‘Dune: Part 2′ (2024)
Warner Bros.
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Written by: Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts & Frank Herbert
Starring: Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Lea Seydoux, Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte Rampling & Javier Bardem.
As a young boy, I have vague recollections of seeing the original ‘Dune‘ on VHS. I remember it being a “big deal” in my house as my father and my older brother both loved sci-fi, but I don’t recall ever watching the movie in its entirety. Seeing ‘Dune: Part 2’ in IMAX this week made me feel like I was, once again, experiencing a “big deal”. I’ve never seen a film by Denis Villeneuve that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. He has a way of crafting an entire ambience in a film that causes you to just get lost in his story. Seeing the film in IMAX only added to that feeling. And then, there is the score by Hans Zimmer who is the modern-day John WIlliams. The sound of this film gently cascades over you from moment to moment and then, at other times, thunders down upon you. Every musical piece serves to fully immerse you into the breathtaking visuals that Villeneuve and his team masterfully craft. It’s not any surprise that the DP on this film, Greig Fraser, also worked on such stunning projects as ‘Zero Dark Thirty’, ‘Rogue One’ and ‘The Batman’. The only thing they could have possibly done to make the film more immersive is to pipe in fresh desert air during the viewing. As it stands, my eyes and ears were incredibly happy with what I witnessed on the big screen.
Even with all of that, I haven’t yet had a chance to get to the acting in this opus. Clocking in at a staggering 2 hours and 46 minutes (11 minutes longer than Part I), the time never felt lost or wasted. Villeneuve seems to know the story he wants to tell and wastes not a single moment along the way. (Unlike ‘Argylle’ which was very nearly a full 30 minutes shorter and I still was able to find things that could have been cut.) The cast is, for lack of a better word, OUTSTANDING! Austin Butler, who I last saw in the 2022 biopic ‘Elvis’ was savagely brilliant. Javier Bardem was perfectly cast and riveting as always. Rebecca Ferguson never ceases to impress me in her roles and this one was no different. Charlotte Rampling exudes her usual powerful presence on-screen. Stellan Skarsgard is one of those actors who I would watch recite the phone book because he could do it in 6 different accents and styles and make you leap to your feet in applause after every recitation. Dave Bautista is always exciting to see and fills each scene he is in with a unique energy that captivates the viewer. And as for captivating the viewer, we also have Zendaya who I have no doubt is quickly on her way to becoming her generation’s Meryl Streep. It’s a rare thing for me, as I look back over the bleak landscape of 2023’s box office fare, to feel excited about a movie. ‘Dune: Part 2’ manages to pull off something rare these days – it makes you fall in love with cinema again! I finished my screening and immediately wanted to go back and watch the whole thing again. I can count on 1 hand the number of times that has happened since the pandemic.
As a child, there was the Star Wars trilogy that thrilled me. In my 20’s, it was The Matrix trilogy that blew my mind. In my 30’s we had the rise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Today, I would say that what Villeneuve is doing with ‘Dune’ will make this trilogy the benchmark for the 2020’s. It’s filmmaking at its finest and it reminds me of the reason I love going to the movies! Rarely do I assign movies a perfect 10 out of 10, but I struggle to find anything glaringly wrong with this film. A pitch-perfect cast with stunning visuals that are married with a sublime score. This is one that you will DEFINTELY need to see on the big screen and IMAX if you can.
