I had the chance to watch Dune Part 2 yesterday afternoon. It is both intimate and epic. A real must see theater experience. I would hope that every aspect of production is nominated for an Academy Award. The sound design and visual FX are truly stellar.
The story itself is grand in scale. There is so much going on. Romantic relationships. Coming of age. Religious seeking. Political games. Family fractures. War.
At a running time of 2 hours 40 minutes, I have to admit I felt that run time. Not a deal breaker by any means. It just happened to have a lot of VERY heavy subject matter going on in one sitting.
I really enjoyed the journey of Paul and Chani’s relationship. It grows in what feels like a very realistic way. Both Timothy Chalamet and Zendaya are so perfectly cast together. Throwing around all the sci-fi mumbo jumbo language could play out poorly in the hands of the wrong actors but their scenes always ring true.
As I did with Dune Part 1, I felt swept away into another world. Not once during the filming was I thinking about locations as a real locations. They were on Arakus. as far as I was concerned. Scenes with the Harkonnen family were equally otherworldly.
I have to admit that I was sort of surprised that the 3rd act felt a bit rushed, even with the almost 3 hour run time. The final big battle felt shorter than I would expected in comparison to the rest of the movie’s action.
That’s a minor complaint though. Just reporting my experience. The movie is fantastic and I would gladly see it again. Director Denis Villeneuve really brings something special to everything he creates.
A standout moment for me was the scene where Paul rides his first sandworm. The sound design is insanely good. I seriously felt like I was riding the worm. I think I actually said “Wow” outloud to myself.
Not going to spoil anything else or analyze anything else. I’ll leave that to future posts.
If you liked the fist one, you’ll like this one too. Looking forward to Dune Part 3. Keep this spice flowing.
Have you seen it yet? What did you think?
Cinematic Point Of View 
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