Like so many other people, the Ringer staff spent this past weekend inhaling spice. Dune: Part Two has arrived, delivering yet more spectacle in Arrakis (and off world), stellar performances, incomparable action, uncomfortable truths, and the greatest outfits you’ve ever seen. With a movie as full of substance as this one, there’s plenty to discuss, so let’s hitch a ride with the Shai-Hulud and get to it.
1. What is your tweet-length review of Dune: Part Two?
Kate Halliwell: Find you a man who looks at you the way Stilgar looks at Paul!
Andrew Gruttadaro: An epic, challenging sequel helmed by Denis Villeneuve, the best big-movie director of this generation, starring the most famous and compelling actors of this generation, plus a handful of the most reliable actors of prior generations. We just don’t get movies like this very often.
Ben Lindbergh: A movie that’s most captivating when nobody’s talking—which Denis Villeneuve would likely take as a compliment.
Isaac Levy-Rubinett: When the credits rolled, I couldn’t really formulate a coherent response. It’s a lot to take in! But what a ride: The sheer spectacle of this film is an awesome reminder of what’s so great about going to the movies. (Shout-out to the IMAX at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.)
2. What was the best moment of the film?
Lindbergh: When Paul hails his first worm, and—a little less dramatically—the Harkonnen-Fremen fight in the opening scene. I get goosebumps whenever Villeneuve shows ships (or people) silently lifting off. For me, that’s the foundation of Dune’s visual language. No jet packs, no rockets, no nacelles: just smooth, sedate ascent. It’s majestic, it’s mystical, and it’s magical, in the Arthur C. Clarke sense.
Adeniran: I don’t know if I can pick, honestly—every scene after Paul takes the water of life is a banger. But if I absolutely had to pick one, I would go with the scene when Paul chooses duty over love and decides to marry Princess Irulan with Chani STILL IN THE ROOM. LIKE WHAT??????????? I could not believe what I was seeing.
Levy-Rubinett: The scene when Paul rides a sandworm for the first time—a granddaddy sandworm, no less, the likes of which most Fremen had never seen—showcased so much of what makes Dune special. It was utterly transporting. And like a thumper with a sandworm, it set the rest of the movie into motion. Many of Dune’s core ideas are currents that flow just under the surface: prophecies, interworld political machinations, generations of history. The scale of this scene and its narrative implications brought the weight of all that to the fore.
Halliwell: After reading the book, I was worried about how the film would portray Alia, Paul’s creepy little sister. Would they go full Renesmee? But leaving Alia in the womb, other than a brief vision cameo by Anya Taylor-Joy, turned out to be even creepier and more compelling. My favorite moments were the ones when Jessica and Alia whispered to each other in the corners of Sietch Tabr, as we realize that Paul’s problems may be closer to home than he realizes.
Gruttadaro: When the showdown between Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin) and Rabban (Dave Bautista) lasts about three seconds before Gurney puts a knife in Rabban’s throat. It’s the perfect example of how economical the movie is with its action—most movies these days would turn that (and many other sequences in Dune: Part Two) into a painfully drawn-out, overly choreographed free-for-all. Instead, the movie goes right for the jugular.
(My other favorite part is when Paul yells at the Reverend Mother and all she can say is “Abomination.”)
3. What was your least favorite part of the movie?
Adeniran: When the credits rolled and I had to look at a blank screen and return to my real life.
Halliwell: I could have done without watching Feyd lay one on the Baron, Tom Brady style.
Levy-Rubinett: Javier Bardem’s turn as Stilgar was funny, but at times it veered into caricature. I wouldn’t have minded slightly less comic relief in exchange for more of Stilgar’s gravitas and wisdom.
Gruttadaro: I … don’t have a ton of huge complaints here? That’s not to say that Dune: Part Two is perfect, but it is incredibly sturdy. One small thing (that really didn’t affect my enjoyment of the movie): The movie sort of struggles to put the size of Arrakis into perspective; it’s an entire planet, with disparate regions, but often it felt like most of the action was happening within a 25-mile radius.
Lindbergh: Christopher Walken saying “Muad’dib.” (I couldn’t get used to the emperor using, y’know, the Voice.) More seriously: I don’t think Dune: Part Two does a great job of conveying the passage of time. I understand the choice not to take a time jump, but for all of that to happen within the span of Jessica’s pregnancy makes the proceedings (and decisions) seem rushed, even though the movie is almost three hours long.
4. Who is Dune: Part Two’s MVP?
Lindbergh: Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha. The Harkonnens are worse than the Sith when it comes to executing their underlings, but Rabban is a dark-side Drax, too cartoonish to be a worthy foil for Paul. The Baron’s other nephew, by contrast, brings a genuine menace to the screen between his two knife fights with Atreides foes. (The face Feyd makes when Paul kills Vladimir would make the man from Bojack Horseman who orgasms every time he senses a shift in power dynamics proud.) Butler didn’t shave his head to play Feyd, like Ralph Fiennes did to play Voldemort, but he spent more time in the makeup chair. It was worth it. I just hope he doesn’t use his Harkonnen voice in City on Fire, because he sorta still sounds like Elvis in Masters of the Air.
Halliwell: Stilgar, the universe’s greatest hype man. Moral support is important!
Adeniran: It would be really easy to say Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides or Butler as Feyd-Rautha because both of them were awesome, but I think Bardem as Stilgar steals the movie. His performance contains multitudes, making Stilgar’s unwavering belief in Paul a source of comic relief while also providing a look at the scary descent of fanaticism. To be doing that simultaneously takes some real talent.
Gruttadaro: Rebecca Ferguson, whose Lady Jessica shoulders many of Dune’s more profound underlying themes. With every passing scene, Jessica seems to be appropriating Fremen culture more and more—if I were Paul coming back from a raid, I’d be like, “Mom, you really think you needed to spring for the face tats?”—and her silent, steely gaze (and less silent inter-womb exchanges) is a constant reminder that Paul isn’t in the midst of a simple hero’s journey.
Levy-Rubinett: Hans Zimmer deserves to be in the MVP conversation! For me, his soundtrack is the most enduring element of the first Dune, and I suspect I’ll feel similarly about Part Two. The score is so inventive and distinct, it brings Arrakis to life.
5. Fit check: Who has the best look in Dune: Part Two?
Adeniran: Irulan with the chain mail drip in the throne room was pretty sick.
Lindbergh: The cloak queen who always travels in style (in a worm-back palanquin/cocoon): Lady Jessica. When will she debut her maternity line?
Halliwell: The only thing more impressive than the Bene Gesserit’s commitment to manipulation is their commitment to hats, veils, and face chains.
Levy-Rubinett: I’m big into functional fashion, so I’m still marveling at the ingenuity of the Fremen stillsuits. An outfit that captures the body’s moisture, repurposes it into potable water, and looks incredible? That’s the fit of the film.
Gruttadaro: How long until all the girlies are Black Mouthing™ on TikTok?
6. What is one lingering question about the Dune-verse you must have answered?
Levy-Rubinett: First of all, Lady Jessica has been pregnant for how long?
Adeniran: How will Paul balance the political marriage to Irulan and his love for Chani? I love a good love triangle, and I just need to see Florence Pugh and Zendaya vie for the affections of ole Timmy.
Gruttadaro: OK, so, like as long as you have an E-ZPass (a.k.a. the permission of the Shai-Hulud), the sandworms are basically the Arrakis version of I-95?
Lindbergh: Are the worms pissed that the Fremen treat them like Uber drivers despite supposedly regarding them as gods? Imagine Shai-Hulud’s inner monologue: You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me, a thumper, AGAIN?
Halliwell: I would have asked “How do they get off the worms?” but it seems Denis is already on it.
7. What visions would you see if you drank the Water of Life?
Halliwell: I’ve been having visions of Lady Jessica using the Voice on me since I saw the movie, so probably just more of that. (Please.)
Adeniran: I’d be looking for any timeline where Kevin Feige actually admits that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. existed, and would do whatever I could to make that vision a reality.
Levy-Rubinett: I would become privy to an intricately plotted, centuries-long program that culminates in Victor Wembanyama leading the Spurs to a dozen NBA championships.
Lindbergh: The same scene I’m seeing right now, because it’s burned into my retinas till the end of time: Baron Harkonnen and Feyd-Rautha sharing an open-mouth kiss.
Gruttadaro: My college cafeteria actually had this stuff on tap. Never gave me hallucinations.
8. Christopher Nolan said that Dune: Part Two is this generation’s Empire Strikes Back. Where do you think the movie stands among iconic sequels?
Gruttadaro: Somehow this isn’t that wild of a statement for our boy? The only recent competition that really springs to mind is The Last Jedi, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Paddington 2—and I think The Last Jedi is the only movie Dune: Part Two loses a knife fight against.
Halliwell: In the grand scheme of iconic sequels, it’s no Magic Mike XXL, but it is pretty great.
Adeniran: It’s absolutely up there with some of the legendary sequels, but falls just short of the greatest sequel ever made, High School Musical 2.
Lindbergh: Star Wars borrowed freely from Dune, but the franchises differ in one crucial respect: Dune is hardly a hero’s journey. The leap in quality from the first Dune to the second is comparable to the progression from A New Hope to Empire. But in terms of narrative structure, Part Two reminds me more of Nolan’s own The Dark Knight: Both feature a protagonist whose triumph over a villain comes at a terrible cost. Of course, almost every second installment of a movie trilogy pales in comparison to Paddington 2.
9. The potential for Dune: Part Three is high. What do you want to see if there is indeed another Dune movie?
Adeniran: I need Dune: Messiah more than the Imperium needs spice. Personally, I don’t need the Dune movie franchise to follow the Dune book series with sequel after sequel after sequel. Just show me what happens to Paul, Chani, Lady Jessica, Stilgar, and everyone from the first two films and I’ll be good.
Gruttadaro: The expansion of Zendaya’s Chani in Part Two after she was kept to the side for much of Part One is one of the sequel’s greatest gifts. Likewise, I’m looking forward to seeing much more of Florence Pugh’s Princess Irulan, and seeing just how many headpieces she has in her closet.
Lindbergh: Florence Pugh and Anya Taylor-Joy playing more substantial parts and appearing in the same scenes. (Alia Atreides and Imperator Furiosa? Anya owns the desert.) Also: more Jason Momoa.
Levy-Rubinett: I presume Part Three will take us to more of the Dune-verse’s other planets. I’m dying to see Villeneuve and Co. bring those places to life.
Halliwell: Bring back my main diva Thufir Hawat and his tiny parasol!
