Notable Cast: Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca
Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave
Bautista, Christopher Walken, Lea Seydoux, Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte
Rampling
Simply ending Dune: Part One on an emotional beat but
with no actual resolution to most of its threading or characters is perhaps the
one thing I struggled with in the first part of this two-part space opera epic.
Denis Villeneuve is a master craftsman, but it's a bold choice when the second
half of his film was never green-lit at the time. So, it’s with a relative
sense of relief that Dune: Part Two DID get green-lit. Whew. Now I can
watch the whole movie. Thanks, box office numbers and strong cult development
on home video.
However, the hype is very real going into Dune: Part Two
- enough so that I struggled to find tickets for an IMAX screen on opening
weekend to see the film on the biggest and loudest screen possible. The first
part of this adaption of the Frank Herbert science fiction classic is damn near
universally hailed as a masterpiece already, and now that Villeneuve and the
team get to finish the story, I was on the hype train. Could the Dune
duology be the iconic auteur director’s pinnacle?
Considering the immense critical praise and stunning box office numbers for Dune:
Part Two, it might be safe to say that, yes, people are saying as much.
Although I found Dune: Part Two to not be as strong as its predecessor
in finding its balance, it is a high water mark for cinema thus far in 2024 and
another slab of deliriously engaging and fantastical cinema. Gorgeously
crafted, meticulously paced, and powered on the continuing themes of its
predecessor, Dune: Part Two is Villeneuve making a statement. A
statement about his career, the world we live in, and that the space opera
crown no longer sits on the brow of Star Wars.