Herbert's novel is a great, juicy book, a meticulously detailed and enjoyably absorbing fantasy of faith and doubt, survival and struggle, idealism and nihilism. Herbert was a world builder par excellence, using a wealth of references to create a fantastical realm. The results are unusual enough to inspire curiosity and sometimes a sense of wonder, even as the story retains a connection to reality outside its pages. It is a dense palimpsest with influences ranging from Greek mythology to Shakespearean tragedy and Jungian psychology. Especially in its depiction of a hostile environment and religious fanaticism, it can always seem like a warning that continues to this day.
Villeneuve's approach to adapting the novel is essentially a considered one. Like the first film, “Part Two” moves the plot forward smoothly (it's easy to understand) through both dialogue and action sequences that stay true to the spirit of the book, its overarching narrative arc, its mood and its weirdness. The dialogue sounds natural, even when the characters use names like Bene Gesserit, the mysterious religious sisterhood that takes on greater significance in “Part Two.” Equally important is that the action sequences don't break up the film or make the rest seem irrelevant. Mainstream adventure films often switch between plot and action sequences with tiresome predictability; everything flows here.
“Dune” is ultimately a war story, like many contemporary big screen spectacles, and it doesn’t take long for “Part Two” to begin to fall. In the fast-paced opening, Harkonnen soldiers, led by a bald-headed screamer named “Beast Rabban” (Dave Bautista), descend from their flying machines to the desert floor. Wearing clunky uniforms that make them look as clumsy as old-school deep-sea divers, the soldiers appear too awkward to take on the Fremen, agile fighters with parkour moves and billy-goat balance. However, Villeneuve is good at surprising, and he knows how to arrange contrasts – light and dark, immensity and pettiness – to create interest and tension. Soon the Harkonnen are flying through the air with fast jetpacks and the action begins.
“Part Two” moves with comparable deftness, despite all the heaviness, the Byzantine complexity and the intricate conspiracies of various factions. The sequel brings back a number of familiar faces, including Josh Brolin as Atreides loyalist Gurney Halleck and Stellan Skarsgard as the monstrous Baron. The leader of House Harkonnen, the Baron, spends much of his time killing his minions or marinating his often-exposed, massively spherical body in a vat of what looks like crude oil. Rabban, his incompetent nephew, is soon overshadowed by the most conspicuous addition to the Dune department, another nephew, Feyd-Rautha, a villainess played by an unrecognizable, utterly creepy Austin Butler.
Just as ghostly white and seemingly hairless as his uncle, Feyd-Rautha looks like a bloated worm. He is a warrior and just as evil as his uncle. Still, despite the curves of Butler's muscles and his sensual pout, he's not your usual hyper-acting antihero, and the character remains a disturbing narrative question mark. Feyd-Rautha becomes Paul's challenger, but he also acts as a counterpart to the giant sandworms that wander beneath the surface of Arrakis and produce the planet's invaluable natural resource known as melange, or spice. As important as petroleum, as addictive as taste, spices sparkle like fairy dust, alter the mind, turn the eyes bright blue, but most of all, it keeps this universe running – and violently in turmoil.