An all-consuming film
Dune: Part Two graced the silver screens at the start of March and it’s nothing short of an audio-visual feast. Sand has never been so well shot or, surprisingly, colourful. Each shot in the film feels vast as if Paul Atreides and the viewer alike are being brought into the desert planet of Arrakis.
Hans Zimmer’s music within Dune has always been an eclectic mix of light electronic, thundering percussion, and throaty vocal elements – only now, each song feels weightier than before. The iconic “Gom Jabbar” theme returns, as subtle and yet as loudly as before, there’s a momentum to it that seems to propel each motion in the film faster.
At times, it feels as if the sounds of the film are casting you into the role of each character. Rolling waves of sand, cacophonic and brutal clashes of metal against rock, explosions, each call out to the audience to listen.
The movie is also, at all times, rubbing close with reality. Though Dune was written in 1965, the struggles of ecological destruction in the face of capital gain and the ongoing genocide of the Freman resonates with the events of today.
In many ways, Dune: Part Two complicates what was barely simple in the first film. Paul’s continued meteoric rise as a potential Messianic figure and behind-closed-doors political dealings simultaneously go hand in hand and also conflict with each other. No scene is unimportant. New players come and go, leaving their mark on the game for the emperor’s position.
Additions to the Dune cast feel wisely considered and avoid the risk of showboating celebrities. Christopher Walken as the Emperor is reserved and cautious; Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan is both detached and curious; and Austin Butler as na-Baron Feyd-Rautha is deeply unsettling, at times treading between sexually sadistic and brutally cold.
Returning star, Timothée Chalamet encapsulates the anti-hero of Paul Atreides perfectly – torn between political ascendency through the co-opting of a fundamentalist religious movement and the liberation of an oppressed peoples.
Casting would mean nothing, though, if it weren’t without excellent costume design. The sleek space suits of Harkonnen soldiers are like animated shards of obsidian against Arrakis’ landscape, surveying and hunting. Feyd’s handlers in the arena are grotesque, donning a thin, stretched look with bull-like horns as they jitter across the battleground.
Beyond the focus and attention paid to costuming, sets and props also feel well-crafted. Each ship feels innovative. Weird metallic orbs and dragonfly-like cruisers grace the screen. It’s enough to drive an engineer stir-crazy.
If there is any sci-fi film to see this year, it is Dune: Part Two. It is a terrific theatre experience that, at any rate, will have you hunched at the edge of your seat for every minute of its runtime. Power over spice is power over everything, and power over everything is power over the audience in front of the big screen.
