Star-studded sci-fi saga continues with 'Dune: Part Two'

The science fiction epic Dune thrilled critics and viewers two and a half years ago. The visually stunning film, made on a budget of around €150 million by director Denis Villeneuve, was a huge box office success.

Villeneuve had always conceived his adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel as a two-part series, and when the first instalment grossed more than €400 million worldwide (according to the industry portal Box Office Mojo), that guaranteed that the complex story of the desert planet Arrakis would continue.

"I never left Arrakis," said Villeneuve at a press conference shortly before the premiere in London. "We went from part one and we went straight into pre production after the part one was finished."

The director emphasised that this was not a sequel, ie. a stand-alone follow-up film, but the second part of a complete work.

Villeneuve says he wanted "to bring it to the world as quickly as possible." However, industrial action by Hollywood actors and screenwriters meant the cinema release was ultimately postponed by several months.

"Dune: Part Two" picks up exactly where the first part ended. The Harkonnen have almost completely wiped out the House of Atreides with their devious attack and taken control of the planet Arrakis and the coveted Spice. Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) have fled into the desert, where they have joined the Fremen around Stilgar (Javier Bardem) and Chani (Zendaya), the girl from Paul's visions.

The attacks by the Harkonnen, who do not know where the desert people are hiding, are getting closer and closer. At first, Paul and his new allies manage to fend them off. Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) sends his sociopathic nephew Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler) to Arrakis to engage in battle, and the Emperor (Christopher Walken) is also pursuing an unscrupulous plan.

Paul is torn between his loyalty to the Fremen and his feelings for Chani on the one hand and his supposed destiny on the other. Many Fremen believe him to be the messiah from another world who will free Arrakis and bring water to the desert planet. Paul initially rejects this and blames the powerful Bene Gesserit sisterhood, which includes his mother, for this. But in visions, he foresees a holy war in which he will be the leader of the Fremen.

"In this film, we see Paul Atreides become the man he's destined to be," Chalamet said in London about the development of his role, "overcoming his fear for love, his fear where his place lies with the Fremen." The development is not all positive, because - driven by his anger and desire for revenge - Paul not only becomes more powerful, but also more violent. Even author Frank Herbert didn't want him to be seen as a hero.

With Austin Butler as the bloodthirsty, sadistic sociopath Feyd-Rautha, Paul is given a strong antagonist in "Dune: Part Two". In David Lynch's overly compressed Dune film from 1984, pop star Sting brought the character of Feyd-Rautha in wonderfully diabolical manner. The charismatic Butler now lends the Harkonnen a terrifyingly cruel aura.

The cast of the numerous interesting characters is high-calibre. In addition to Butler and Christopher Walken, the second instalment features various top stars, including Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan, Léa Seydoux as Lady Margot Fenring and Anya Taylor-Joy in a cameo role that we won't reveal here.

Hans Zimmer is once again a behind-the-scenes star. His soundtrack for the first film earned the German composer his second Oscar and a Golden Globe. For the 66-year-old, who devoured Herbert's novels as a teenager, Dune is a love affair.

"When we finished the first film, I just kept on writing," Zimmer told dpa in London, "even though we didn't have the green light to do the second part yet." Once again, the sought-after Hollywood composer (who wrote the scores for "James Bond - No Time to Die", and "Top Gun: Maverick") has created an overwhelming, atmospheric and dramatic soundscape that enhances every scene and makes for great cinema even without the imposing images.

But "Dune: Part Two" is also a feast for the eyes that is best enjoyed on the largest possible cinema screen. In quiet moments, the film is like a fascinating painting that you simply absorb. In the action scenes - be it space and desert battles or the ride on the sandworm - it offers great spectacle. The film was shot in the Jordanian desert and in Abu Dhabi. A team led by German special effects artist Gerd Nefzer, who won an Oscar and several other awards for his work on Dune, provided the visual effects.

If there is anything to criticize about "Dune: Part Two", it might be that it suddenly moves a little too fast in the final third. Despite its 166-minute running time, the epic is extremely entertaining, and the showdown could have been extended a little more. Overall, however, the second half of Villeneuve's work is in no way inferior to the first. "Dune: Part Two" is also an impressive, thrilling science fiction spectacle.

Incidentally, this is not the end of the story, because Frank Herbert's Dune Chronicles comprise six books. Denis Villeneuve has already hinted that he would also like to film the second novel Dune Messiah, which was written in 1969. "If I succeed in making a trilogy, that would be the dream," the director revealed to the British film magazine Empire.