Dune Part Two

I caught Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Part One on streaming, thought it was decent, so I decided to watch Part Two in the theater. I found it decent too but left pretty disappointed and the reason may be surprising (or maybe not, who knows).

I haven’t read the books and barely remember the 1984 Lynch version so I don’t have a dog in the fight for comparisons to either. That includes casting choices and commitment to the books – converting something to the visual format is always going to result in changes and the storytelling process. What matters to me is if the story on the screen is written and directed well. Cinematography, acting, VFX, etc. all factor in too, of course.

The problem I have is that when Denis Villeneuve released Dune Part One, it just ended abruptly. I read that and decided to hold off on watching it until Part Two was closer to release. Oddly, at the time Part One was released, it wasn’t clear if Part Two was going to be released. The reason for this seemed to be “if people like it, the conclusion will be made.” Well, people seemed to like it and Part Two was made.

My issue with Part Two is that it just ends abruptly too. After watching Part One, I watched a couple of videos of people discussing it and one of them described it as “sort of like Game of Thrones in space.” Now with Part Two having ended abruptly, I can state that’s exactly what Dune is. People have been baited into watching a movie series that should be on television. The question I asked myself at the end was, “Do I feel like watching eight more Dune films?” The answer is no plus I’d be dead by then anyway. Then I asked myself, “What if those ten films over 15-20 years are just season 1?”

There’s more to it than just the abrupt endings. Things like how the spice actually facilitates the space travel is never discussed, the reason for the Baron’s body is never discussed, etc. I know this can be found in the books and online in various videos explaining it all, but the movie series is clearly saving this stuff for a later date. Add in Anya Taylor Joy’s five second character scene and the ending where [SPOILERS] a holy war among all the houses has begun and it’s clear that Dune 2 was made to facilitate a number of more Dune movies.

This raises the probability that at some point there will be a rushed ending that tarnishes the film franchise. Remember Game of Thrones? That was handled so poorly it’s as if the show never existed even though it was the hottest show of the teens.

Some random notes:

• Timothée Chalamet riding a record-breaking phallus seemed kind of gay but a bunch of (seemingly) heterosexual women were cheering him on, so I guess that was ok.
• Bruce Greenwood, one of my favorite actors, has a random cameo towards the end. He’s not listed in the imdb credits, but it sure looked like him for a few seconds.
• Javier Bardem is probably the overall best across the two movies IMHO.
• I’m guessing nobody is going to admit that Feyd-Rautha (header image) gets raped by Lady Margot Fenring. Was he really born a psycho or sociopathic killer or did he just become that way after getting raped by women? This needs to be explored more in-depth.