The second part of director Denis Villeneuve's big-screen adaptation of Frank Herbert's epic novel "Dune" is finally in theaters, and it does not disappoint.
"Dune: Part Two" chronicles the journey of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) to avenge the fall of his house in the first movie while fulfilling the ancient prophecy that an off-world prophet will bring prosperity to the planet of Arrakis in the process.
Though the movie's ending takes some liberties from Herbert's book, it should leave audiences begging for a third movie.
The "Dune 2" ending sees Paul become a prophet and the start of a holy war
Throughout the movie, Paul strengthens his bond with the Fremen, the natives who inhabit Arrakis, as he learns their ways, their language, and even starts a relationship with one of them, Chani (Zendaya).
Paul says he only wants to fight alongside the Fremen against their common enemy, the Baron (Stellan Skarsgård), who is responsible for the fall of House Atreides and the death of Paul's father in the first movie. However, Stilgar (Javier Bardem), one of the leaders of the Fremen, sees Paul as the "Lisan al Gaib," the Fremen term for a prophet who will unite all of Arrakis.
Paul's actions continue to turn the naysayers into believers. Still, his mother, Lady Jessica — who becomes the Reverend Mother after drinking the Water of Life — seals her son's fate.
After drinking the water, Jessica can now communicate with her unborn daughter. She sets out to convince all in Arrakis that Paul is the messiah. Paul fears a holy war is on the horizon.
In the movie's thrilling conclusion, Paul drinks the Water of Life, which is supposed to bring death to any man who consumes it. But he survives, fulfilling the prophecy that he's Lisan al Gaib and awakening his senses of the past and future. Drinking the water also reveals to him that the Baron is his Grandfather, while he has a vision of his unborn sister, Alia (Anya Taylor-Joy), all grown up.
Now having the unified power of the Fremen (and a lot of sandworms), Paul takes on the Emperor (Christopher Walken) and the Baron, who has come to the capitol of Arrakis, Arrakeen, to stop Paul from disrupting their spice mining. Paul easily kills the Baron, then threatens to destroy all the spice on Arrakis unless the Emperor surrenders his throne.
Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Austin Butler), the Baron's youngest nephew, steps forward to have a knife duel with Paul as the Emperor's champion. Paul wins, the Emperor relinquishes the throne, and Paul agrees to wed the Emperor's daughter, Irulan (Florence Pugh), to make his rule official.
Seeing what has just transpired, the other great houses do not accept Paul taking the throne. The holy war Paul always feared would happen is now afoot. He orders Stilgar to have the Fremem board ships and launch a war against the other houses.
Chani, upset by Paul's actions, especially agreeing to wed Irulan, walks away from Paul and her people and gets on a sandworm; meanwhile, ships carrying Paul's Fremen army take to the sky.
How the "Dune: Part Two" ending is different from the book
"Dune: Part Two" ends similarly to Frank Herbert's original novel, with Paul rallying the Fremen in a battle against the Harkonnen's forces. But there are some differences to highlight.
The biggest one is that Lady Jessica hasn't given birth to Alia Atreides yet in the film, but in the book, Paul's sister is grown up by the time it comes to fighting the Harkonnens. In fact, Alia is the one who kills Baron Harkonnen using a poisoned needle called a gom jabbar. It's the same weapon the Bene Gesserit used to test Paul before he traveled to Arrakis.
Since there would need to be a time jump to introduce Alia properly, it's understandable why Villeneuve sidestepped the moment where she killed the Baron. Plus, it keeps the focus on Paul following the reveal that the villain is his Grandfather.
After the Baron's death, the Emperor picks Feyd Rautha as his champion to duel Paul for the universe's fate. In the book, Feyd attempts to sabotage the fight by trying to poison Paul, but it fails, and Paul kills Feyd by stabbing up through his jaw and through his skull.
Feyd's death is less brutal in the film, as Paul simply stabs him in the chest, which is way less complicated than trying to add in a poisoning attempt in the name of accuracy.
Then there's the awkward love triangle of it all. Although Paul tries to assure Chani that he'll always love her, she's humiliated by him when he offers to marry the Emperor's daughter, Princess Irulan.
In the movie, Chani runs off to ride sandworms in the desert to deal with her heartbreak. This is a little different from the book, where Chani stays by Paul's side as his real partner during his marriage to Irulan. Sure, they might stay together if Villeneuve gets to make "Dune 3," but it could be a while before that happens.
Denis Villeneuve says he doesn't want to "rush" making "Dune 3"
Though it's clear the only way to conclude the "Dune" saga on the big screen is for a third movie to be made, Villeneuve isn't clamoring to make it.
In late 2023, he said at a press conference in South Korea that the screenplay for the third movie, which would be based on Herbert's book "Dune Messiah," was "almost finished." So that's good; there seems to be a road map in place already for the conclusion to Paul's story.
But even if "Dune: Part Two" becomes a box office success, the director will not hustle to close the trilogy.
"There is absolutely a desire to have a third one, but I don't want to rush it," Villeneuve told The Times earlier this month. "The danger in Hollywood is that people get excited and only think about release dates, not quality."
So we'll likely have to wait a while until we see sandworms again.
