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[Draugoth]

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• Rotten Tomatoes: 97% (102 Reviews)
  • Critics Consensus: Visually thrilling and narratively epic, Dune: Part Two continues Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of the beloved sci-fi series in spectacular form.
• Metacritic: 80 (40 Reviews)

Reviews:​

Deadline:

To be fair to Villeneuve, it was never a given that there’d be a thirst for this franchise in the first place, and audiences went into Part One not knowing that they’d want a Part Two just as soon as it finished. Part Two would be an epic achievement from any other director, but it feels that there is something bigger, better and obviously more decisive to come in the third and hopefully final part of the trilogy. “This isn’t over yet!” says Chani, and if anyone can tie up this strange, sprawling story and take it out with a bang, Villeneuve can.

Hollywood Reporter:

Running close to three hours, Dune: Part Two moves with a similar nimbleness to Paul and Chani’s sandwalk through the open desert. The narrative is propulsive and relatively easy to follow, Hans Zimmer’s score is enveloping, and Greig Fraser’s cinematography offers breathtaking perspectives that deepen our understanding of the fervently sought-after planet. All these elements make the sequel as much of a cinematic event as the first movie.

Variety (80/100):

Villeneuve treats each shot as if it could be a painting. Every design choice seems handed down through millennia of alternative human history, from arcane hieroglyphics to a slew of creative masks and veils meant to conceal the faces of those manipulating the levers of power, nearly all of them women.

Rolling Stone (90/100):

The French-Canadian filmmaker has delivered an expansion and a deepening of the world built off of Herbert’s prose, a YA romance blown up to Biblical-epic proportions, a Shakespearean tragedy about power and corruption, and a visually sumptuous second act that makes its impressive, immersive predecessor look like a mere proof-of-concept. Villeneuve has outdone himself.

The Wrap (75/100):

For those already invested in the “Dune” franchise, “Dune: Part Two” is a sweeping and engaging continuation that will make you eager for a third installment. And if you were a fence-sitter on the first, this should also hold your attention with a taut, well-done script and engaging characters with whom you’ll want to spend nearly three hours.

IndieWire (C):

The pieces on this chess board are so big that we can hardly even tell when they’re moving, and while that sensation helps to articulate the sheer inertia of Paul’s destiny, it also leads to a shrug of an ending that suggests Villeneuve and his protagonist are equally at the mercy of their epic visions. No filmmaker is better equipped to capture the full sweep of this saga (which is why, despite being disappointed twice over, I still can’t help but look forward to “Dune: Messiah”), and — sometimes for better, but usually for worse — no filmmaker is so capable of reflecting how Paul might lose his perspective amid the power and the resources that have been placed at his disposal.

SlashFilm (7/10):

Perhaps viewing the first "Dune" and "Dune: Part Two" back-to-back is the best solution, but I suspect most people aren't going to do that — they're going to see a new movie. And what they'll get is half of one. Maybe that won't matter, though. Perhaps audiences will be so wowed by that final act that they'll come away from "Dune: Part Two" appropriately stunned. And maybe whenever Villeneuve returns to this world — and it sure seems like he wants to — he can finally find a way to tell a complete story.

Inverse:

“In so many futures, our enemies prevail. But I do see a way. There is a narrow way through,” Paul tells his mother at one point in the film. Like Paul’s vision of the future, there were many ways for Dune: Part Two to fail. But not only does it succeed, it surpasses the mythic tragedy of the first film and turns a complicated, strange sci-fi story into a rousing blockbuster adventure. Dune: Part Two isn’t a miracle, per se. But it’s nothing short of miraculous.

IGN (8/10):

Dune: Part Two expands the legend of Paul Atreides in spectacular fashion, and the war for Arrakis is an arresting, mystical ride at nearly every turn. Denis Villeneuve fully trusts his audience to buy into Dune’s increasingly dense mythology, constructing Part Two as an assault on the senses that succeeds in turning a sprawling saga into an easily digestible, dazzling epic. Though the deep world-building sometimes comes at the cost of fleshing out newer characters, the totality of Dune: Part Two’s transportive power is undeniable.

The Independent (100/100):

Part Two is as grand as it is intimate, and while Hans Zimmer’s score once again blasts your eardrums into submission, and the theatre seats rumble with every cresting sand worm, it’s the choice moments of silence that really leave their mark.

Total Film (5/5):

The climax here is sharply judged, sustaining what worked on page while making the outcome more discomforting. It’s a finale that might throw off anyone unfamiliar with Herbert, or anyone expecting conventional pay-offs. But it does answer the story’s themes and, tantalizingly, leave room for more. Could Herbert’s trippy Dune Messiah be adapted next, as teased? Tall order, that. But on the strength of this extravagantly, rigorously realized vision, make no mistake: Villeneuve is the man to see a way through that delirious desert storm.

Polygon (93/100):

Dune: Part Two is exactly the movie Part One promised it could be, the rare sequel that not only outdoes its predecessor, but improves it in retrospect… One of the best blockbusters of the century so far.

Screenrant (90/100):

Dune: Part Two is an awe-inspiring, visually stunning sci-fi spectacle and a devastating collision of myth and destiny on a galactic scale.

RogerEbert.com (88/100):

Dune: Part Two is a robust piece of filmmaking, a reminder that this kind of broad-scale blockbuster can be done with artistry and flair.

———

Review Embargo: February 21 at 12:00PM ET

Release Date: March 1

Synopsis:

Paul Atreides continues his journey, united with Chani and the Fremen, as he seeks revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family, and endeavors to prevent a terrible future that only he can predict

Cast:

• Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides
• Zendaya as Chani
• Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica
• Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck
• Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen
• Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan
• Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban Harkonnen
• Christopher Walken as Shaddam IV
• Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat
• Léa Seydoux as Lady Margot Fenrin
• Souheila Yacoub as Shishakli
• Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
• Charlotte Rampling as Gaius Helen Mohiam
• Javier Bardem as Stilgar
• Tim Blake Nelson

 

[INC]

Both reviewers I like on YouTube liked it, so defo a watch for me

 

[thefool]

Spoiler

No young Alia.
Disgusting.

 

[AJUMP23]

I will form my own opinion.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

I was going to watch it even it's a stinker. Just anything but superhero stuff right now is fine for me.

Loved the first one. Could fap violently all day to the visuals and cinematography

 

[sono]

Day 1

 

[Halo is Back]

I'll be there for opening weekend and seeing it on IMAX. Can't fucking wait.

 

[DeafTourette]

I have to wait... Money is tight.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

I guess I'm an outlier on this one, but... I think it's a tragedy that Villeneuve's considerable talent is being wasted on _three_ of these films. That's so many years in which he could have produced something lasting, thoughtful, anything.

I didn't completely hate part 1, it was servicable; but it easily stands as his most forgettable cinematic product, and I think I've watched all his major US films (top: Arrival, Enemy, Prisoners, Blade Runner, Sicario... everything except his earlier French works). Arrival is beautifully constructed, Enemy is startling, and Blade Runner is a visually perfect continuation of its sci-fi franchise that's alone easily worth more than 20 Dune films.

I think it's the saturation of commercial elements in these Dune films, and borderline-Disneyish use of celebrities. Momoa always feels too corny for anything but a comic-book film, please don't hire him again, and Zendaya makes me wish to vomit a bit at her overwhelming blandness and lack of character, particularly when I realize someone thought she should be Mary Jane of all characters. I understand that Villeneuve wants his paycheck at this point in his career, but it's all a bit tiring.

I'll watch it once, but begrudgingly. I actually enjoy the Lynch Dune for its strangeness and read the book like every kid in that era, and I still find these new adaptations to be trying too hard to feel epic, and just a bit too much like popcorn blockbusters.

Spoiler

Also who the hell thought that feminine-face Chalamet and ugly ass Zendaya should ever have replaced these two... unbelievable.

 

[DragoonKain]

Both reviewers I like on YouTube liked it, so defo a watch for me

Jahns and Stuckmann?

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Jahns and Stuckmann?

I like Stuckmann. Been following him for a while now. Very entertaining youtuber.

 

[clarky]

Loved part one. So in for this and it sounds like it doesn't wrap up either and we'll be getting part 3? Lovely jubbly.

 

[Kenpachii]

So is this the last part, or they going to milk yet another part?

 

[Days like these...]

So is this the last part, or they going to milk yet another part?

How is it milking when Paul's story isn't finished till Messiah?

 

[Raven117]

So is this the last part, or they going to milk yet another part?

Dune is one book.

Dark messiah is the second book and the completion of Paul’s story. (But there is resolution at the end of Dune)

 

[JimmyRustler]

Wait, it’s again open ended? After part 2 barely got approved by the studio? smh

 

[Valedix]

Gotta get around to watching the first part sometime.

 

[INC]

Jahns and Stuckmann?

Stuckman and Jeremy

Stuckman one of the few who does manga and anime reviews without being cringe, and seems like a genuine dude

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I guess I'm an outlier on this one, but... I think it's a tragedy that Villeneuve's considerable talent is being wasted on _three_ of these films. That's so many years in which he could have produced something lasting, thoughtful, anything.

I didn't completely hate part 1, it was servicable; but it easily stands as his most forgettable cinematic product, and I think I've watched all his major US films (top: Arrival, Enemy, Prisoners, Blade Runner, Sicario... everything except his earlier French works). Arrival is beautifully constructed, Enemy is startling, and Blade Runner is a visually perfect continuation of its sci-fi franchise that's alone easily worth more than 20 Dune films.

I think it's the saturation of commercial elements in these Dune films, and borderline-Disneyish use of celebrities. Momoa always feels too corny for anything but a comic-book film, please don't hire him again, and Zendaya makes me wish to vomit a bit at her overwhelming blandness and lack of character, particularly when I realize someone thought she should be Mary Jane of all characters. I understand that Villeneuve wants his paycheck at this point in his career, but it's all a bit tiring.

I'll watch it once, but begrudgingly. I actually enjoy the Lynch Dune for its strangeness and read the book like every kid in that era, and I still find these new adaptations to be trying too hard to feel epic, and just a bit too much like popcorn blockbusters.

Spoiler

Also who the hell thought that feminine-face Chalamet and ugly ass Zendaya should ever have replaced these two... unbelievable.

Maybe Part 2 is way better, but I thought Part 1 was a slog. Not going to ever watch that again. I thought it was like Blade Runner. Super CGI effects, super panoramic scope, but also super long and super meh. If it had more action and shaved off half an hour it would had been much better.

I'd rather watch Batman Dark Knight and Terminator 2 which are all roughly the same movie length. Even long ass mafia dramas like Goodfellas and Casino feels better paced.

 

[pachura]

Where Alia

 

[scoobidoo112]

Can't wait. Got my two IMAX tickets ready

 

[OmegaSupreme]

I'll be seeing this baby in IMAX asap. The only movie I have any real hype for this year.

 

[Lukaku's First Touch]

Villeneuve treats each shot as if it could be a painting. Every design choice seems handed down through millennia of alternative human history, from arcane hieroglyphics to a slew of creative masks and veils meant to conceal the faces of those manipulating the levers of power, nearly all of them women.

Yes, that's very important. That almost all of them are women.

 

[FeralEcho]

I like Stuckmann. Been following him for a while now. Very entertaining youtuber.

Chris Stuckmann is a hack fanboy.I unsubscribed years ago after I realized just how far his fanboysm goes.It's pathetic.

Write Star Wars on a literal piece of shit and he'll give it an instant 10/10 praising it as the best shit he's ever seen.The opinion of such a deluded fanboy on anything is worth as much as a fart in the wind. Do better for yourself and find someone who's opinion is actually worth a damn.

 

[jason10mm]

I have to wait... Money is tight.

But you spent it seeing Madame Web?????

j/k, hopefully D2 has a long run in Imax for yah.

This line struck me as strange, from the Hollywood Reporter:
"Running close to three hours, Dune: Part Two moves with a similar nimbleness to Paul and Chani’s sandwalk through the open desert."

Given that the ENTIRE POINT of desert walking is to have an erratic, non-repeating, staggered gait lest you attract a worm, I can't tell if this is damning with faint praise, legit not understanding sandwalking, or if they changed it for the film (I don't recall if they had it in part 1).

 

[jason10mm]

Yes, that's very important. That almost all of them are women.

I'm curious if ANY of these critics have read far enough into the series to realize that the Bene Gesserit are

Spoiler: book spoilers, possible Dune 2 spoilers

conducting a breeding program and practicing eugenics including incest and male infanticide [how else can Jessica only bear a girl?] Maybe they ought to back off on the praise a bit! Sure the BG are trying to crack the male monopoly on spice fueled space travel, but seeing the sacrifices the Navigators make for that power I'm not sure many women would be lining up for that job, kinda like any frontline gig in the energy sector

 

[sankt-Antonio]

The poster made me learn that Zendaya is a mononymous person. Which strangely makes me like her even less.
If only her character wasn't pushed so hard in the Dune movie(s). Don't remember her being much more than a women the main char had to impregnate.

 

[Bloobs]

A woman gets pushed in today's cinema...

 

[ADiTAR]

I thought the first one was great, except for the action sequences, those looked messy.

But I am very disappointed to hear there's gonna be a third installment, I though this second one was it.

 

[clarky]

I thought the first one was great, except for the action sequences, those looked messy.

But I am very disappointed to hear there's gonna be a third installment, I though this second one was it.

More of this stuff the better if you ask me. Not seen part 2 yet obviously, but already looking forward to part 3, then marathoning them all in one go, multiple times.

Bring it on I say.

 

[pel1300]

But I am very disappointed to hear there's gonna be a third installment, I though this second one was it.

Why? I understand people being disappointed in unexpected sequels that are cynically greenlit as nothing but cash grabs ie Joker 2, Squid Game season 2.

But this is literally based on a classic book series that goes well beyond a part 2.

 

[DKehoe]

Why? I understand people being disappointed in unexpected sequels that are cynically greenlit as nothing but cash grabs ie Joker 2, Squid Game season 2.

But this is literally based on a classic book series that goes well beyond a part 2.

Yeh, it's not just them having to scramble to figure out more plot to bolt onto a story that wasn't planned for it. The material has been there for years.

 

[ADiTAR]

Yeh, it's not just them having to scramble to figure out more plot to bolt onto a story that wasn't planned for it. The material has been there for years.

I thought it'll just be based on the one book, and the others can be their own thing.

 

[DKehoe]

I thought it'll just be based on the one book, and the others can be their own thing.

Villeneuve has said Dune Messiah will be the last one he adapts. So I guess we will have to wait and see what happens past that point.

 

[Jsisto]

Interesting they chose not to include Alia, I wonder why. Too hard to cast? Didn’t want to creep out audiences? I was looking forward to seeing an abomination, oh well. .

 

[DeepEnigma]

Enjoyed the first. Was going to see this regardless of reviews.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

There is action in this movie?

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

The poster made me learn that Zendaya is a mononymous person. Which strangely makes me like her even less.
If only her character wasn't pushed so hard in the Dune movie(s). Don't remember her being much more than a women the main char had to impregnate.

I guess her father's name Coleman is too boring for her ambitions so she removed it. Which is all I'll ever need to know about her as a person.

 

[analog_future]

Wait, it’s again open ended? After part 2 barely got approved by the studio? smh

I'm glad they're writing the story to tell the story rather than trying to account for factors outside of their control.

 

[Ulysses 31]

 

[Jsisto]

I hope I get to see them adapt God Emperor in my lifetime. Would be a very odd and unsettling movie, but it’s absolutely doable in the right hands.

 

[Insane Metal]

I'll see this. I trust Villeneuve.

 

[3liteDragon]

1 was an amazing experience in IMAX, already booked my IMAX Dual Laser tix for opening weekend. 2023 was the year of Nolan & 2024 will be the year of Villeneuve, we’re spoiled.

 

[FunkMiller]

Wait… this doesn’t conclude with the end of the first book?

Please tell me that’s not right!

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

This moment is a good opportunity to find and stream Villeneuve's best films.

I've probably watched his Blade Runner sequel 10 times, still looks incredible. I miss his collaborations with Roger Deakins on cinematography (also had him on Prisoners, Sicario). I wonder why he wasn't available for Dune.

 

[Valedix]

Going to watch Dune 1 this weekend, just in time for part 2.

 

[Jsisto]

Wait… this doesn’t conclude with the end of the first book?

Please tell me that’s not right!

From what I’ve read, I’m fairly sure it does. It just leaves open the opportunity for more, which makes sense of course. Got my ticket. Can’t remember the last time I was this excited for a movie…or anything for that matter.

 

[chromhound]

 

[jason10mm]

That this somehow made it past a dozen exec committees and lawyers and into production as a real product gives me hope that the pendulum is swinging back towards sanity and a bit of naughty fun

 

[Roberts]

This moment is a good opportunity to find and stream Villeneuve's best films.

I've probably watched his Blade Runner sequel 10 times, still looks incredible. I miss his collaborations with Roger Deakins on cinematography (also had him on Prisoners, Sicario). I wonder why he wasn't available for Dune.

I love Deakins and he has shot some of the most visually arresting images in modern cinema, but I genuinely think Greig Fraser is a better at crafting epic images. He is basically the best DP at the moment.