Dune: Part Two

I can't deny Villeneuve's amazing ability to create captivating images and materialize fantastic book worlds, but Herbert's "Dune" with giant worms and a strange combination of spaceships and medieval society equipped with cutting weapons always seemed dysfunctional to me. I just can't immerse myself in that world, I can't enjoy it, and I'm not able to appreciate it. Unfortunately, Denis Villeneuve did not use his talent for dozens of other titles of science fiction literature, on which the genre is built. Something like "Roadside Picnic" in Villeneuve's rendition would be an irresistible treat. Overall impression: 60%. (03/11/2024)

I found the first one better, it was more tightly plotted and somehow more engaging, more thoughtful in its introduction to the fantasy world of Arrakis, I understood more the motives of each of the characters. And yet, even there, Denis Villeneuve didn't forget the visual magic - the arrival of Leto Atreides and his long flight in an ornithopter was so visually sexy. Even the Hans Zimmer music was more interesting to me in the first part. The second part is actually quite different in that respect, especially plot-wise in the second half, BUT .... then Denis unloaded some iconic scenes, from the first worm ride, to the black and white arena, to the frontal attack of the worms, with the seated fremen and their flapping scarves, and he had me in the palm of his hand again. The first part was food for the senses and the brain, the second one only for the senses, but you know, I'm a simple person, even Villeneuve pulling excellent visual ideas on me like Houdini pulls rabbits out of a hat is enough to make me happy. Only that Zimmer has been feeling bit tired in the last years and instead of his typical rumbling it wouldn't hurt to reach for some compositional melodic ideas again. (03/16/2024)

The main problem I had with the first Dune was that I had a hard time finding even one single character whose fate I cared about. It was a beautiful but cold and empty film. The second film, however, manages to repair the series' reputation in that sense rather quickly. The heroes finally do something interesting, they talk to each other, the debates have a point, and Villeneuve wraps it all up in just a little bit nicer visuals. Dune: Part Two is more beautiful, but also more action-packed, brisker and more watchable. Until suddenly it isn't. Villeneuve seems to realise after a hundred minutes or so that he still has a lot of story to tell and that he just can't cram it into the remaining hour. So he hits the gas and the film is suddenly unnecessarily rushed, running away from interesting topics because he still has to finish this or that. And while the final battle looks really magnificent, once again, with the closing credits, I got the feeling that there may very well be a great story behind this beautiful film, but even this time it didn't get told in the way it deserved. Unlike the first part, I wasn't bored this time, but if I ever see this part again, it will be before the premiere of the eventual third. For despite all the qualities, there is still a certain aftertaste of incompleteness. (02/27/2024)

An experience after an experience. And also an internal redefinition of when it still makes sense to pay absurd amounts for sitting in front of a giant screen with a perfect audio set. The well-deserved praise is abundant, so perhaps just to the extent that compared to the first part, it may lack a certain lightness that seemed to stem from Denis Villeneuve's awareness of huge expectations, refusing to make the slightest wrong step. This paradoxically happens at the moment when to fit into a runtime of under three hours, and to keep the widest audience in theaters, especially in the last third, it is edited in a way that you completely feel those missing fragments (especially if you have read it) and mentally beg for another hour. But otherwise, it is all we fervently wished for two years. It is an absolute peak of Hollywood craftsmanship in the best possible form. It is a visual masterpiece and total overkill of cinematic sound design, to which Hans Zimmer's galactic chorales respectfully yielded. For the first time, I truly understood how people felt forty years ago when they were shown Star Wars in movie theaters. (03/03/2024)

Mature sci-fi with mature themes that value the intellect of its audience. Can't we get that more often? Before I get to my minor reservations, I must first point out three things. Go to the cinema. Go to the cinema. And thirdly, go to the cinema. For epic cinematic feats in which everything is technically correct and yet completely mesmerising and impressive on an unreal scale, it makes sense to put money into buying a ticket. In short, Dune: Part Two delivers the viewing experience in all its glory. And it could easily have been over three hours long – even at 166 minutes it feels too short in places, and an extra quarter of an hour would have been easily enough. A more significant problem for me is the fact that Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya have almost zero chemistry with each other and their relationship, although the mainstay of the film, feels rushed and unconvincing. Emotionally, I simply didn't tune in to the characters. In any case, in many other ways, Denis Villeneuve translates the book into film language very effectively and once again raises the bar of contemporary science fiction a little higher. And although we'll probably have to wait quite a long time for the third film, I'm looking forward to it a lot and I'm curious to see what kind of spectacle he'll have in store for us again. (02/27/2024)