Dune 2 is a direct upgrade to Dune, it keeps the beauty of the world, the power of the music and the immersion in the world building. My main gripe with Dune was that it didn’t finish in a satisfying place, which is understandable seeing as it’s in the middle of a book but I feel like it would have been better if the film had ended 10-15 minutes earlier on a better cliff hanger (though that may have impacted the opening of Dune 2, so I will comprise by saying that I’m happy that Dune’s ending suffered so that Dune 2 could be better). Dune 2 didn’t have this issue and finishes in a solid place.
I don’t really have any significant issues with Dune 2, there is so much to praise: from the acting, to the music, the story, the visuals, it was all awesome and impeccable. In particular Timothée Chalamet and Javier Bardem were great and Austin Butler’s characterisation was very good.
If I was to nit pick, there were a couple of moments of Paul’s (Timothée Chalamet) character development which I wish had been massaged into slightly longer segments (even just 30 seconds to a minute more), as some of them seemed a little sudden but do on the other hand make the transition more shocking (in a good way). Following on from that, some parts of the passage of time are unclear and a little confusing given other plot points, though that is easily forgiven. The biggest, gripe for me was that as much as the music was great and enhanced my immersion and enjoyment, there were a few times where I could not understand what was being said, only for a brief moment but still a little frustrated. Lastly, I don’t really have a problem with this but when there is melee combat in films, I have high standards which I knew couldn’t be met in this film but with the standard all other aspects being so high in this film some of the tight, choppy fighting was slightly disappointing but I understand that it couldn’t really be expected of the actors to prepare for a fight so that it could be shot wide.
In conclusion, a film that people said was good, is very good, and is outstanding in several ways. The worst part is now I’m over excited about the next one and I must now reconcile with the long wait that lies ahead.
Score:
Enjoyment: 8.7/10
Critically: 9.0/10