In the end, it was quite clear: “Dune” was allowed to take first place on the joint list of the best films of 2021 by the editors of FILMSTARTS and Moviepilot. But director Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic is not only the best film of 2021 for us, but also counts as a masterpiece and a must-see cinema experience for many other film fans and critics. And chances are Dune 2 will surpass that…
At the recently ended cinema fair CinemaCon promised Dennis Villeneuve one like this “Action-packed, epic war movie” and a whole new experience. So if the director hasn’t promised too much here, Dune: Part Two will feel very different from the “thoughtful” (to quote Villeneuve) first part.
And it is possible that “Dune: Part 2” will overshadow the first “Dune” even in terms of visual power, which actually seems difficult to imagine. Finally, FILMSTARTS editor-in-chief Christoph Petersen describes the film in his 5-star review as “sheer overwhelming cinema full of transcendental beauty”.
But Dune 2 has an unbeatable argument on its side: IMAX. The complete movie was shot with the high-resolution cameras and will then fill the huge screen in an IMAX cinema for the entire season – just like “Avatar 2: The Way Of Water”. There’s already a taste of the big screen bombast in the first trailer:
This is how it continues in “Dune 2”.
In any case, “Dune 2” continues where the first film ended: Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) managed to escape to the desert of Arrakis after a treacherous attack on their family, where they found shelter among the native Freemen.
And her life there should initially be the focus of the sequel. In Frank Herbert’s book, Jessica becomes a Reverend Mother of the Freemen, a spiritual leader of sorts, while Paul and Chani (Zendaya) develop a love affair.
But eventually, through continued exposure to the drug Spice, Paul develops increasingly powerful supernatural and clairvoyant powers and grows into his prophesied role as leader and savior of the Fremen. The plot then inevitably leads to renewed conflict with the tyrannical Harkonnens around Baron Vladimir (Stellan Skarsgård) and his heir to the throne Feyd-Rautha (newcomer Austin Butler) and the galactic emperor Shadam IV (also new: Christopher Walken) . .
“Dune: Part Two” opens in German cinemas on November 2, 2023.