Given my delight over “Dune: Half One,” it could appear unusual that I didn’t rush out to see “Half Two” as quickly because it opened. However life acquired in the way in which, so I managed to see it solely final weekend. It was, after all, terrific, and I anticipated no much less. Between “Dune” and “Oppenheimer,” we’ve discovered you can, the truth is, make three-hour epics that don’t really feel overlong and that don’t have you ever saying to your self, “Oh no, no more bombastic C.G.I.”
However “Half Two” additionally startled me in methods considerably completely different from “Half One.” Some spoilers forward, so cease right here when you haven’t seen the film.
What was so nice about “Half One” was that the director, Denis Villeneuve, really acquired the essence of Frank Herbert’s complicated, refined, culturally syncretic imaginative and prescient, with its mélange of Islamic, ayurvedic and medieval components. (By the way in which, “mélange” is an alternate title for the spice of Arrakis.) And he revered audiences sufficient to depart that imaginative and prescient intact. He simplified the novel in some methods, however in each case I can consider, the simplification improved the narrative circulation, whereas the characters turned deeper.
The identical is true for “Half Two.” However this time Villeneuve not solely acquired the essence of Herbert’s imaginative and prescient; he arguably acquired it higher than Herbert himself.
On the floor, “Dune” traces out the basic hero’s journey — or on this case, the journey of the hero and his very lethal mom. However as I famous in my e-newsletter about “Half One,” there’s ethical ambiguity on the coronary heart of the novel: The hero is aware of that if he succeeds in his quest, battle and mass slaughter will comply with.
After watching the flicks, I feel that Herbert flinched within the face of that ethical ambiguity however Villeneuve embraces the underlying darkness. The novel acknowledges that Paul Atreides begins a horrible battle however kind of absolves him from accountability — and ends with Girl Jessica reassuring Chani that she is going to stay Paul’s true spouse, regardless of his imperial marriage of comfort. The film ends with Chani leaving in disgust. And if I’m remembering it proper, the final line within the film is spoken by Jessica — who arguably turns into a monster, exploiting non secular fervor for her personal ends — who murmurs in satisfaction, “The holy battle begins.”
So the “Dune” motion pictures aren’t for individuals who need pleased endings by which the great guys triumph; the ostensible good guys triumph however find yourself knowingly perpetrating horror. However when you can deal with that, what a experience!
