3-27-24 Ledger

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LEGAL NOTICE

Arrakis—Dune—
Desert Planet.
For anyone who has
read - or attempted to read,
several times, in the case
of this reviewer - Frank
Herbert’s masterpiece of
modern science fiction,
titled simply Dune, this
brief phrase is as familiar as
the Nuprin ads of old: Little
— Yellow — Different.
(A special thanks is due
to the 1992 film, Wayne’s
World, for immortalizing
that catch phrase during
its parody of corporate
advertising in film.) Even
for those who have never
read Herbert’s original 1965
novel, or its five sequels,
or David Lynch’s 1985
film adaptation starring
Kyle MacLachlan, there is
something of Dune that has

Worth the Popcorn?

By Justin Tiemeyer

Dune: Part Two

penetrated into everyday

life. Take, for example, the

short-lived Duplass brothers

series, Togetherness on

HBO, where two best

friends take an American

Beauty-adjacent break

from their status quo to

film a puppet show version

of Dune they had begun

as children, or Alejandro

Jodorowsky’s doomed film

adaptation, which has been

immortalized in the 2013

documentary Jodorowsky’s,

Dune.

The current series of

film adaptations are likely to

contribute handily to Dune’s

reach. Dune: Part One,

directed by Denis Villeneuve

and starring Timothée

Chalamet as Paul, Oscar

Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides,

and Stellan Skarsgård as

Baron Vladimir Harkonnen,

was easily one of the best

films of 2021, and its sequel

Dune: Part Two, which more

heavily features Rebecca

Ferguson as Lady Jessica,

Josh Brolin as Gurney

Halleck, and Zendaya as

Chani, while introducing

Austin Butler as Fayd-

Rautha Harkonnen and

Florence Pugh as Princess

Irulan, was one of the most

anticipated blockbusters

of 2024, perhaps only

eclipsed by the July release

of Deadpool & Wolverine.

Christopher Walken did a

good Christopher Walken

impression as the emperor,

which is especially funny

when you consider his dance

number from the music

video for the Dune-inspired

Fatboy Slim song Weapon

of Choice with the lyrics,

“Walk without rhythm, and

it won’t attract the worm.”

Following the genocide

of the Atreides people at the

hands of the Harkonnens

in the first installment,

the second film follows

Paul and Lady Jessica, as

the former contemplates

revenge and the latter

power. Plotwise, Dune:

Part Two, is a sandbox

campaign (do not forgive

the pun; EMBRACE the

pun!) of political moves and

battles, all of which serving

the purpose of revealing

Paul Atreides in his many

facets—as the son of Duke

Leto, compassionate and

kind, as the scion of the

Bene Gesserit, a messiah

of great power, as a fighter

within the Fremen, a

servant, not a leader, and

as a spoiler-ridden fourth

identity that turns the

whole thing on its head and

makes viewers question

everything. Considering

the fact that Frank Herbert

wrote the original series

while obsessed with the

mind-enhancing powers of

psilocybin, it should not be

surprising that the outward

struggle and the inner

struggle are one, and the

world may either thrive or

kneel, based on the power

of Paul’s mind alone.

There are a couple

of glaring problems with

Dune: Part Two. The

first of which is the way

it courts the problematic

white savior trope, where

a white person is seen as a

liberator, rescuer, or savior,

as the term implies, for non-

white and often indigenous

people. The entire idea that

Paul Atreides is somehow

a Messiah for the native

Fremen of Arrakis, even as

he says all the right words

and devotes himself to serve

as Muad’dib, is a pretty

typical example of the trope.

It does seem that Villeneuve

was sensitive to the fault

in the original material,

and he confronts it head-

on through disbelieving

Fremen, like Chani and her

friend Shishakli (Souheila

Yacoub). He also puts

some work into questioning

whether Paul is ultimately

a good person and if his

actions are ultimately in-

service of the Fremen at

all. After all, you cannot

be a white savior without

actually saving some people.

The second issue

many viewers struggled

with involved pacing. Lady

Jessica is pregnant at the

beginning of the movie, and

somehow, a massive amount

of politics, cultural change,

and planetary travel (often

by foot), riding animals,

or atop huge, slow-moving

desert machines, takes place

in less time than it takes to

give birth to a child, sired

by a now deceased father.

The identity of this daughter

is teased during the film

in much the same way as

Zendaya’s Chani was teased

at the end of the first film,

in a not-so-veiled attempt

to push for a third film.

Furthermore, filmgoers

familiar with the original

books noted that the movie

ends in a different place than

they would have expected,

with a cliffhanger that begs

for a Dune: Part Three to

be greenlit. Aside from a

long pregnancy that may or

may not work, much of this

problem hinges on having

read the books, which is not

necessarily the case for all

viewers.

The majority of the

film’s issues get smoothed

out, however, when you

consider the quality of the

presentation. Villeneuve

and co-writer Jon Spaihts

did acrobatics to make a

compelling film of what

is often described as the

boring half of the first Dune

book, and Villeneuve’s

direction did not assume

any quarter would be given

for a beloved franchise with

a big budget. The actors did

their Little Drummer Boy

best, as if this was their

last chance to be noticed and

to be loved, and depending

on where primary filming

fits on the timeline of the

writer’s strike, this may

have been a real worry. All

of this provides texture that

you do not find in every

film, bringing pleasure with

every scene in a way that

is similar in kind, if not in

degree, to all-time television

greats like The Wire and

Twin Peaks.

For those interested

in exploring Dune: Part

Two further, Lowell Ledger

writers, Justin Tiemeyer

and Bill Lee, cover all of

these topics, and more,

in a podcast recorded on

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

titled “Worth the Popcorn:

Movie Review - Dune:

Part Two.” This podcast

and a number of other

great previews, interviews,

and reviews are available

courtesy of the new Lowell

Ledger website at http://www.

lowellledger.org/podcasts.

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