Dune: Part 2

Warning Spoilers:

The movie begins straight after the events of Dune part one, Paul and his mother are in the desert following the Freman to safety as the Harkonnen come hunting. The Harkonnen, searching for the remaining members of House Atreides, glide up the side of the mountain, like they are floating on air. Only too, moments later, come crashing down, like a sack full of potatoes as the Freman show their aptitude for fighting in the desert. To take full control of Arrakis is not going to be easy.

Stilgar brings some comic relief, with his unwavering conviction that Paul is the Messiah. Even Paul's refusal to accept he is the Muad'Dib is seen as confirmation on how humble the Messiah is.

Chani and her teenage friend mock Stilgar and his belief in the old prophecies, but she starts to accept Paul when he says he only wants to be a Freman. Cue a few scenes further along of Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya gazing wistfully at each other in the desert as the two handsome leads fall in love.

Paul's mother gradually becomes more and more creepy, as she takes on the role of Reverend Mother, having silent conversations with her unborn child.

We find that whenever a Freman dies the water from their body is extracted and poured into an underground lake, it's this water the Muad'Dib will use to bring back Arrakis to its former glory.

Paul gets trained in the Freman ways and cements his title as an honorary one by riding a sandworm. He takes the Freman name of Usul, and gradually starts to lead the Freman on bolder attacks on the Harkonnen spice trade and becomes their de facto leader.

We have the welcome return of Gurney, played by the always charismatic Josh Brolin, he is under used though as the young leads take centre stage. Gurney does show Paul the stockpile of atomic weapons Paul's father hid in plain sight, which can now be used against the Harkonnen. The play-by-play between Stilgar and Gurney is a nice touch as former and present teachers see their student outgrow them.

He continues to have disturbing visions about leading the Freman to the south, something which will lead to the deaths of thousands.

We have him doing his best Jon Snow “ I don't want it” impression as he continuously refuses to accept he is the Muad'Dib, and also refuses to go south with his mother.

His mother does go south, traveling in style on a sandworm to rally the fanatical religious groups for the upcoming battle. She also readys the next stage of Paul's journey to becoming Muad'Dib, preparing the Water of Life for him to drink. A blue drink from the dead body of a sandworm, the water is fatal to men but the Muad'Dib will be able to survive taking it, according to the prophecy.

Paul's visions become more and more vivid and he realises he needs to fulfill his destiny and drink the Water of Life to see how he can protect the people he loves.

Chani is distraught when after arriving south Paul lays near death after drinking the Water. According to the prophecy he can be brought back from the dead with tears of the desert spring, Chanis intimate name. She reluctantly fulfills her duty, unwittingly becoming part of the prophecy and confirming Paul as the Messiah.

Paul awakens his eyes now a Freman blue and the prophecy is complete in Stilgars eyes.

Timothy Chalamet transforms from the handsome young Prince into the battle ready leader of thousands quite well, his speech in the midst of thousands of Freman convincing them he is the Muad'Dib is powerful. He doesn't quite have the hardened look of Luke in The Empire strikes back, but he tries his best.

The middle of the movie is shot in a visually stunning stark black and white. We are introduced to Feyd-Rautha, Baron Harkonnen's psychotic nephew. Frustrated by the disruption of the spice trade by a small group of Freman he selects his nephew to replace Rabban as Arrakis’ ruler.

Feyd is even more twisted and brutal than Rabban, and enjoys killing and torturing for fun. He proves himself fighting in an enormous crucible, killing his challenger, an Atreides soldier. He leaves for Arrakis to hunt down and kill the remaining Freman and destroy the rumored Muad'Dib. The scenes on the Harkonnen world are the most stunning in the movie, in sharp contrast to the colourful desert planet of Arrakis, the black and white world brings you out of your comfort zone whilst watching.

Paul, now fully accepting his destiny as Lisan al Gaib, challenges the Emperor for revenge of his father's death.

The climactic battle arrives as Paul marshals his now formidable, in numbers at least, army to march on the Emperor. Riding on one of the worms we see the Emperor's soldiers trembling in anticipation as a gigantic sand storm surrounds the compound. Inside, the Emperor, his entourage and the Harkonnen await their fate as the building shakes with the force of the oncoming storm.

Unfortunately for the viewer we don't get to see the worms or the Freman overpower their overlords. This is where the film misses out on having its Helm's Deep moment. The worms break through the sand dunes showing their colossal size as they crush the enemy, but that is about all we see of the battle.

It is exhilarating though, to watch the doors of the chamber swing open and Paul stride out of the blackness, straight past the Emperor, and stick a knife unceremoniously into the Barons neck, finally having revenge for his father. Gurney too has his revenge, killing Rabban, who has a somewhat meek ending. From being the man who led the onslaught and brought down House Atreides, he is killed like a rat fleeing a sinking ship.

Paul continues his transformation from unwilling Prince to leader as he defeats Feyd-Rautha in a brutal final battle. Feyd is almost impressed at how Paul turns the tables on him , as Paul manages to withdraw the blade in his chest and insert it back into Feyd.

Feyds short lived strange role is over, as the Emperor kneels before Paul and it seems victory is at least his.

Chani, though seeing Paul complete his transformation, leaves the celebration, literally at the end riding off into the sunset on a sandworm. Zendaya has mastered the art of the silent disapproving look as she shows her frustration at Paul breaking his promise.

We get the satisfying scene of Paul silencing the Reverend Mother, who so cruelly tortured him in part one, knocking her off her feet as he orders her to be quiet.

Paul's trials are not over though as the other Houses refuse to accept his ascension to the throne, and he orders his now fanatical Freman to march into war. Stilgar gleefully leads the troops into the ships, now more than ever convinced that Paul is the messiah.

The movie is more satisfying than the first and more grand in scale, this time showing us more of the planet Arrakis. Timothy Chalamet manages to transform into a leader of men and shows he's not just a pretty face, and does more than play a moody teenager. The film benefits from Javier Bardem's light hearted comic touches, and is of course visually stunning.Big action sequences, and introduction of new characters helped the long runtime past by quickly. It will be interesting to see how the next movie, which looks like it will be off planet, will manage the change in tone. The planet Arrakis has been a character in itself in the movie, the colours and life of the desert influencing the story deeply. A sharp twist towards a space episode will need to be handled deftly to conclude the trilogy, and to avoid the inevitable comparisons to StarWars.