Introduction

The second part of the Dune movie came out to theaters on March 1st, 2024. The movie contains a variety of famous actors including: Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Gerguson, Christopher Walken, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, and many more. Dune: Part Two is directed by Canadian director, Denis Villeneuve, who also produced other blockbuster movies such as Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival. The newly released movie has surpassed the first Dune movie’s profit and has grossed $178.5 million worldwide so far. 

Summary

A continuing story to the Dune franchise, Dune: Part Two, follows Paul Atreides and his mother, Lady Jessica of house Atreides, who are now surviving with the Fremen after the massacre of the Atreides bloodline. As Paul battles against his visions of the corrupt future, his mother becomes self induced to the foreseen prophecy brought from her people and practiced by the religious Fremen. Paul’s dedication to become one with the Fremen brings him closer to Chani and introduces him to the advantages of the desert. As tensions rise between the Harkonnens and the Fremen with spice farming, Princess Irulan Corrino, daughter of Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, plans to keep her father on the throne when the idea of war would break out on Arrakis. As conflict rises between the kingdoms, religious ideals grow root that Paul is the one and only Lisan al Gaib to take the Freman to Paradise. 

Caution: Spoilers Ahead

Music and Cinematography

The score for the movie is greatly understated, as you could not only feel the music in your bones, but you could feel the tension it suppressed on screen and its great importance it played for the scene to be understood. The cinematography was beyond futuristic and absolutely poetic, showing the individualism within each character and the grand atmosphere of the planet Dune. The shots showed the mighty power crowds hold when connected with one idea, revealing how many Fremen there actually are. During the scene on Giedi Prime, the brilliant use of black and white showed the repulsive lives of the Harkonnens and their gladiator ways.

The Water of Life and Space Baby

Lady Jessica becomes Reverend Mother by drinking the poison called the Water of Life, which we later find out comes from the juice of baby sandworms. If you don’t die, it is supposed to give you knowledge about the lives of all the Reverend Mothers, centuries of pain, as stated by Jessica and to see the life of the Fremen, as the poison is similar in color to Fremen’s blue eyes.  To help the prophecy move forward, she is forced to drink the poison and live her foreseen future to support Paul as he becomes Dune’s messiah. When Jessica’s eyes turn blue from the poison, the late Reverend Mother exclaims that she is pregnant and that they did not know about this before. This led me to believe that this has never happened before, and that this baby now has the vision from the poison just like Jessica. Afterwards, it confirms that the poison influenced the baby, because she now starts talking to Jessica. The movie used shots of the baby with blue eyes, the scenes almost similar to the space baby in Space Odyssey, which meant the start of new humanity.

Jessica later finds where this poison is curated and tells the sandworm drowner that a boy will take the Water of Life even though men never survive. Later, when traveling to the South with the Fremen, Paul takes a trip to this place to really see if he is the Lisan al Gaib, and if he were to survive the toxin then he would pursue the idealization of the leader they’ve been praying for. We don’t see him take the poison, rather we see Chani rush to him while he lays almost dead on the ground. She first blames Jessica, then gets persuaded into using her tears and the Water of Life to bring him back to life. When he wakes, Paul’s demeanor has suddenly changed, revealing his new intentions to become the Messiah.

When taking the Water of Life, Paul gets to see the Atreides bloodline, revealing that Jessica is the secret daughter of Baron Harkonnen and also a vision of his future sister Alia Atreides.  

The Ending

The scene is set: Fremen wear battle armor with flags above their heads with the Atreides family symbol. On the other side of the desert lies Harkonnes in gleaming black armor, swords already drawn. The war begins between the two kingdoms as Paul uses his atomic bombs to destroy Emperor Shaddam’s ship. Paul leads the Fremen to victory, and has gained all control over the planet. He kills Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in a duel and wins over Emperor Shaddam. As Fremen and Shaddam’s men bow down to Paul, the mystified leader, Chani and Irulan stand. This reveals the next stage Paul has to go through, he either can choose love, Chani, or go with a more strategic play, marry Irulan. This scene is foreshadowed throughout the movie. Chani decides to go back into the desert alone rather than going with the rest of the Fremen to follow Paul. 

Jessica states at the end that this is the beginning of the Holy Wars, which will follow unto the next Dune movie. 

Conclusion

Overall, I thought the movie was a complete success as a sequel to the first Dune movie. With its amazing cinematography and score, Dune: Part Two was a brilliant film. I would recommend this movie to any science fiction lovers and anyone who enjoys the emotional depth Villeneuve brings into his films.