Dune Part II (2024)

I'll never forget going to see Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in theaters with my siblings. The magic I experienced that day has stuck with me for my lifetime. Since then there's only been a handful of movies that have impacted my life the same way. Dune Part II is one of those movies. I saw it in theaters three time and just recently rewatched it at home once again. As Owen Wilson would say, "wow." This movie is magical. We open with Princess Irulan writing about and digesting the brutal destruction of House Atreides. She invites us to consider the weight of her father's silence and bring us closer to understanding the boiling rage in Paul's heart, whom picks up where the Princess leaves off. Villeneuve immediately delivers a heart pounding action sequence that delivers. As if to say, THANK YOU for believing in this project. It was worth the wait. The first hour of the film is one great scene after another. Jessica becoming the reverend mother, the harvester attack, Paul becoming fedaykin, and the worm ride... one of the best made scenes in a long, long time. We then take a dark turn into the Harkonnen world and meet Feyd Rautha (Butler). We get Léa Seydoux's sultry performance as Lady Margot. If I were to say anything negative about this film it is that after this point, the film takes a break from being awesome. We'd reached such a high point in the film in just sixty minutes - it's natural, but noticeable. Perhaps if the film was given a longer runtime they could have converted the middle 40 minutes from just plot progression to real meaty substance. Alas, this is a production of monstrous size and a considerably weird IP for Hollywood to bank on. It is understandable that they wanted to keep the runtime less than three hours. I have so much to say but let me try and keep this short. Rebecca Ferguson and Javier Bardem give two of my favorite performances of the year. The soundtrack for this film is on fire and elevates every scene and gives me goosebumps. I love it dearly and will continue to rewatch this as much as I rewatch Lord of the Rings. 

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