By: Alex Tilton
Dune: Part 1 was an all-around winner. They did essentially everything right, and it paid off for them. It was a huge hit and everyone agreed it was great.
Dune: Part 2 is an extension of all those things. Nobody could possibly complain about the acting, the dialogue, the writing, the pacing, the effects or the overall quality. What I do want to complain about is something that the filmmakers probably couldn’t have fixed. This isn’t strictly fair, but it stuck out to me and it impacted my otherwise extremely positive viewing experience. To be clear, I recommend Dune: Part 2 in the strongest terms. The following criticism has to do with story structure. I realize they were making the film version of a huge novel, but even then, the plot often moves forward by leaps and bounds, which shouldn’t happen when you have a gigantic budget and over 5 hours of running time to work with. I have to explain a bit, bear with me. This gripe mostly concerns our main character Paul Atredies and his mother Jessica. Spoilers ahead.
At one point Jessica realizes that for her son to succeed in his revenge quest against House Harkonnen who murdered their family, he needs the full support of the indigenous Fremen people of the planet Arrakis (our main setting). Some of them already recognize him as a messiah they’ve been promised, but not nearly enough. So, she decides to convert the unbelievers. There is exactly one brief scene where she instructs existing followers to spread the word. The next time we see her she mentions that almost everyone is converted. It was jarring and it took me out of the film.
The same is true of Paul’s training. It’s stated that he’s going to train with the Fremen, but the next thing we see he’s out in the sand being an unstoppable badass…so I guess that happened at some point? Then there’s the question of whether Paul can ever really be one of the Fremen, since he isn’t a native. ‘You’ll never be one of us’ rapidly becomes ‘you might become one of us’ which quickly turns into ‘he is one of us’ once Paul rides a sandworm. From the conversation immediately beforehand he’s apparently been training for this, but it’s never shown.
It happens again with Paul’s plan for revenge against the ‘Emperor of the Known Universe’, who colluded with House Harkonnen to exterminate House Atredies. We get to see Paul and the Fremen blowing up spice harvesters to shut down production to get the emperor’s attention, which is extremely cool and fun. But then Paul just sends the emperor a written note, challenging him (to…something) and the emperor obliges Paul by coming to Arrakis in person. I don’t know if there was more to it in the book, but in the movie that’s the whole deal. Paul sends the ‘Emperor of the Known Universe’ a note, and then the ‘Emperor of the Known Universe’ does exactly what he wants. Wraps things up rather neatly, doesn’t it? I have a few other gripes relating to the internal consistency of the story, but I’m not sure how valid they are because it’s understood that enjoying any story like this requires the audience to relax their brain a little. When people asked J.R.R. Tolkien why the eagles didn’t just fly the ring to Mount Doom his answer was, famously, “Shut up.”
So, I’m not going to ask why the Fremen, who taught Paul how to ride giant invincible sandworms, didn’t use the worms to wipe out the Harkonnen long ago. And I’m not going to ask why the ‘Emperor of the Known Universe’ responds to a handwritten challenge by going to a war zone in person with his daughter, who is then conveniently present to marry Paul when he wins, so he can take the throne. Or what Paul would’ve done if the princess didn’t just happen to come along. I won’t ask why the Harkonnen’s giant flying battleship, which was so effective it forced all the Fremen to flee south, was completely missing from the final battle. I’m not going to look too deeply into how the Harkonnen (who have satellites and spaceships) somehow managed to be completely ignorant of millions of Fremen living in the southern hemisphere of Arrakis. The emperor is furious when he finds out that they missed this, even though he only finds out because he gets a note from Paul. I certainly won’t ask why the Fremen didn’t all relocate south a long time ago to get away from the Harkonnen who were constantly murdering them.
Better stories build their plots around the rules of their universe. Other stories rely on amazing spectacle and hoping that the audience doesn’t ask too many questions about inexplicably convenient events. Dune pulls this off masterfully. The atmosphere is so immersive and convincing, and the characters so well performed, that none of these gaping, horrendous, obvious, sloppy, lazy plot holes are likely to bother you. I’m being completely sincere. This movie was awesome in spite of all that. Go watch it immediately if you haven’t already.
Also, I really liked the romance plot between Paul and Chani. It was very well done and believable. I liked them as people, I liked them as a couple, I rooted for them, and it hurts when things don’t work out. Well done to both actors.
That being said, I’m in no hurry for the next sequel. This one needs to breathe for a while before it comes back.
Image Sources: MAX.com & PrimeVideo.com