Review by John P. Harvey.
Fatherless and Houseless and his mentor Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin) missing, following the massacre of House Atreides by House Harkonnen (Dune: Part One), Paul Atreides (Timothée Chamolet), a stranger in the lands of the desert-dwelling Fedayken, has recently been joined by his Bene Gesserit–trained mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson).
But the young Duke must gain the trust of the Fedayken if he is to win the love of their enchanting warror princess Chani (Zendaya) — and if, in order to avenge his father upon the treacherous Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) and free the Fedayken of Harkonnen enslavement, he is to win the Fedayken’s loyalty in northern Arrakis, the planet they call Dune.
Passing his first test, survival of hand-to-hand combat with one of the Fedayken’s finest, Paul knows that in order to truly join the Fedayken, he must prove himself as a man — meaning attracting and mastering one of the great deadly spice worms.
His mother knows that Paul must face an even deadlier trial, for which he must join her in the planet’s even more inhospitable southern hemisphere.
Paul, himself secretly Bene Gesserit–trained by his mother, is wracked by horrific prophetic dreams of total war, in which billions die due to him. He knows he must never travel to the south, no matter the temptation. Yet his only hope of steering his way through the maze of possible futures that torment him is to face the trial awaiting him.
Setting up this galactic epic with the unfolding tale of the Atreides massacre, Dune: Part One gave us a taste of the various flavours swirling through this gargantuan tale: the massive firepower of two Great Houses as one attacks the other on the basis of intrigue in the Imperial Court; the formidable interplanetary interests at play; the shaping of history by the occult powers of the witch-like Bene Gesserit.
These multifarious ingredients emerge more clearly in Dune: Part Two, in which the major players — Galactic Emperor Shaddam (Christopher Walken), Baron Harkonnen and his planetary representatives, the Bene Gesserit, Gurney Halleck, the earnest southern Fedayken warrior Stilgar (Javier Bardem), Chani, Jessica, the long-suffering but dauntless Fedayken, and Paul Atreides — are pitted against one another to set Paul’s feet, despite his every effort, on the path that weaves through his every nightmare: becoming their messiah.
With acting by its many veteran leads that superbly captures the voices and personalities of many of the novel’s lead characters. and a good deal of variety in emotional tone, Dune: Part Two sets a cracking pace to deliver us to the very edge of the pan-galactic war that Paul Atreides foresaw.
In just two fairly long parts, the movie couldn’t possibly capture the breadth and complexity of the novel; even four such parts would have difficulty in doing that. But the novel’s spirit and enormity have translated well into live action, especially in Dune: Part Two.