May Thy Knife Chip and Shatter

Film: Dune: Part Two
Format: AMC Market Square 10

I was doing very well keeping up with a pace of 400 movies on the year, and then this past week happened. Work was an absolute beast this last week and among other things included a presentation to about three dozen people who, at least in part, are higher up in the food chain than I am. It was terrifying, and in the busiest week of my quarter, I lost about a full day preparing for it. I try to be done working by noon on Friday each week, and yesterday, I worked past 8pm. So, as a treat, I went to see Dune Part Two tonight with my wife’s cousin Jon.

I don’t go to the theater that often. In fact, I think you can probably count the number of movies I have seen in the theater since Dune Part One on one hand. Regardless, because of my bizarre connection to the Dune-iverse, I knew I was going to see this when it came out, albeit a week or so after it opened. I’ve been looking forward to this since last year, when the release date was moved from November of last year to this March.

Dune: Part Two requires a lot of buy in to understand, and for people less versed in the story, it’s probably a very good idea to watch the first movie a few days before encountering the second one. A big part of this is the depth of the source material. The story takes place in the year 10,191, and for anyone familiar with the source material, there is a real sense that Frank Herbert knew more than the rough strokes of what happened in the 8,000-plus years between now and when we take up the tale of Paul Atreides.

It's also a difficult film to discuss in terms of narrative without heavily referencing the first film, diving deeply into the way the Dune-iverse works, and definitely spoiling a lot of what came before. I don’t want to do that, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time on plot outside of the roughest strokes. In this distant future, the galaxy is essentially a feudal system with an emperor, great houses, and lesser houses. The economy runs on the spice, called Melange, which can only be found on the world of Arrakis, a desert planet. For years, the wildly evil House Harkonnen has controlled Arrakis, but in a strange twist, the Emperor has given control of the world to their enemies, House Atreides. It’s all a ruse, though; it was a play to get rid of the popular Duke Leto Atreides, and ultimately to restore the Harkonnen to their profitable colony.

In all of this the ducal heir Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) escape into the desert where they encounter the Fremen, the native population. This is essentially where we pick up. A large part of this film is about Paul’s relationship with the Fremen and the slow realization in the Fremen that Paul is the fulfillment of prophecy and will lead the Fremen to reclaim their planet from the Harkonnen and will eventually engage in a jihad that kills billions and flies across the entire galaxy.

There’s some new cast this time, as well as larger roles for a number of people. Paul’s biggest fan Stilgar (Javier Bardem) is in this a lot more this time, as is Paul’s love interest Chani (Zendaya). We also get a sort of secondary love interest in Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh), daughter of Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken). The leader of the Harkonnen is still Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), and Arrakis is still ruled by Beast Rabban (Dave Bautista), but this time, we’re going to be introduced to the Harkonnen heir, Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler).

So let’s talk about what’s right. The biggest things Dune: Part Two gets right is the scale of everything. This is a huge world, and the power that is represented by the forces at play are truly monstrous. Because of this, the things in the world are huge—massive structures and ships. We do not skimp on any of this. It’s beautifully shot and acted—despite its March release, I think we’re going to be hearing a lot about this come Oscar time next year—expect a lot of nominations—Best Picture, Director, Actor (Chalamet), Supporting Actress (Zendaya), Cinematography, and more. There’s a lot here that’s right.

And yet…

As someone who truly loves the book, I’m disappointed with how much has changed. This isn’t just things, like Princess Alia not being born yet in the film despite her being extremely important in the last few chapters of the book. This isn’t about the fact that in the book, Paul and Chani have a son named Leto who is killed in a Harkonnen raid when he’s a year or two old. It’s not the lack of bringing Thufir Hawat back; ignoring the presence of Harah, Jamis’s wife who becomes effectively a “wife” of Paul when he kills Jamis; or the inclusion of Count Fenring. There are major plot differences between the book and this movie, specifically in how Chani reacts to everything that is happening. I won’t spoil it, but I will say that the movie version of Chani is 180 degrees different from the book version of the character.

Because of this, I’m a little disappointed. It seems weird to say it, but the David Lynch version of Dune is a lot more connected to the book in a very real way than this version, and that seems strange to me.

Why to watch Dune: Part Two: It builds off the first movie perfectly.
Why not to watch: A lot of these characters are vastly different from their literary origin.