Dune – part two (2024), directed by Denis Villeneuve

Starting immediately where part one left off, Paul Atreides and his mother Lady Jessica have escaped the Harkonnen massacre and have taken refuge with the rebel Fremen. To stay alive and gain acceptance they must assimilate and prove themselves to the tribe of desert ‘rats’. While more than willing to become a Fremen fighter and leader, Paul resists his destiny as their messiah until a new and even more ruthless Harkonnen forces his hand. In the first film Villeneuve did an amazing job of adapting this very complex story; the sequel is less successful. The cinematography is spectacular and the star-studded cast does a good job with difficult material but it lacks emotional heft. A running time of 165 minutes tests the strongest bladder but still feels rushed, with so much story crammed in. While the broad themes of trade, politics and religion are well established, details are necessarily skipped over making it easy to miss salient points and leaving many unanswered questions. A focus on the fighting rather than development of relationships makes what should be a powerful ending fall flat. Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya and Rebecca Fergusson are great in the lead roles. Austin Butler has fun as the horrendous new Harkonnen, but Florence Pugh is severely underused as the Emperor’s daughter, possibly serving as an introduction to a meatier role in the next film.