IR Film Review: DUNE - PART II [Warner Bros]
The progression of a story depends on knowing where it is going in an overall sense. With "Dune - Part II", director Denis Villenueve understands and motivates on the context of what Part I promised. He delivers but there are different cracks and jumps that inherently lift but also restrict the film in certain ways. The issue with "Dune" as an IP is that there is simply so much story to work with, one can always miss something. As a fan of David Lynch's "Dune" as well, that adaptation was perhaps more mystical and weird than political and utiliterian (which "Dune - Part II" works more towards). This "Dune" is more expansive and on a bigger budget. That said, Part I felt more contemplative on many levels, while Part II as a war movie, seems to elapse in much more motivated fashion. The context that works well in terms of further progression of this series, is that we see the doubt that festers in Paul that takes hold in "Dune Messiah" in full view (at least in novel form).
Villenueve understands the essence of character but also character traits that permeate all the way until "God Emperor Of Dune", the fourth book, which likely will never get made. But there is a call out to what happens actually from Jessica which is unusual (and exhilerating actually) because it speaks to another voice in the film. The film here also integrates lineage to show exactly why this perspective is so important. Even in the mini-series that was held on until later. That said, likely the Bene Gesserit series on HBO will explain in more detail (it is already filmed so it likely integrated the progression Villenueve was aiming for). That said, cinematically, even though there is some grand elements, it doesn't completely take your breathe away. Part I did that (at least on first viewing) better, Again, if one is a new viewer experiencing the Dune world without the 1984 version, it is utterly unique but the progression is what it is, even down to the Feyd Rautha's pet comment in the final fight.
That said, the different characters are expanded although the jealousy of one progression seems very much high school (even in its performance). Zendaya is an interesting Chani but plays it with a certain doubt, worry and rage that seems to register as all the same thing so the range is not as contemplative to say Sean Young's Chani in Lynch's version (who didn't get much to do comparatively either). Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan is interesting but not quite brought to bear (though as much as it can within the story) but you understand her much better and the politics and psychology involved than with her character in Lynch's version.. Again the issue is likely that there is so much material that needed to be addressed in "Dune - Part II" that it really needed two movies (plus the first one). Villenueve crammed as much as he could in here but it feels more compacted where Part I was more contemplative and lyrical. That said, it is still an acommplishment but one where some of the awe is lost but other beautiful subtext is gained.
The way Jessica is approached and the essence of her progression and use is much more dynamic and yet, like many characters, including Austin Butler's dynamic but short lived Feyd Rautha, there seems seemingly sketches of what could have been more full formed because there is only a certain amount of screen time that can be devoted to it. The same can be said of Christopher Walken as Emperor Shaddam IV. One doesn't feel the stakes or power or dread like one felt when Duke Leto was being attacked in Part I and even the deliberateness of Jose Ferrer's Emperor in the 1984 version. The brutality of these players needed more intensity. You get that in one scene with Butler as Feyd but it is almost as if they weren't willing to go that far. All these men in one shape or another are conquerors and butchers. The interesting element of all of this is Paul because you get the sense that he knows that he is on a path of ruin that he cannot avoid but in trying to be something for others, he becomes the shadow into which he will fall. This is the essence of "Dune Messiah" so it is right on track. Even in the final moments, Paul understands, even as the visions and the highliners above tell him that he is a winner, that happiness or contentment is not quite what it should be. Like his father said, one has to rise to the occasion. A-
By Tim Wassberg
