This review may contain spoilers.
jo’s review published on Letterboxd:
Paul: “How big?”
Gurney: “Enough to blow up a whole planet.”
[Stilgar and Chani stare at Gurney]
Gurney: “It’s a figure of speech. You know what I mean.”
Round 4. Back in IMAX — this time, with my other friends and an even bigger crowd (I haven’t been to a crowded IMAX theater since Avatar: The Way of Water). Prepare for a long review based on what has to be my favorite viewing for this film besides my first viewing.
I don’t think I can write anything substantial yet. Maybe except for the fact that I’m always taken aback by the scale of it all on that giant IMAX screen. Some other blockbusters can attempt to replicate its aesthetic and visuals, but they will never come close to looking as jaw-dropping as they do here. Even if this is a ‘Part Two’, it doesn’t feel like the same film as the first one. If Dune: Part One was a “welcoming into the world” type of film, laying the groundwork with hints of what is to come, Dune: Part Two is where everything begins to unfold. Obviously, Dune Messiah is where everything becomes crystal clear, but Denis does not shy away from presenting the dangers of fundamentalism and what happens when politics and religion are fused together. These themes don’t make for a crowd-pleasing film, and yet, they are still as powerful and as relevant as ever, so much that it managed to have a wide reach of a crowd like it is getting right now. Villenueve knows how to maintain the element of intrigue and mystery, hence, why the audience still starves for larger-than-life stories like this.
The standouts in the cast to me this time are still Timmy and Zendaya, but also more so Rebecca Ferguson and Javier Bardem. Jessica in Part One is a little more motherly, but here, she simply just does not give a fuck, and she’s utterly terrifying and hateable. Javier Bardem, as I’ve said before, is surprisingly funny. Having seen it four times, that scene where Stilgar warns Paul about the desert spirits, the ‘gins’, already had me laughing, even before Stilgar says the joke. Yet, Javier Bardem’s portrayal of Stilgar as a blind follower who is obsessed with the projection or idea of a prophecy coming true is heartbreaking. Normally, these figures come across as inhumane and insane for me, but Javier Bardem manages to make me feel bad for his character. Zendaya’s acting always makes my heart break for Chani, even if I knew what was coming after reading the book and even after I have seen this film three times prior. Every expression Zendaya makes adds an ounce of humanity and realism to her character, with her voice carrying some toughness and fierceness that strengthens her aspect of being a non-believer. Hell, she’s the only with sense among all the characters.
As for Timmy, what else is there to say besides he is beyond phenomenal? It’s so hard to put into words how Timmy simply carries the entire movie, as great as the other cast are. Denis is right to cast him as Paul Atreides as he truly embodies a young, intelligent boy, who eventually becoming a grown up — an adult who is forced to follow a destiny that he has always been trying to avoid, but once he accepts that, he becomes a dangerously evil figure. People have been talking about that monologue, and even I can say that it never fails to blow me away. I also particularly love that small bit beforehand where he monologues with his hands, considering especially how much emphasis on hand shots there have been in Part One to symbolize power and control. Along with his voice and line-delivery, Chalamet’s acting is bone-chilling and refreshingly dark and mature.
This wasn’t mentioned in my second review (it was supposed to be until I had forgotten about it), but the close-up shots sell its intimacy within its grander scale. Maybe I still prefer Nolan and van Hoytema a little more in of capturing those close-up shots with IMAX cameras, but goddamn, do they still look great here. Each close-up shot is stunning and builds tension as it heightens the emotions of each scene. Like Part One, it does the job of conveying how these characters feel better than how the books reveal their inner thoughts, which has always been a dauntingly impossible task for the screen in the first place. Even during its smaller moments, these characters and the world around them still feel larger-than-life, much of a testament to that huge IMAX screen that I saw this on.
And the score. God, that score. I have a lot of favorites from the Part One score, but Part Two’s score strikes the right balance between being loudly aggressive and ominous and romantically and peacefully intimate. Some of the score in the battle scenes reminds me of Bane’s theme from The Dark Knight Rises, which makes for one of my favorite villain themes (I know, unpopular fave), yet, just like Part One’s score, it feels very otherworldly. The more muscular, sinister theme that overshadows the original Dune theme perfectly adds some layer to Paul’s visual character development and what he eventually becomes in the film. It’s as clear as day how much Hans Zimmer loves the source material, which is just as much as Denis and crew do.
My original draft stated that I’ve learned that a bigger crowd, which I usually like ing, doesn’t always mean better (more on this later), but then you moments like Paul riding a sandworm for the first time or the final duel between Paul and Feyd-Rautha — moments that had everybody on the edge of their seat (not to mention, the collective gasps when Paul verbally decides to take Irulan’s hand in marriage) and make the trip to the cinema with a bunch of strangers truly feel like a communal experience. It’s not everyday that you get to go to IMAX — especially in the Philippines, where ticket prices have hiked like crazy — but Dune is an event film. Much like Nolan’s films, it demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Once the film had ended, everybody clapped their hands, despite its bleak ending, and you just know that you have all witnessed something truly special.
I’ll write a more substantial review soon, but I still fucking loved Dune: Part Two — and the experience made it better. Yes, the opening night crowd had more enthusiastic fans (save for that one boomer who was on their bright ass phone the whole time except during the action scenes) compared to this viewing, even though there were more people here, but there’s a certain heightened feeling in witnessing larger-than-life images of a massive story with a crowd that chose to see it in IMAX for pure cinematic immersion that they couldn’t get at home. There’s also some sentimental feeling in seeing it with friends (two of whom are fans), shouting “Lisan Al Gaib” every two minutes as soon as you leave the theater, doing the sandwalk, or even blasting Hans Zimmer’s score in the car ride home. From there, the film is more than just a piece of ‘content’ for viewing — it’s a poetic experience that stays with its audience and moves them in ways that they could not put into words. That, to Denis Villeneuve, is what makes good cinema, and he himself has made great cinema once again with this ion project that he had long dreamt of bringing to the big screen.
10/10
P.S. Seeing it with a friend who was the first Dune friend I’ve made and promised to take to IMAX for this film, a friend who’s been meaning to see this in IMAX for a while now, and a friend whom I had converted into a fan recently perhaps sold this and my first viewings as my favorite viewings by far. This rewatch had me feeling as if I’m seeing a mix of LOTR and The Dark Knight for the first time.
P.P.S. And now, for the rant. Shoutout to that one guy who talked so loudly during Rabban’s failed raid and to that other guy who literally VIDEO CALLED his girlfriend in the last hour of the film. I could forgive the people constantly going to the bathroom every two minutes or maybe even those people who were late and had to use their bright ass flashlights to see their way (plus that one guy beside me who had a bright watch, despite me indirectly cursing at him) but those two people, in particular, took me and my friends out of the movie. You’re paying 750 pesos to go to the theater, yet you cannot observe proper theater etiquette? Give me a break.
Most-Anticipated Films of 2024
2024 Ranked
2024 In Theaters
2024 First Time Watches
