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Editor's Note: "Dune" is the quintessential epic, and for the release of the second film in Denis Villenueve's series we're doing our part by bringing you two epic reviews from the BPBS writing staff. Enjoy Will's take, then check out Stuart Shave's thoughts here.

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Perhaps it is fitting that mass audiences first had the opportunity to see Denis Villeneuve's "Dune: Part Two" on the big screen the same weekend that Christopher Nolan's pandemic-defying time-bender, Tenet, returned to theaters. Not because the films have much in common, per se, other than the latter's most quoted-and-mocked line - "Don't try to understand it; just feel it." Frank Herbert's 1965 novel has long been a bastion for the idea of an "unadaptable" work, a dense, complicated science fiction tale about messiahs, bald albino warlords, sand worms, and spice, none of which many readers could ever claim to fully grasp, yet nonetheless came to love. But Villeneuve has never been one to balk at the quote-unquote impossible; rather, his curiosity is piqued by it, the idea that a narrative can't be cracked being a constant benchmark for his work, mainstream or not.

So it is fitting, too, that Villeneuve's "Dune" saga isn't impossible to understand; far from it, given the French-Canadian auteur's gift for storytelling, complexities be damned. It is impossible, however, to walk away having not felt it, literally and metaphysically. The scale on which he's created this second entry in his "Dune" saga is a magnificent use of resources - maybe even an abuse of them, but fuck it - and a colossal achievement in science fiction, in world-building, in convention-defiance, in cinema. It's a masterpiece, the kind he's clearly been marching toward for decades, the kind he could only make now, only with these resources, only on this scale. It's the sort of film that feels crafted with a fine-toothed comb from start to finish, not to mention one that causes the ground to quake beneath you as it rumbles from one set piece to the next. ("Sound that I can feel..." et cetera.)

If that turns you off, you've come to the wrong place. But I'd venture a guess that even the most skeptical audiences will be able to find something to marvel at with "Dune: Part Two." Were I betting man, sure, I'd place my boldest wager on that admiration being of the technical variety, whether it's for the standout work from cinematographer Greig Fraser, for Hans Zimmer's score, or for Joe Walker's editing - all three won Academy Awards for their work on the 2021's "Dune," and are arguably just as deserving for their achievements here, if not more so. But there's also much to chew on from a narrative standpoint, especially if the story's first part is fresh in your mind. (More on that shortly.)

"Part Two" picks up almost directly where the first film left off, with Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) having joined the Fremen troop, led by Javier Bardem's Stilgar. As they trudge across the desert planet Arrakis, escaping a Harkonnen ambush along the way, the remaining vestiges of House Atreides begin to ingratiate themselves amongst the Fremen's inner circle, some of them believing that the mother-son duo will be the ones to carry out a prosperous prophecy for the benefit of Arrakis and their kind. Stilgar is one of these faithful; he believes that Paul is the messiah - the "Lisan al-Gaib", a prophet they also call the Mahdi, "The One Who Will Lead Us to Paradise" - and preaches as such to his fellow Fremen. Others, namely Chani (Zendaya, with significantly more to do here than she did in "Part Two"'s predecessor), believe the prophecy is merely a means to an end for outsiders to gain control over their established community.

With great power comes great responsibility, as they say. But Paul claims he wants nothing to do with this power, that he wishes to fight the Harkonnens alongside the Fremen, not lead them. Chani begins to care for Paul and helps him learn the ways of the desert, almost like a Jedi teaching a Padawan how to use the force. Of course, for the Fremen, this involves properly pounding the desert to a rhythm that calls sandworms of varied sizes, which Paul achieves in a final test that proves his ultimate worth to the remaining skeptical Fremen, while providing assurance that he is the Chosen One, per se, to those that already believed it.

https://youtu.be/U2Qp5pL3ovA

Some audiences may see this first hour of a nearly three-hour film as more narrative construction on top of the 155-minute work of exposition and scene-setting that was the 2021 film. But those that didn't mind this aspect of "Dune," myself and many others who read and loved Herbert's novel being among them, likely won't take issue with this stretch of "Part Two." And while the "Part One" title card served as a surprise for viewers in 2021, Villeneuve has always been upfront regarding his intention to adapt Herbert's first novel in two parts, noting simply, "It was too much for one movie. Or you make a five-hour movie and everybody hates you because it's too long."

Splitting a novel into two parts is a curious exercise, yet so is releasing a "Part One" of anything these days. It's something that continues to complicate the moviegoing experience for viewers, knowing that the story they're about to witness is only one half of a whole product. Some believe that this is what plagued "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One," though that film has since dropped "Part One" from its title. But that doesn't explain the success, both critically and fanatically, of "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," which had its own follow-up film, formerly "Across the Spider-Verse Part Two," retitled to "Beyond the Spider-Verse" prior to the 2023 hit's release. It's worth questioning whether what allowed 2021's "Dune" to be such a box office smash despite its day-and-date release on HBO Max was the audience's ignorance to its true nature, being the first half of a two-part tale. Nevertheless, audiences can grow easily frustrated by this trend, and might even quote "Dune: Part Two" in describing it: "It's only fragments... nothing's clear."

Perhaps there are flaws in that, fatal for some, merely irritating for others. For me, this three-year wait was agonizing: What "Dune" set in motion was thrilling, yet incomplete, its culmination somewhere in the indefinite distance as our world was for so long, plagued by a virus that all-but killed the theatrical experience. Thankfully, it's back in full force, and its epic resurgence makes me particularly curious to see how the future of "Dune" is handled in Villeneuve's ultra-capable hands. There's something reassuring about having masters like him at work, those that value what an enormous scale for a film of this ilk - and that crop is limited to a precious few - can offer. But there is, too, great risk attached to franchises with a narrative like "Dune"'s - again, there are precious few - especially regarding whether or not the filmmakers will be given the chance to craft their ideal, proper conclusion in this era of the major studio. Even before the first trailers for "Part Two"  were released, fans joked online about how, if Warner Bros. executives knew what happened in "Dune Messiah," they would never greenlight the project. (And they haven't officially done so, despite Villeneuve's vocal desire to conclude his trilogy with Herbert's second novel.)

Rest assured, though: Nothing about "Part Two" feels fragmented nor incomplete. Rather, it's a film that begins with its characters bursting through a door that was previously left ajar, and concludes by leaving another one slightly open for the remainder of Paul Atreides' story to unfold on the other side of its threshold. Of course, to get to that other side, much more needs to happen in "Part Two" than just a few sandworm rides and a budding romance between Paul and Chani, one that is threatened by his destiny and her caution toward embracing it. Elsewhere, Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) and her father, Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken) wonder about the future of Arrakis after the perceived fall of House Atreides; away from Arrakis, we meet Feyd-Rautha (a menacing Austin Butler), a vicious assassin who seeks his own power on his uncle's council (returning as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, the ever-floating head of House Harkonnen, is Stellan Skarsgård, still oddly menacing and legless). All the while, Paul endures nightmarish visions that foretell multiple futures for his newfound friends/soon-to-be followers.

To say anything more about "Part Two"'s plot would likely verge into the territory of spoilers, but anyone with a general understanding of the "Dune" story - or, better yet, any story of a young man among strangers holding their faith in one hand while the key to a prophecy dangles in the other - will see where things are heading. There will be battles, betrayals, and bloodshed, often all in one sweeping blow as conducted by Villeneuve's steady hand. But what sets "Part Two" apart narratively is its handling of Paul Atreides' arc. A messianic figure that, by the end of Herbert's first novel, borders on that of a tyrant, has always been one of storytelling's great, complicated characters. Thanks to Villeneuve, and as brought to life through an astonishing performance from Chalamet that might very well be his best, he's now one of cinema's. Luke and Anakin Skywalker; Harry Potter; Paul Atreides; these are not men cut from the same cloth or following the same path, but achieving similar heights, and similar lows, when applicable.

Again, if this list of characters turns you off, perhaps "Dune" isn't your kind of saga. What can't be denied, however, is that it is an undeniable triumph in storytelling and saga creation, the rare sort of narrative that confounds and envelops. Consider one of Paul's many monikers, the one he is proudest to don: Muad'Dib. This is the Fremen's name for the kangaroo mouse, a tiny creature that has adapted to life in the desert and is often its most active in darkness. It creates its own water and strategically avoids the light so as to not be caught in the harsh sun.

You can piece together the metaphorical ways that this nickname pertains to Paul's arc specifically, but as it relates to "Dune," it's a fitting way to describe a story that does often operate in darkness, or at least promises that you are not necessarily prepared for what it is capable of rendering. It's a sneaky tale of fate and deception that accomplishes its goals on an astonishing scale. Its very existence is astonishing, the unadaptable having been adapted as meticulously as anyone can get to the source material without veering the worm off the side of the sand dune. Not only does it take the path laid out by "Part One" and elevate it, but it does something few sequels have ever been capable of doing: it elevates its genre to unprecedented heights that all sci-fi films in its wake will be chasing. Long live the fighters; better yet, good luck.