Dune: Part Two 2024
I enjoyed the first installment of Dune, but was giving it partial credit for this movie being able to deliver. Part Two is getting slightly better reviews, which is impressive because the first one was well received. Mechanically there is a lot to like about this movie. We see a lot more of the desert-living Fremen in this movie and they are very well realized, with some good action scenes of them fighting and doing all kinds of Fremen stuff. Since most of the people in the first movie were wiped out, a lot of new characters are introduced in this movie and some big stars are left with pretty small parts. While there is a lot of action as the Fremen and Paul Atreides fight Baron Harkonnen's occupiers, there is also a lot of palace intrigue going on, which I feel like is the weaker part of the story. It is a long movie at two and a half hours and the palace stuff plus a bunch more wordy intrigue involving the Bene Gesserit priestesses makes it drag a little. Then they have to set up Feyd-Rautha, played by Austin Butler with no hair, eyebrows, or teeth, and a proclivity to murder almost everyone around him. We get it. Like the rest of his family, he is evil and cruel. Anyway, I'm not crazy about the plot, but I do like the Fremen characters and the production is absolutely first rate. Ultimately I was dazzled but also a little let down. Also they are setting up future movies (which are being considered, but nothing concrete), so things still feel a little unresolved at the end. I feel a little like we've watched the first couple of episodes of a really good (probably Disney+ Star Wars) streaming series that has a long way to go.
Written: 03 Mar 2024