“Lisan al Gaib!” went up the shout from the sidelines at ultimate frisbee intramurals the other night. Again and again, every time someone did something good, it was repeated.
“Wait, have you seen it?” seems to be a common conversation starter recently, generally by: “Good. So what did you think about…”
My YouTube feed is inundated with videos that have titles like “Dune Two is a Wake-up Call for Hollywood” or “Dune Part Two is a Monumental Achievement” or “Boys after watching Dune Two” (depicting guys absolutely obsessed with it) or breakdowns of the lore from Frank Herbert’s universe.
“Dune: Part Two” is good… like really good. The cinematography is spectacular. The acting is brilliant. The storyline is superb. The score is haunting, disquieting, motivating or beautiful depending on what it needs to be.
I think “Dune: Part Two” can be best understood by relating it to three other movies: “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” “Spider-Man: Across the SpiderVerse” and “Captain America: Civil War.” This may seem a strange bunch of movies to relate to a stunning sci-fi film gripping pop culture but each relates to some aspect of “Dune: Part Two,” as you will soon see.
Fair warning: though I will try to somewhat avoid them, there will be spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.
“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”
The Art of Adaptation
When most people think of top-class, faithful book to film adaptations, their mind probably goes to Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and fair enough. My first thought, however, tends toward Andrew Adamson’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”
Adamson explained in an interview that when he discovered he was to direct the Narnia film, he went home and wrote down everything he vividly remembered about reading the story as a youngster. Thus, though the film does not perfectly align with the book, it keeps all of the same essence and importantly, it works.
I do not know what Denis Villeneuve’s artistic process was for adapting the book “Dune” into “Dune: Part One” and “Dune: Part Two,” but as someone who has read the book, he successfully brought over the essence of Frank Herbert’s writing to the screen and it works. He made changes certainly, but none I necessarily felt were jarring or poor choices artistically. In fact, I feel he was able to improve some things from the original, especially in dialogue where the medium of film allowed him to “show not tell” much easier than it is to do on the page, meaning some clunky dialogue could be replaced by an actor’s prowess.
Some changes that will be interesting going forward include Chani’s reaction to Paul’s ascendancy, the portrayal of Lady Jessica and the lack of young Alia Atriedes. The second two are smart choices for the movie as finding a four-year-old child actor to portray Alia, a girl with all the wisdom and life experience of countless Fremen reverend mothers, would be extremely difficult and having Lady Jessica much more aggressively push Paul makes her a much more antagonistic force and streamlines the story a bit.
Chani’s reaction to Paul’s actions is a stranger change and difficult to guess what Villeneuve’s plan is. In the books, Chani is seemingly on board with all Paul does and continues to stand by his side. Will Zendaya’s Chani do this? It did not seem as though she would as she left the throne room at the end of the movie to get away. If so, how? The third installment in Villeneuve’s trilogy is expected to adapt Frank Herbert’s “Dune Messiah” which begins 15 years after the first book and Chani has been by Paul’s side that whole time. So, how does Villeneuve reconcile this? Or, does he go a new way? These questions bring me to my second subject.
“Spider-Man: Across the SpiderVerse”
Second Movie Syndrome
I remember leaving the theater last summer after watching “Spider-Man: Across the SpiderVerse” and basically saying to my two friends “That was really good, but they have to land the third one.” This is because, though the movie was very good on its own, it left a lot to be answered by its sequel and its legacy, therefore, is still to be determined. If the creative team lands the third movie, it will only make “Spider-Man: Across the SpiderVerse” even better. However, if the third movie is a flop, then the second film, at least to some extent, becomes a flop.
“Dune: Part Two” is admittedly better insulated against a third film failure than “Spider-Man: Across the SpiderVerse” is. After all, “Dune: Part One” and “Dune: Part Two” together adapt the book “Dune” and are a complete story. However, the creative decision to strongly foreshadow the third movie to the point of leaving the film on a bit of a cliffhanger leaves audiences leaning forward into the third film, and if it is a failure, it will leave “Dune: Part Two” with a tainted legacy.
“Captain America: Civil War”
A Cultural Moment
There have been a lot of movies that can be called cultural moments, and most are far more iconic than “Captain America: Civil War.” I chose this one for a specific reason though. For most great movies that come out, when I have conversations about them with others, they revolve around the quality of the movie.
“I really liked this.”
“I really liked that.”
“Dune: Part Two” is the first film since “Captain America: Civil War” that I remember where people are less focused on the quality of the film and more on its content. Sure, people talk about the quality and creative decisions too, but conversations about these films reveal so much more. Back then, I had many conversations on whether Captain America or Iron Man were right. Now, it is whether Paul is a villain, whether he did the right thing, whether he did the wrong thing but is not a villain, etc.
Conclusions
As I said before, “Dune: Part Two” is really good. It adapts its source material (which is a classic for a reason) masterfully. It initiates conversations. And, though it should be concerned about its trilogy’s final installment, it has a creative team that is putting in the work and has delivered twice already. I highly recommend “Dune: Part Two.”
