liberator of her people.
Adapted by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve from the second half of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel Dune, with Villeneuve directing, Dune: Part Two delivers a visual spectacular as it weaves a beguiling blend of religion, magic and a futuristic battle against imperialism.
Paul is a satisfyingly complex character who, fearing his own visions of interstellar carnage, valiantly resists the call to lead the Fremen fundamentalists into a holy war, and he’s surrounded by equally fascinating characters, including his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), a Bene Gesserit ‘witch’ bent on fulfilling an arcane prophecy, and the politically astute Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) of the imperial dynasty.
It isn’t perfect by any means — the editing is rushed at times, and Paul’s most dangerous foe, the psychotic Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler), is too one-dimensional to be truly interesting — but overall this is a gloriously intoxicating epic.
