Dune 2's Response Is More About Hollywood's Problems and Less About the Movie

Science-fiction nerds and IMAX enthusiasts rejoice, because Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part 2 (review) has already made big waves on its opening weekend, securing a CinemaScore grade of A, a 93% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and pulling in a global total of $178.5 million – a massive jump over its predecessor’s opening weekend gross. In fact, that’s nearly half of what the first film made in its entire run. With numbers like these and excellent reviews, it looks like Warner Bros. has a breakout sequel on its hands, and the chances of a third film happening in Villeneuve’s proposed trilogy – adapting the second book in Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi series, Dune Messiah – appear to be brighter than ever.

But amidst all the accolades, there’s a gnawing sense that whatever flaws Dune: Part 2 may possess, they’re being completely ignored in favor of many film fans already proclaiming it as one of the greatest science-fiction movies of all time, and potentially as a savior of cinema. Setting aside the irony of the movie receiving this kind of unquestioned adulation when it’s about a genetically engineered and ultimately false prophet who uses a people’s faith in him to wage a holy war on the rest of the universe, I can’t help but feel that the extreme response to Dune is only partly because of the film itself and the people who made it.

At a moment where hostility from filmgoers towards the deluge of corporate, micromanaged tentpoles is at an all-time high, Dune’s arrival as a massive-scale blockbuster project with a genuine directorial vision must have felt like the second coming. How did this happen? Let’s take a look.

[thudsjwbevejsjsn]

Disagree. The movie does stand out due to underwhelming competition at the current time, but also because it was worked on by highly skilled and passionate people in the industry. The cinematography, acting, costume and set design, writing, and soundtrack are all top tier

[josipstivic]

People these days want to know all the answers right away... I'm so glad Villeneuve is not your typical audience pleasing director...

[johnmcd]

Complaining about how basic Marvel movies are and then in the same video complaining about being unable to draw your own conclusions from a more complex non-Marvel narrative without your hand being held is the most IGN thing I've ever heard.

[morhirwen]

Sooo, he basically says he thought the first movie was boring because nothing happens (Denis was setting the stage and explaining some of the social-political intrincacies) but he also thinks there should be more explanations... yeah, right.

[cibdog]

Didn’t they explain my lady Jessica traitor to the Bene Gesserit in the first move? She was supposed to birth a girl not a boy.

[dimbulb]

If you’re too distracted to understand the plot, that’s on you

[matthewm]

"Almost every scene is designed to be an epic moment"... Really? Like people sitting around in a tent talking to each other? Or people sitting around a dark room talking to each other? Or people sitting in a garden talking to each other? What movie did this person watch?

[olafsigursons]

This movie will still be considered a masterpiece in 20, 40 years. Photography is out of this world. The score is top notch. The acting is on point and nuanced. It might have flaws, that doesn't mean it's not a masterpiece.

[BiigJuicer]

Movies like Dune and The Batman actually makes it feel like they are in the world that they’ve created. You can tell that all of the recent Marvel movies were shot in front of a green screen by the way they are constantly using depth of field camera techniques to blur their set. It makes it all feel cheap and rushed.

The Knives Out franchise is a perfect example of this. The first movie had an amazing set, and it gave life to the movie. Knives Out 2 didn’t hit the same for me because it was just green screen nonsense

[adzn]

6:07 wasn’t it explained in the first movie that jessica bore a son instead of a daughter, disrupting the bene gesserit’s plan for the creation of the kwisatz haderach? not only that, but their failed attempts to control paul less to jessica’s “betrayal”, which ultimately cause them to lose some power and resent jessica? IGNs argument doesn’t really make sense to me, like yeah it’s explained in the books but it’s also explained in the movies as well

[StPeterICC]

WHAT?! Is this some kind of a joke trying to put the movie down in order to give it a IGN-7!? When people don't go to movies they are called names and accused of being the problem, not the movie. Now when people love it, is also not credit to the movie? This can only be a joke

[BloodBuffalo]

Art cannot exist without imperfection. Fulgrim learned this and it drove him insane

[DavidJ]

It's not a sequel. It's literally the second half of the story. Maybe if we went back to the time when words meant things, y'all be able to understand these things a little better.

[austinsammielee]

Can you imagine comparing the LOTR trilogy to the books in this way? Books to movies are not comparable.

[scottjones]

Man has no idea what he is rambling about.

[markus]

The author doesn't seem to have watched the movies. All his questions are answered. Like why is lady Jessica a traitor? Because she chose to bear a son instead of tha women and than turn him in to the Messiah. As for the arabic words, imagine the outcry of cultural approbiation if they had done this, and Jihad in this time has a very negative connotation. No wonder they don't use that. The Fremen culture isn't only arabic based though. It is also indian. There origins come from zen-sunni'sm and zen-shiaism, which is a mix of two religions and languages.

[wembleyleach]

Contemporary film and TV reviews that don’t focus on the content they’re actually reviewing, but what’s to come in potential sequels, what’s missing when compared to any source material, or excessive comparison to other media, are getting so tired. The level of nitpicking can’t even be considered a review at this point —just an endless string of complaints about minor gripes. Dune: Part One and Part Two were done well. All the pertinent details that needed to advance the plot were explained in the exposition. What does it matter, specifically, what the Weirding Way is, or what the daily lives of the Fremen is like? That level of detail is for a book, which this isn’t.

[michialharris]

Nowadays movies give the answers away instead of letting you figure them out……..I like movies that let you think for yourself.

[avatargrimes]

To say that the first film was clearly a setup for a second film and that nothing happened in it, but then complain that second film glanced over certain things, when it was very well explained in the first film. This guy just didn’t wanna like the movie.

Although Dune Part 2 has its flaws, you can’t deny that it’s an amazing and well crafted movie. To say its success was only because of the current landscape of Hollywood is a disservice to incredible and passionate artists that worked on this film.

[TheBubbleTCG]

Paul's transition made perfect sense to me. He cared about the fremen and when he saw their home/his home being destroyed it angered him. He already knew he was the chosen one he was hesitant to take up the mantle bc he didn't want so many to die. But when he saw his people hurt it angered him to the point he made the decision. As someone who hasn't read the books they portrayed this just fine.