Dune: Part Two (2024)

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson

Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.

The saga continues…and I can now officially say I am not a ‘Dune’ fan.

Yes, there certainly is much to admire about ‘Dune: Part Two’. Let’s see; the visuals are stunning, the costumes and make-up are fantastic, the cinematography is good, the set pieces are impressive. The scale of the entire production is of epic proportions…but the movie is insanely boring. We once again follow characters moving through the desert – and honestly, the film is about as interesting as…well, watching the desert! The pacing is incredibly slow, and on top of this there are way too many characters and back stories with too little exciting happening. I thought the first film was slow, but this one is moving along at HALF the pace!!

And speaking of characters; none of the characters were truly standout characters – no, not even Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet). I must say, for a protagonist he isn’t a likeable character, and no, I don’t think I really rooted for him. On the contrary, he annoyed me more often than not. In fact, MOST of the characters annoyed me. Take the visuals away, and what do you have? Still a compelling film? No.

‘Dune: Part Two’ can be seen as a religious film, and in case you’re wondering it is not religious as in Christianity. This is about religion – 8,000 years from now. There has always been religions. They come and go and new religions are invented – just as Christianity was just over 2,000 years ago. The film sees the rise of another (religious) leader 8,000 years from now. This is Paul Atreides, or Usul as he is named. Some say he is a Messiah; some say he is a false prophet. They say nothing can be achieved without faith, and that they will make the non-believers believe. Any of this sound familiar?

Apart from the visuals, this “epic masterpiece” failed to impress me. It is a long and slow film, and no, I did not understand everything that was going on. Every scene dragged – or at least, it felt that way. An hour into the movie, it still felt like an introduction to a movie and I still had very little idea what it was actually all about. They kept talking about spice, but to me it was more about the rise of a (new) religious leader.

It also felt like the film incorporated ideas from about a dozen movies or so. And despite set more than 8,000 years into the future, the film still had medieval elements. I mean, these people have spacecraft and powerful weapons, but they fight with swords!!! Seriously!!?? Why are there hardly any gunfire during battle scenes? This is the future, right? Right? Oh, and that cliched hand to hand combat scene climax…yawn already, Hollywood!! And is that love story supposed to be a love story???

‘Dune: Part Two’ leaves the door wide open for Part Three – which I will NOT be watching…Ugh, I’m just not a fan!

‘Dune: Part Two’ earned nearly $712 million on a budget of $190 million.

Would I watch it again? No!