'Dune Part Two' Review: Timothee Chalamet-Zendaya film is an absolute riot

When Dune: Part One hit theatres in 2021, no one would have anticipated how impatient the fandom would be for its follow-up, Part Two. Dune has become a cult favourite for anyone who has watched it, simply because it created the right mood and seduced us into its desert-laden, sand dune adventure. Also, it isn’t too bad that the cast boasts of names like global superstars Zendaya, Timothee Chalamet, Josh Brolin and more.

If the trailer for Dune: Part Two has you salivating like a kid at a candy store, then you aren’t the only one. Fans were super thrilled to see how director Denis Villeneuve stayed true to its prequel and only took the fervour to another level with a bunch of new characters and actors in the follow-up.

Dune Two picks up exactly where the first left us -- on the cliffhanger, making us worry for the fate of Duke Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) and his mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) as they bump into Fremen leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem). Paul’s visions of Chani (Zendaya) are no more mere hallucinations as he sees her in front of him in flesh and blood.

A small note of disclaimer -- if you haven’t watched the first part, then now would be a good time to catch up before you hop into that seat to watch the second part. If you look beneath the razzmatazz of VFX and CGI, you realise that Dune is actually a coming-of-age story of a young man whose entire world has been turned to dust (no pun intended). Then he falls in love with someone only to realise that his life is never going to be a bed of roses, but one filled with thorns and an array of sacrifices. A lot of Dune Part One made you wonder if Paul is a messiah. In the follow-up, the question gets even more complicated as you meet several new characters and start learning about the culture and history of their tribes and clans.

Timothee and Zendaya fans, who felt cheated in the first part, won’t have a single reason to complain. Their chemistry is one of the strongest pillars on which Dune Two stands. The writing and dialogues are so believable and real that it doesn’t feel cheesy or fake for even one second. Apart from these two actors, the two big stars of the film are the music and score of Hans Zimmer and cinematography by Greig Fraser, who both deserve to take home the Oscar next year. The wide shots and even the close-ups in Dune Two are so hauntingly beautiful that it almost makes you cry.

Dune 2 will bring joy to fans like Peter Jackson did back in the day with Lord of the Rings trilogy. For those who say that a sequel and a follow-up is a big risk and studios usually falter, Dune: Part Two, despite its almost two-and-half hour runtime, proves that sometimes bigger can also be better.