I walked into Dune: Part Two with extremely high hopes. I envisioned a sequel with masterful cinematography, bubbling with conflicts and tensions and romance. Instead, I left feeling like Dune: Part Two hardly pushed the plot forward or dove deeper into characters.
This film, like the first movie, is very aesthetically appealing. Everything from the chalky coloration of Giedi Prime to the glowing blue eyes of the Fremen is artfully done. As an aesthetic film, I think Dune 2 does very well. It is not from this aspect of the film that my critiques arise. Yet, I cannot say Dune 2 amounts to the promise suggested in its visuals; in fact, I found that the film fell flat in many respects.
Firstly, I find fault with the film temporally. Some plot lines feel so rushed, leaving me wanting more; others feel exhaustive, yet somehow underdeveloped.
Dune: Part Two introduces us to many new characters, one being the Baron’s nephew, Feyd Rautha, played by Austin Butler. Everything from Rautha’s knife-licking to his grisly voice was compelling to me. Rautha had the potential to be a villain as iconic as Heath Ledger’s Joker, yet the viewer is only allowed a few glimpses of his storyline. Other than his propensity for killing slaves and slaughtering House Atreides footmen, little is known about the extent of his psychopathy. In fact, little is introduced about House Harkonnen and Giedi Prime throughout the entire movie. I didn’t learn anything novel about the Baron—just the same old brutality and black oil baths. This is a broader trend within Dune: Part Two. Some plot lines feel so rushed, leaving me wanting more; others feel exhaustive, yet somehow underdeveloped.
For instance, who is Margot Fenring — The Bene Gesserit (played by Léa Seydoux) who comes to seduce Feyd Rautha? The viewer knows that she offers him the same mind test that the Reverend Mother offered Paul in the first movie and that Rautha gets her pregnant. Aside from this, the viewer knows little else about this new character. It’s likely that her plot will come to life in the next movie, and perhaps the baby that she carries will become pertinent to the plot as well. An expansion of the test scene with Feyd and Margot could have given the viewer more insight into Rautha’s psyche. The brevity of Rautha’s plot line wouldn’t have been so frustrating to me if his story didn’t end in this movie.
The viewer also meets Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) in this movie, the daughter of the Imperial Emperor. We learn she is a talented Bene Gesserit — she possesses supernatural mental abilities like mind control — with a wardrobe full of intricate headdresses. Yet, Princess Irulan’s main purpose in the movie’s plot seems to be to set up the plot of the next movie. Little is garnered about her desires and intentions.
As for established characters, Lady Jessica’s transformation was given a very secondary part in this movie. The viewer knows that Lady Jessica (played by Rebecca Ferguson) drinks the “Water of Life” to solidify her transformation to the Reverend Mother of the Fremen. Like in the first film, Rebecca Ferguson really shines in Dune 2. Her pale blue eyes are incredibly expressive, and in Dune 2 they harden to convey her metamorphosis. Lady Jessica becomes more prophetic and less maternal. She begins to see Paul less as her son, but more as the fulfillment of a prophecy. Her moments in the film spent babbling to her unborn daughter give the film an eeriness and absurdity.
Even when characters are foregrounded, however, the film fails to take full advantage. The characters given by far the most screen time are Paul (played by Timothée Chalamet) and Chani (played by Zendaya). This movie devotes a fair amount of time to developing the romance between these two characters. Despite this, I felt the romance between them fell flat. It felt abrupt, unnatural and without chemistry — which was unsatisfying as the viewer was teased by this union the whole of the original Dune. Despite all the foreshadowing of Chani, I felt like we didn’t get to learn much of anything about Chani in Dune 2 aside from her unfaltering loyalty to the Fremen and her general toughness.
Overall Dune 2 was entertaining and visually arresting, yet too much of the plot felt to be set up for the next installment. In the next movie, I would like to see more lingering on the plotlines and in various planets. I want to see characters that are as arresting as the movie’s visuals.
Lena Thakor is a Junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at [email protected].