Dune: Part Two
Dune: Part Two
Paul Atreides aligns with Chani and the Fremen, fueled by a desire for retribution against those who dismantled his family. Confronted with a pivotal decision between his profound affection for an individual and the destiny of the universe, he commits to averting a dire future he alone envisions.
Tubeman72 reviewedSeptember 30, 2025
Without much pause, the viewer has to jump again on the fast train of Dune (2021). Paul Atreides (Timothée “Wonka” Chalamet) hides with his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) among the Fremen, the native people of the spice planet Arrakis. Under the guidance of the Fremen leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) and the young woman from Paul’s visions, Chani (Zendaya), mother and son learn how to survive in the desert. In return, they help the Fremen in their guerrilla war against the killers of Paul’s father Leto, House of Harkonnen. While he fights for the last members of House Atreides, Paul struggles with visions of the future and his role as Lisan Al Gaib, the Messiah for the Bene Gesserit and the fundamentalist Fremen.
Meanwhile, the Harkonnens, led by the evil Baron (Stellan Skarsgård), believe Paul and Lady Jessica are dead. The Baron also wants to destroy the Fremen rebels to take back full control of spice production on Arrakis. But his nephew Beast Rabban (Dave Bautista) fails to defeat the Fremen and is replaced by another young family member, the feared Feyd-Rautha (Austin “Elvis” Butler). At the same time, the Emperor (Christopher Walken) and the sisterhood Bene Gesserit watch closely how the fight between the Harkonnens and the Fremen develops.
The story moves much faster than in the first part, with family conflicts, hidden motives and space battles in Frank Herbert’s huge universe. Part I was calm and thoughtful, but Part II is more dynamic. In a positive way, Dune: Part II can be compared to The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980), episode V of the Star Wars saga. The seeds planted in episode IV, A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977), grow fast in episode V, sometimes with surprising results, and basic ideas like the Force no longer need to be explained. Although Dune by Villeneuve is closer in tone to Game of Thrones, they all share themes like good versus evil, the Messiah idea, political intrigue in a noble world, and supernatural powers. The Dune universe also puts more focus on the ecology of its planets.
You may need to catch your breath when the credits roll. The film is even more overwhelming than the first one. Director Villeneuve and his team filled over two and a half hours with a lot of story. It is almost a miracle that the film only becomes unbalanced near the end (and to think David Lynch had to put everything in only two hours). Still, Paul’s change from man to Messiah feels a little forced, especially when the plot moves very quickly in the last act.
Like in other fantasy epics, such as Fritz Lang’s Die Nibelungen (1924), Villeneuve and writer Jon Spaiths created another epic film journey. The humor and romance, that little bit of lightness, also work better than in the first film. And if Star Wars had not been Star Wars, it would have been Dune. Herbert’s books were a big inspiration for George Lucas. With these films, Villeneuve clearly wants to give the world modern myths to reflect on. And he also shows what Lucas left behind with the Ewoks. Let Part III (and maybe more) come soon!