Now Available from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
“Dune Part Two” is an infinitely superior film to the 2021 installment of “Dune” which, when all was said and done, felt more like a prologue than an actual narrative. While “Dune” was good, the second chapter to Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation feels so much more cohesive. Not to mention a lot of the concepts and ideas and so much less abstract and much easier to comprehend. There’s just so much more focus and laser beam direction this time out. While, again, “Dune” was good in its own right, I just had a much better time in how Villeneuve adopts the whole concept of “Dune” in the vein of “The Empire Strikes Back.”
The exiled Duke Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen Warriors while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators, led by Beast Rabban, who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between Chani, the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future as the prophet Muad’Dib, that only he can foresee.
When we see Paul Atreides, he’s in his “All is Lost” phase, where he’s struggling to recoup his massive losses, and tries to come to grips with the idea of the label of messiah being forced upon him. The film also gives us much larger exploration of the Harkonnens and how they wreak pure havoc on the desert landscape. “Dune Part Two” makes good on a lot of its promise, even introducing the famed sand worms in all of their glory. Villeneuve is devoted to the pay off for the waiting fanbase; he delivers with some great scenes of combat, fascinating spiritual concepts and warfare.
There’s also the dreaded gargantuan sand worms just outright demolishing the enemy on the battlefield. Thankfully Zendaya and the returning Timothee Chalamet have some bang up chemistry with their almost instant romance amounting to a lot of tension and interesting emotion. The film also introduces some newer characters, one of whom is played by my personal favorite: Florence Pugh. Although she’s mostly reduced to a hand full of scenes, she’s gorgeous as the Princess here, and she lends considerable importance to the turn of events in the finale. Javier Bardem is also particularly good as one of the Fremen tribe who helps Paul Atreides realize his pull potential.
The stand out, though, is Austin Butler who is just terrifying as the sadistic warrior Feyd-Rautha who is not only skilled in combat, but gets pleasure with psychological warfare at every turn. “Dune: Part Two” is a step up from the first film both in pacing, coherence, and outright entertainment value. Villeneuve successfully raises an argument for returning for the third chapter, and I’d love to see how this saga unfolds.
Physical media collectors will be discouraged to hear that a lot of the best special features are included on the Digital Copy of “Dune Part Two” while the disc gets only the bare essentials.
If you’re hardcore in to “Dune Part Two,” then redeeming the digital code is a no brainer, but for us casual fans, it’s an underhanded trick. The 4K UHD and Blu-Ray includes the segments Chakobsa Training, Creating the Fremen World, Finding the Worlds of Dune, Buzz Around the New “Thopter,” Worm-Riding, Becoming Feyd, A New Set of Threads, and Deeper into the Desert: The Sounds of the Dune.
The Digital Copy for the film includes Filmbooks: House Corrino, Filmbooks: The Reverand Mother, Filmbooks: Water, Filmbooks: Lisan-al-Gaib, An Ensemble for the Ages, Inside Dune: The Spice Harvester Attack, Inside Dune: Gurney Hallaeck’s Revenge, and Inside Dune: The Fight for the Imperial Throne. There’s also the aforementioned Chakobsa Training, Creating the Fremen World, Finding the Worlds of Dune, Buzz Around the New “Thopter”, Worm-Riding, Becoming Feyd, A New Set of Threads, and finally, Deeper into the Desert: The Sounds of the Dune.