Stanisland Magazine

The second part of the Dune saga arrives. But is it a flat disappointment like its predecessor? The consensus says no – we say, yes! It is.

In the first instalment of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel, we came away with a case of raised eyebrows. Given the hype surrounding its release we expected a spectacle like no other. Instead, we got three hours of dull cinematography, and a movie that feels disjointed thanks to poor casting choices, most notable in the inclusion of star power which failed to conjure a noteworthy performance. They were either wooden (Zendaya), banal (Oscar Isaac), or played the same character again (Jason Momoa). Timothée Chalamet’s same old starlet routine, supported a vision which felt stale and boring for the most part, something that continues.

Forget part one, says director

The director says you don’t need to see the first movie to understand the second part, though that is probably marketing speak. To me this just says the first movie is worth skipping for the second part, or that perhaps I should read the book? That’s right, I haven’t, and neither has 99% of its target audience. But for a better word, we came to switch off for a three hour film (yes, that’s a power nap and then some), and that could potentially quite literally happen.

It’s risky if you disliked the first instalment, and quite possibly hype is dragging this movie forward once more. This decade has been marked by mass hysteria for many items of so-called interest, most notably driven by trends and peer pressure. For me, Dune is no different, and it’s a movie you can’t binge watch like say, Lord of the Rings.

So what’s Dune 2 like?

Three hours of boredom, yes, that’s right—three hours of clock-watching boredom, wondering if you need to take a whizz.

“Dune: Part Two” is essentially driven by hype and the directors fans truly haven’t grasped that his work, though spectacular on the cinematography front, is limited in terms of dialogue and character building, shielded by an aesthetic that gives the impression that such projects are impressive.

The movie is laden with lazy CGI, and a screenplay that is damaging to its pacing, with certain scenes poorly planned.

There is little to be excited by, and you don’t need to have read the book to have a take on this, given that is the point of adaptations.