this movie absolutely floored me
#DUNC: PART TWO
bold geyser
Dune: Part Two is The Business
Denis Villeneuve continues his legendary streak of making perfect, miraculous films by adapting the back half of Dune and, incredibly, improving it beyond all possible imagination. He even finds ways to take the Bugfuck 70s Sci-fi Nonsense from the back half of the book and make it incredibly engrossing and believable. (Anya Taylor Joy is playing exactly who you think she is). Where my first read of the novel ended with some disappointment that the whole climax seemingly largely happens offscreen is fixed here and it goes so fucking hard. Zendaya is excellent as Chani, and Villeneueve has given Chani a character arc! And it's really good too! Javier Bardem is incredible, somehow the funniest character in the film which is incredibly because Josh Brolin is actively competing with him for that achievement. Dave Bautista makes you Want to care about Beast Rabban so holy shit. And Austin Butler, sweet jesus and sweet jumping baby jesus, this kid is gonna be a mega star. James Dean reincarnated and not at all afraid to go Weird As Fuck. Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken are the most Regal Human Beings In the Galaxy and they make it look easy. Lea Seydoux continues to be one of the most alluring women ever filmed. The bit where we see Feyd-Rautha's birthday duel is one of the most gorgeously shot Sci-fi Scenes I've seen in years. I suddenly totally get Timothee Chalamet. When he has to stop being Paul Atreides and start being Usul Paul Muad'dib, the Lisan al-Gaib, the Mahdi, the Kwizatz Haderach, Duke of Arrakis he sells the living fuck out of it
the stuff that did get changed in adaptation are all somehow not at all the things you think would get changed. The most insane stuff from the book is all here and the changes are almost all to the benefits of the characters
Actual adaptational spoilers:
||Denis doesn't do the Two Year Time Jump. By the time we end the movie, Lady Jessica is still pregnant with Alia. This has the knock-on effect of deleting Chani and Paul having a child themselves who dies during the Siege of Arrakeen. In that subplot's place, Chani has been given a subplot about her conflict between loving Paul and her unwillingness to follow the prophecy of the Lisan al-Gaib where everything around them is pushing Paul more and more towards the eventuality of starting his Jihad with the Fremen (though notably the word "Jihad" is never used in the film. "Holy War" is the closest we get). The Fremen are given a new dimension I don't remember from the book where not everyone believes in the prophecy and Stilgar is considered a zealot for being so all in on it. Chani knows its Bene Gesserit propaganda and it causes conflict between her and Paul! By the end of the movie, there's a real chance that Chani is just fucking off into the desert to get away from what Paul has become rather than continue on into Messiah and bear him more children. ||
Meanwhile, everything about ||Alia and the Waters of Life|| and the absolutely insane implications of all of that? Yeah, all of that is in here and all of it rules so much harder than I was expecting.
I cannot believe that Denis pulled this off
granite lily
That was fun to read
Yeah this movie was incredible
I can’t wait to see it again
I watched the first one twice in the last week to prepare (after previously having only seen it the once in theaters) and enjoyed every second of those watches
And this was a perfect cap to that
I haven’t read the book(s) but intend to soon
I have friends who are superfans
Who have explained a lot to me
Without spoiling anything
obtuse sandal
Just got out of my showing. I didnt go to IMAX for this, but after seeing all those incredible sandworm scenes I have to go again in IMAX.
obtuse sandal
Actual adaptational spoilers:
||Denis doesn't do the Two Year Time Jump. By the ...
Thanks for this, its been over a decade since I read the novel but ||I was wondering about the missing time skip and their kid but couldn't remember if that was actually later or not. It'll be very interesting to see how they go on. If they end up fitting that plot line later on. They'll have to in some way if they get to the later books.||
dawn prawn
I think I liked this movie because, similar to the Lord of the Rings, these films feel like they're being made by someone who has an artistic passion to -make these films- specifically. They're making changes to the book details but feel to me like they're sticking to a least the core themes of the books.
granite lily
swift kite
I cannot believe that they pulled off shooting the arena scene in Infrared
plush patio
I didn't like this one as much as the first. In particular, I thought it was a good movie but failed as an adaptation. I don't feel like writing full thoughts on that, but one particular aspect is the almost complete erasure of the central ecological themes of the book.
dawn prawn
There was some hints to it with the sacred resevoir, but it was definitely backseat to the effects of fate and prophecy on free will.
clever ruin
So the shai hulud are gods to the fremen, did they actually drown the life out of some baby ones to get the water of life?
clever ruin
"lead them to paradise" is such a good closing order
dawn prawn
They do in fact drown a sandworm to create the water of life, but it's not so much a baby as one that's been kept in that tiny space and not allowed to grow.
dawn bloom
and there's a lot more to the water of life, but it didn't really make sense to have it in a PG-13 movie
doesn't really affect the story anyway
dawn prawn
Yeah, the fact that Paul survives was given the right beat, I think, but there is a lot more going on with the spice than I think they really have conveyed. It's main value is that it slows aging, for the rich of course. That it has prophectic powers for certain groups (the Guild, the Bene Gesserit) is a secret really.
But I don't think the geriatric poperties are on display. Really, from the film, I don't know if we've actually found out why it's so valubale to the galaxy.
dawn bloom
No spice vats on display 🥲
dawn bloom
But I don't think the geriatric poperties are on display. Really, from the film...
I think they mention it in the beginning of the first movie, and it's heavily implied it's valuable given how everything seems to circle around it, just no specifics.
dawn prawn
Yeah, I don't think it detracts actually from the film. Everyone acts as though the spice has immense value, so we can assume it has immense value.
swift kite
But I don't think the geriatric poperties are on display. Really, from the film...
they literally mention that interstellar travel would be impossible without it in the first seven minutes of the first movie and say it is “by far the most valuable substance in the universe”
This is part of the audio narration lesson that Paul listens to
late merlin
I finally saw Dune Part 2 and there was a part that reminded me of something and googling it for comparison brought up that somebody else had already made the joke. Glad to be on the same page at least
plush patio
Oh yeah, that instantly came to my mind as well
late merlin
Another thought about Dune in general. They make a big deal about riding the worms and attaching and getting on, but they don't show how they get off. I can't imagine they park up. Do they all have to just jump off?
granite lily
lol I thought about that for sure
swift kite
i believe the worms just tire out
in the books in order to make the crossing to the south they have to use several worms in sucession
late merlin
that makes sense. It seems to be the similar gravity to earth implying a similar size planet and the worms looked to be pretty fast but not as fast as something like a plane, so looks like the travel from the north to the south would take tens of hours if not days. Luckily due to the Stillsuits they don't need to worry about refreshments and bathroom breaks
dawn prawn
I think they get the worm to roll to the point where they can fall off "safely" and then stand -very very- still until the work gets bored and moves off.
rich rover
And hope it doesn't roll too far I suppose 😆
hollow trail
I have now Dunc'd 
I have nitpicks, but on the whole I think they managed to do the source material justice. Which is wild, the whole thing was wild.
dawn prawn
Can’t disagree with that assessment.
dawn bloom
without referencing like half of the book, it still works really well and it doesn't feel like you need it (the intrigue and the inner dialogues) . Some characters are less rich without it, but it doesn't really matter to convey the main plot
pure tapir
Finally watched it and one bit that really hit home so much more this time round than in part 1 was the Harkonnen tech just felt... horrifying? Even just in the first encounter where they're "climbing" the mountain. The special effects and props teams did an incredible job
dawn prawn
I think its appropriate. The previous methods of coding the Harkonnen as "evil" is not really acceptable anymore, I'd say. So this approach gets it across just as unsubtley as the book and Lynch film did.
rough edge
I have now also watched Dune and I think the pacing in this one was a lot better than the 1st. Tbh, there were times in the first one where I felt like I was watching a perfume commercial and that kind of (for lack of a better word) lingered in the second movie, especially in the second half. The prop and costume design might be the best I’ve seen in a movie in a long time and it really gave the feel of a 60s - 70s sci-fi drama. It was definitely a fun movie and would recommend
dawn prawn
Well, it's much better paced than the equivalent section in David Lynch's DUNE, which just barrels through to the end.