Oscars 2025: "Dune: Part Two" review

Graphic by Caitlin Orsino

“Dune: Part Two,” directed by Denis Villenueve and released on March 1, 2024, is a nearly perfect movie. Starring big names such as Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Javier Bardem, and Rebecca Ferguson, it would have been hard for this movie to not be good. Despite that, it far exceeded my expectations, even as a die hard fan of the first “Dune” released in 2021. 

Nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, “Dune: Part Two” expands upon the amazing foundation left by the first movie, laying the groundwork for the third movie to finally complete perhaps the greatest film trilogy of this century.

The amount of effort that was put into this movie is on a whole separate level. The Fremen language used in the movie was entirely developed for this movie. Thousands of hours of work went into studying real world languages, as well as how they came to be. 

Not only that, but so many people had to learn this language for the film. Not just the main cast, but even small side characters can be seen having whole conversations in this language. The most impressive part, in my opinion, is how much this language reflects the Fremen culture, with its roots in modern African and Middle Eastern languages.

The various cultures shown throughout the movie, namely the Fremen and House Harkonnen, are incredibly deep, and demonstrate very thoughtful worldbuilding. These cultures feel real in a way many fake film cultures do not. The nomadic, deeply religious Fremen culture that we spend most of the movie with is expanded upon. We are shown important rituals, faithful prayers, and their warrior culture in the Fedaykin, the Fremen fighters. 

House Harkonnen’s brutality and hatred of the Fremen is revolting (in the best way), giving an example of what happens when the worst parts of human culture are revered. The Harkonnens are also mostly overweight (save for a few examples), demonstrating their greed and overconsumption. The other background groups, namely the Emperor and the Bene Gesserit, are less expanded upon, but no less interesting.

However, these cultures would not be as impressive without the amazing work of the entire cast. Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides is the shining star of this movie, perfectly portraying the inner turmoil and emotions of the vengeful Atreides. A surprisingly good performance comes from Dave Bautista as Rabban Harkonnen, proving that he is more than just a comedic actor following his work as Drax in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies. 

Another star of this movie is Javier Bardem as Stilgar. His excellent work portraying the strength and faith of Stilgar, and his turn from friend to follower, is so excellently well done that I believe he should have won an award for Best Supporting Actor. Zendaya portraying Chani is also excellently done, and I believe that she performed excellently as the love interest. The way she portrayed Chani’s skepticism mixed with her love for Paul was fantastic. 

The entire cast did exceptionally, but the last one I will mention in specific is Rebecca Feguson as Lady Jessica. Her change from the motherly figure she was in the first movie, to the cunning and manipulative character she is by the end of this one, is amazingly done.

“Dune: Part Two” was able to take home two Oscars, winning Best Sound and Best Visual Effects. I absolutely agree with these wins. The sound design throughout this movie is almost perfect. The chanting of House Harkonnen foot soldiers, the deep churns when a sandworm moves, the unique, almost bird calls that the Fremen fighters use to communicate, it's all perfect. Multiple cinematic scenes are only further elevated by the fantastic sound design of each moment.

The visual effects in this movie are also stunning. The worms are an obvious highlight, appearing lifelike and scary, but so captivating that it's impossible to look away anytime they are on screen. The blue shimmering of the shield technology, and the red it phases to when being pierced, is a beautiful effect.

Out of the three nominations this movie had and did not win, including Best Picture, Best Cinematography, and Best Production Design, I believe it absolutely deserved Best Cinematography. Every scene in this film feels like I am living in a photograph. The gorgeous orange, yellow, and red of Arrakis is both beautiful and haunting, as if the viewers can feel the dryness and heat of the desert. The black and white atmosphere of the Harkonnen home planet Giedi Prime is unsightly to our eyes, but profoundly beautiful once we adjust. The inky firework-like explosions, and the flashes of light when we are inside later, provide beautifully striking scenes. Every scene involving the sandworms are shot in such a way that the viewers can truly understand their power and size, and the scenes focusing on Paul’s relationships make us feel the emotions of the scene, no matter what they are.

There was, however, one part of this movie that I did not enjoy as much as the rest. The middle montage is not my favorite, and while I don’t know what could be done to fix it (as it gives important information), I do wish it was done a little better. 

I give this movie 4.5/5 stars, and it is the closest thing to a perfect movie that I have ever seen. I truly believe that, assuming the third movie isn’t terrible, the “Dune” trilogy will be the original “Star Wars” trilogy of this generation.