You could be forgiven for concluding that great cosmic forces had cast their eyes upon Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Dune and decided that, no, this project was not going to be given an easy journey to the screen (these cosmic forces have staying power, considering that they seem to have got stuck in against the Jodorowsky and Lynch versions of the novel too). The first films got delayed by the pandemic and was one of the first big films to come out when things eventually started getting back to normal; the second instalment seemed set fair for an easier time until the Hollywood strike came along and resulted in its release being pushed back from an awards-season-friendly November date to a potentially fatal March opening, which stands a very good chance of denying it the shot at critical recognition which it arguably deserves. But so it goes. All the more reason to hang in there and make Dune Messiah in a few years once Timotei Shampoo stops looking like a teenager.

This is, as noted, Dune: Part Two, which should serve as fair warning for anyone considering seeing it who hasn't read the book or seen any of the other versions of the story. It will still probably just about make sense, but it's probably not a good idea. One of the curious things about this film that first strikes the initiated viewer is the fact that Villeneuve has opted to continue with the action pretty much seamlessly from the end of the first episode – there's a two year gap in the narrative built into the novel, which would seem to be the logical place to split the story. But no. This involves a bit of narrative jiggery-pokery from the script, and one relatively minor and somewhat weird character has their role reduced to a cameo, but on the whole it works, as do virtually all of Villeneuve's amendments to the story.

So: on the desert planet Arrakis (also known as Dune), the noble House Atreides has been almost totally exterminated by their ancestral enemies, the Harkonnens, who are back running the place. All this has happened with the connivance of the Emperor of the Universe (Christopher Walken), fearing the Atreides presented a threat to his power. However, Paul (Timotei Shampoo), heir to the ducal seat, has survived, along with his mother (Rebecca Ferguson), and has been taken in by the fierce Fremen natives of Arrakis.

Paul understandably wants to avenge the death of his father and friends, which initially involves joining the Fremen resistance to Harkonnen rule and sabotaging their exploitation of the spice fields. But there are wheels within wheels at work here and he finds himself enmeshed in a supposed prophecy seeded in the Fremen culture over centuries by the mysterious Bene Gesserit order, as part of their plan to create a superhuman through selective breeding between the different noble bloodlines of the Empire. The way has been prepared for him to assume the role of the Mahdi, or messiah, of the Fremen, and you would think this would be an easy way for him to get what he wants.

But Paul is already somewhat troubled by worrying precognisance, in particular visions of a bloody galactic jihad with billions dying at the hands of his fanatical followers. Sometimes a prophecy can be a curse, and sometimes destiny is really best avoided – if you can manage it. Paul's desperate attempt to avoid his doom is a central element to this version of Dune, and it's something new, along with the script's willingness to take a hard look at the Bene Gesserit's attempts at theological engineering. There is obviously scope here for some quite provocative ideas and the extent to which faith can form the basis of systems of social control, and the film does explore this without seeming heavy-handed about it (indeed, at one point there's a distinct whiff of Life of Brian about how the more devout Fremen respond to Paul's appearance amongst them).

This also enables another of the film's amendments, which is to beef up the roles of some of the female characters somewhat. Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) has more scenes and dialogue in this version, though still not a great deal of influence on the plot, and Count Fenring has been snipped completely in favour of Lady Fenring (Lea Seydoux), who gets an interesting trip to Giedi Prime. The main beneficiary is Chani (Zendaya Coleman), though, who's a fairly passive girlfriend-wife in the book – here, she's a committed fighter for the freedom of Arrakis but not a believer in the prophecies, adding a good deal of tension to the Paul-Chani relationship.

So there is a great deal of depth here, and this is far more than just a piece of big-budget Ruritanian space opera with the good guys giving the bad guys a solid kicking. That said, the film is visually striking and often startlingly beautiful – Villeneuve orchestrates some truly majestic set pieces throughout the film (Paul's first summoning of a sandworm, a gladiatorial combat on the Harkonnen homeworld, the climactic conflict between the Fremen and the Emperor's Sardaukar servants), all aided immensely by Hans Zimmer's score. My breath was taken, my gob was smacked; I confessed to finding part one of this film a bit easier to admire than to like, but this episode is a hugely impressive feat of blockbuster film-making as well as an engaging, thoughtful story.

The thing about these huge genre books – and the same is really true even of something as beloved as The Lord of the Rings   – is that they often work by seeping into your subconsciousness over an extended period of time, rather than grabbing your engagement in the way that a film needs to do in order to really work. Dune, the novel, is an astonishing piece of world-building and plotting, and Villeneuve's film fully respects that and does it justice. But the end of this film – which admittedly departs fairly significantly from that of the book – is doomy and heart-breaking to a totally unexpected degree, setting the seal on it as an intelligent and almost totally successful interpretation of Frank Herbert's ideas for this particular medium. This is an epic which is worthy of the name, and worthy of attention and recognition.

Awix

11.03.24 Front Page

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