Dune: Part Two

I must not hype.
Hype is the fun-killer.
Hype is the little-death that brings total disappointment.
I will face my hype.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the hype has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

Introduction

What a shame… after what seemed like a very faithful Dune Part One, this film feels like a bait-and-switch.

I usually don’t review films because their experiences are more fleeting than books and I find them harder to write about coherently. However, Dune is very dear to my heart and I have to collect my thoughts somewhere.

In most respects, I think Dune Part Two is a great film. The visual and sound design is superb, the cast is great (with some exceptions). The story itself is quite good as well, but is in my opinion too far removed from the source material, leaving me with an overall bitter-sweet impression of the film.

Film adaptations have to condense the story of the book to make them fit into the runtime, adjust to the change in medium, etc. Dune Part One did this quite well in my opinion. While some scenes I would have liked to be included (mainly the banquet scene) were missing, the scenes that were included in part one usually followed the book quite closely with only minor changes that were understandable or at least acceptable. It felt like a proper adaptation of the original material to another medium. However, what I will never understand is why filmmakers feel the need to completely rewrite characters, their relationships, or major plot points, especially when the source material is already highly acclaimed.

I enjoyed it a lot more when viewing it for the second time, knowing what to expect. I’m still quite annoyed by the major changes, but without the immediate disappointment, I was more able to appreciate the things they did well.

Untagged spoilers for the first book and both films follow.

---

Timeline

The first book spans a time period from early 10191 after the creation of the spacing guild (AG) to late 10193 AG, so about 2-3 years. Each of the two films on the other hand only cover a few months each at most, judging by the progress of Jessica’s pregnancy. She becomes pregnant with Alia after arriving on Arrakis but her daughter is yet to be born at the end of Dune Part Two.

Dune is split into three books internally: Dune, Muad’Dib, and The Prophet. Dune covers the time period until Paul and Jessica flee into the desert, Muad’Dib ends with Jessica taking the water of life, and The Prophet with Paul becoming emperor. Even though the book spans a longer time, the events described in it are concentrated at both ends of the time period. Between Muad’Dib and The Prophet there is a time jump of about two years, during which Alia and little Leto (son of Paul and Chani) are born. Paul and Jessica learn to live like the Fremen during this time and Paul Muad’Dib becomes a name feared by the Harkonnen on Arrakis during numerous raids.

Dune Part One is roughly equivalent to Dune and Muad’Dib, ending just a few chapters before the water of life chapter. Timeline-wise the time jump should occur just after the beginning of the second film but is almost completely absent.

The Fremen Religious Divide

“When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way.
Their movement becomes headlong – faster and faster and faster.
They put aside all thoughts of obstacles and forget that a precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it’s too late.”

In the book almost every Fremen believes in the prophecy which was seeded by the Missionaria Protectiva of the Bene Gesserit centuries ago. While some don’t believe in Paul being the One, they nonetheless all believe in the Lisan al-Gaib. They are collectively blinded by their faith.

Here lies a toppled god.
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one

The whole point of the first book is that the Fremen find a universally liked leader figure and only later realize what tragedy their blind worship caused.

The first film is in line with this; when the Atreides arrive on Arrakis, they are greeted by natives calling Paul Lisan al-Gaib. In the second film however, it becomes clear that only some of the Fremen believe in the prophecy, also called the religious fundamentalists, mainly living in the southern hemisphere. Among the northern population, there seems to be a common belief that the prophecy is a sham planted by the Bene Gesserit. While this is true, they have no business knowing that. I’m not sure if the extent of Bene Gesserit influence during this time ever becomes known outside a very small number of people, but it certainly wasn’t known to the Fremen at this time.

The Bene Gesserit

In the film, the manipulations of the Bene Gesserit are treated like an open secret, which is a lot less interesting than their mysterious, carefully planned, and secretive machinations in the book(s).

The Bene Gesserit have been steering the fate of the empire from the shadows for thousands of years with few outsiders knowing at all and fewer still knowing the full extent of their influence. Publicly, they present as a school of high society servants, concubines, and aides. They “serve” the most influential people in the empire, planting themselves near positions of power.

Reverend mothers of the Bene Gesserit are trained from a young age in a wide variety of skills including politics, seduction, a high degree of control over their bodies, manipulating others with their Voice, etc.

Characters

In my most recent read through the book, there were two scenes that touched me deeply: the funeral ceremony for Jamis and the conversation between Chani and Jessica at the very end of the book, neither of which are really in this film.

Most of the characters have had significant changes made to them in this adaptation or were removed entirely. As a book-lore-purist, I find this quite sad.

Overall, the film handles its characters quite irreverent at times. For example, I think there are too many comic-relief scenes, mostly on Paul or Stilgar.

Paul / Muad’Dib / Usul

Paul changes a lot after the flight from Arrakeen. I felt that book-Paul actually had qualities of a tragic messiah about him. The first film portrays this quite well I think in the tent scene with Jessica, however I didn’t find his depiction in this film to be sufficiently convincing.

“He was warrior and mystic, ogre and saint, the fox and the innocent, chivalrous, ruthless, less than a god, more than a man.”

Paul is the only one who foresees the jihad. He tries to prevent it but ultimately fails in this endeavour. Sometimes when he makes a choice, he cannot predict which choice would lead closer/further away from the jihad but after making his move, his prescience often shifts more towards it. Other times, he can see clearly which paths lead to which outcomes, but he chooses the one leading to the jihad anyway because the alternative is even worse.

When it comes time to convince the Fremen to accept his leadership without him having to challenge Stilgar to deadly ritual combat, film-Paul also disappoints. He tells some Fremen information about them that he couldn’t have known and shouts them into submission, but that’s about it. In the book on the other hand, he convinces the Fremen to accept his leadership by a fiery speech. He doesn’t have to resort to shouting or truth-telling. Film-Paul lacks the gravitas his book-counterpart radiates.

Part of this is caused by the fact that in the film he seems to mostly be steered towards action by Alia/Jessica. In the book he acts purely out of his own volition, guided by his spice-induced visions, while Jessica is one of the few people around him who opposes his religious manipulations.

Chani

Chani’s voice intruded from the deep cave darkness: “Tell me about the waters of your birthworld, Paul-Muad’Dib.”
And Paul: “Another time, Chani. I promise.”
Such sadness.

The way Chani interacts with Paul and Stilgar is very out of character for book-Chani. She keeps lashing out and throwing disdainful looks at the people around her. I get that they wanted her to appear more independent which I don’t mind, but think it could have been done with less aggression. In the book she is a fierce warrior but kind to her peers and supportive of Paul to a fault.

What I strongly dislike however is her and other Fremen believing the prophecy to be a sham as it undermines the level of secret control the Bene Gesserit have over the empire.

Jessica

He’s accepting the religious mantle, Jessica thought. He must not do it!

Like Chani, Jessica was changed a lot, especially after the water of life scene. While book-Jessica teaches Paul about the prophecy, helps him initially with fulfilling the role of the Lisan al-Gaib, and participates in the narrative by becoming a Sayyadina and reverend mother of the Fremen, she is mostly opposed to Paul’s religious rise.

“The Fremen have a simple, practical religion,” he said.
“Nothing about religion is simple,” she warned.
But Paul, seeing the clouded future that still hung over them, found himself swayed by anger. He could only say: “Religion unifies our forces. It’s our mystique.”
“You deliberately cultivate this air, this bravura,” she charged. “You never cease indoctrinating.”
“Thus you yourself taught me,” he said.

Until the water of life ceremony, the two versions of the character are quite alike, but diverge after. In the book, Jessica participates in a Sharing of the minds with reverend mother Ramallo, taking on all memories of the old woman as well as those of all her predecessors.

The film mentions this once, but apart from that, Jessica appears like she is just possessed by her un-/pre-born daughter Alia. Jessica and through her, Alia seem to be the main driving force behind Pauls religious rise, pressuring him to go south, to take the water of life, and to make the Fremen believe in his divinity.

She also receives her blue eyes instantly when taking the spice essence while this is a much slower process in the book and stems from the generally increased spice consumption during their time with the Fremen.

Alia

Behind Harah came Alia, a girl-child of about two years.
[…] The child – little more than a toddler – carried herself with a calmness and awareness beyond her years. Adults were shocked to find her laughing at a subtle play of words between the sexes. Or they’d catch themselves listening to her half-lisping voice, still blurred as it was by an unformed soft palate, and discover in her words sly remarks that could only be based on experiences no two-year-old had ever encountered.

In both versions of the story when Jessica takes the water of life to become a reverent mother, she is pregnant with Alia. Alia is affected in a similar way as her mother, gaining the memories of all her female ancestors as well as those of reverend mother Ramallo. In this condition she is born self-aware and possesses the ability to speak like an adult albeit with the mind of a little girl.

In the film however, this also makes Alia become self-aware in the womb as well has having a telepathic connection to her mother. It is unclear whether this is the case in the book as well, since the time period between the water of life scene and Alia’s birth is skipped completely. However, when Jessica takes the water of life, it is implied that she can only interact with her daughter on an emotional level.

Jessica sensed the daughter-mote still touching her inner awareness, probed it without response. […] A tiny outflowing of love-comfort, like a reflection of what she had poured into it, came from the other mote.

By the end of the film, Jessica is also still pregnant with Alia, who interacts with the world around her through her mother, manipulating the Fremen and pressuring Paul to play out the prophecy.

Stilgar

“Water from the sky,” Stilgar whispered.
In that instant, Paul saw how Stilgar had been transformed from the Fremen naib to a creature of the Lisan al-Gaib, a receptacle for awe and obedience. It was a lessening of the man, and Paul felt the ghost-wind of the jihad in it.
I have seen a friend become a worshiper, he thought.

The above quote stems from the very end of the book, where Paul promises to make Arrakis a paradise.

However, one thing I found was sorely missing in Dune: Part Two was Stilgar actually becoming a friend of Paul. During the two-year time jump Paul and Jessica join Stilgar’s troop and become part of Stilgar’s Fremen tribe. Before Paul’s religious ascension, he had already become a fierce fighter and leader in raids against the Harkonnen.

In the first film, Stilgar appears as a curt tribe leader with a no-nonsense attitude. He seems wise, thoughtful, and capable of making harsh decisions to ensure the survival of his tribe. Stilgar already sees the signs of the prophecy in Paul but remains sceptical.

In contrast, in the second film, he seems to be a staunch believer in Paul’s divinity from the very beginning. He is also often used for comic relief and mocked for his religious beliefs, e.g. by Chani, which takes a lot of gravitas away from his character.

The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen

“The Emperor cannot believe I threaten him!” The Baron permitted anger and grief to edge his voice, thinking: Let him wrong me in that! I could place myself on the throne while still beating my breast over how I’d been wronged.
[…] The Baron whirled away in his suspensors to hide his expression. It could happen in my lifetime! he thought. Emperor! Let him wrong me! Then – the bribes and coercion, the rallying of the Great Houses: they’d flock to my banner like peasants running for shelter. The thing they fear above all else is the Emperor’s Sardaukar loosed upon them one House at a time.

The baron is one of the few characters this latest film adaptation has portrayed very authentically. He’s the same grotesque, scheming bulk of a man that I imagined when reading the book. Just a bit more stylish and less sexually indulgent.

He overvalues his own intelligence a bit, but is very devious and many of his schemes are successful.

Feyd-Rautha

“Would you accompany me to my chambers, Feyd?” the Baron asked.
“I am yours to command,” Feyd-Rautha said. He bowed, thinking: I’m caught.
[…] Feyd-Rautha indicated his fear by only the barest hesitation. Have I failed utterly? he asked himself. Will he slip a poisoned blade into my back … slowly, through the shield? Does he have an alternative successor?

Feyd feels way too flat in the film. While he does enjoy killing his enemies and opponents in the arena in the book, the utter carelessness with which he kills servants just to test his blade (or feed his cannibal girlfriends) in the film doesn’t at all fit his character in my opinion. These actions would be more appropriate for “The Beast” Rabban, who is prone to emotional outbursts, ending in a killing frenzy.

Book-Feyd on the other hand would likely consider Film-Feyd’s actions to be quite wasteful. In the book, Feyd shows the same cunning resourcefulness as his uncle, the baron, just with less experience.

He knows the baron needs him and he needs the baron, at least for the time being, but he would like nothing more than for “the old fool” to die and let him have the throne.

“Now you see how you need me,” the Baron said. “I’m yet of use, Feyd.” A sword to be wielded until he’s too blunt for use, Feyd-Rautha thought.

He attempts to have the baron killed through a hidden poison needle, which fails and the baron punishes him for it by forcing Feyd to kill all the women in the “pleasure wing”. Feyd objects loudly, but ultimately complies out of fear for his own skin. He does not seem to enjoy wanton killing.

There is also a subplot where Feyd sets up the slave master of the arena for treason by making it look like the slave master had Feyd fight an undrugged slave in the arena. This plan was to replace his uncle’s slave master with one of his own men.

In the film however, the undrugged slave is a birthday present for Feyd from the baron to make him look more heroic.

I understand that this plot line fell victim to the runtime limitations, but I don’t like how Feyd was changed to an impulsive psychopath like Rabban, except younger, stronger, and even more brutal.

Feyd fights with two knifes, one in each hand. The right hand in a black glove holds an ordinary long blade, while his left has a white glove and a poisoned short blade.

[…] The na-Baron never gave quick death; he delighted in demonstrating rare poisons, could stand in the arena pointing out interesting side effects on a writhing victim.

Book-Feyd’s scheming is completely missing, and instead of the almost artistic arena “fights”, he just comes across like a psychopath.

“The Beast” Rabban

I really liked Rabban in the first film. Like the baron, I thought he was portrayed very well by a great actor, but I think there was a lot of wasted potential in the second film. Rabban is imposing, impulsive, ruthless, hunts his enemies for sport, but has little clue of the baron’s schemes.

After the battle of Arrakeen, the baron sends Rabban to Arrakis to “squeeze” the population, extracting as much profit as possible to offset the costs of the attack on house Atreides.

In his hubris, Rabban fails to see how much of a threat the Fremen actually are, causing him to fall behind on the spice quotas set by the baron. This leads him to suppress the population even more, causing unrest. Unbeknownst to Rabban, this was actually planned by the baron, letting Rabban fail before allowing Feyd step in.

Here is where book and film diverge, in the book, Feyd never actually takes over because he arrives on Arrakis together with the emperor, the baron, and all the other great houses. In the film however, Feyd takes over Arrakis from Rabban, who becomes a subservient to Feyd after a short fight some time before the emperor arrives.

Rabban dies to Gurney Halleck during the final battle in the film, which I think was a really nice touch. In the book, Rabban dies somewhere off-“screen”, but letting Gurney exact his revenge on Rabban seems very fitting. I found the fight to be a bit too short though, Rabban misses Gurney once with his whip before catching a knife to his throat. Considering how much “The Beast” Rabban is built up over the two films, I had been hoping for a more epic fight.

Gurney Halleck

The portrayal of Gurney was alright I think, given that his suspecting-Jessica subplot was omitted from both films.

During the time of Duke Leto on Arrakis, a note is intercepted seemingly implying Jessica to be a traitor. Leto suspects a plot by the Harkonnens to sow distrust within the Atreides but he pretends to believe it to make his enemies believe they were successful.

“What better way to destroy me than to sow suspicion of the woman I love?” he asked. “An interpretation I’ve considered”, Hawat said. “Still …” […] Perhaps if I appear to believe this, that will make another man careless.

Thus, Leto has some of his people keeping Jessica under surveillance. Only Leto, Paul, and Thufir Hawat know that he does not actually suspect Jessica, and, since the Harkonnens attack shortly after, Gurney escapes still thinking of Jessica as the main suspect.

The she-witch alive! Gurney thought. The one I swore vengeance against, alive! And it’s obvious Duke Paul doesn’t know what manner of creature gave him birth. The evil one! Betrayed his own father to the Harkonnens!
[…]
The she-witch alive while those she betrayed are bones in lonesome graves. I must contrive it that Paul learns the truth about her before I slay her.

After the Harkonnen attack on Arrakeen, Gurney escapes with a couple Atreides soldiers and joins a band of spice smugglers. From them he hears rumors there about Jessica being the traitor, which confirms his suspicions. As soon as he meets Jessica in the sietch, he threatens to kill her and Paul just barely manages to dissuade him.

Apart form the missing subplot, I think his character was portrayed quite accurately.

Although the book describes him as more aesthetically challenged than the films…

The Duke watched Halleck, admiring the ugly lump of a man, noting the glass-splinter eyes with their gleam of savage understanding.

I wouldn’t exactly describe the character played by Josh Brolin as an “ugly lump of a man”. ;>

Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV

The Emperor whirled, motioned his people into an emergency door that swung open in the ship’s side behind the throne. He flashed a hand signal to a Sardaukar officer leaping through the dust haze. “We will make our stand here!” the Emperor ordered.

Book-Shaddam behaves as one would expect of the emperor of the known universe: strong-minded, commanding, aware of the political necessities supporting his power. He isn’t as devious as the baron, but has more influence and enough wisdom to see through the baron’s plans.

Film-Shaddam on the other hand just comes across as a depressed geriatric. Orders he gives in a hoarse whisper if he speaks at all, while his daughter, princess Irulan seems to be influencing his decisions more than himself.

I was really looking forward to seeing this great leader portrayed on screen but was sorely disappointed. Both the Lynch and Syfy adaptation depict this character much more authentically.

Lady Margot and Count Hasimir Fenring

Count Hasimir Fenring and his wife Lady Margot Fenring are close to the throne with the count also being described as the emperor’s only true friend. In the book, Margot appears once during Feyd’s fight in the arena and is only mentioned in a few other places. The Count on the other hand appears multiple times, advising the emperor, dealing with the Baron Harkonnen, and notably at the end in the emperor’s entourage. The emperor orders Count Fenring to kill Paul but Fenring refuses because of a sudden sense of kinship between him and Paul.

The first film contains neither character and the Count is absent from the part two as well. Margot takes over his role in the imperial court, although she spends most of her screen time working for the Bene Gesserit.

The Count’s exclusion from the ending is fine in my opinion as that plot thread has few connections. I don’t recall if the conversation between him and the Baron about making Arrakis a prison planet which would have threatened the Emperor’s superior army was included in the film or not. I am however quite sad that the Fenrings’ secret humming language wasn’t included or at least referenced in some way in the film. I really liked the concept of it when reading the book and had been wondering how it would be adapted in the film.

Jamis

“I was a friend of Jamis,” Paul whispered.
He felt tears burning his eyes, forced more volume into his voice. “Jamis taught me … that … when you kill … you pay for it. I wish I’d known Jamis better.”

After Jamis challenges Paul to a duel to the death and is subsequently defeated, the Fremen troupe Paul and Jessica joined hold a funeral ceremony for Jamis. They honor their fallen comrade and distribute his belongings. In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful scenes in the book and further reinforces the admonition Jessica gives Paul after the fight. Also missing is the part where Paul asks Chani to hold onto his water rings, which unbeknownst to Paul is seen by the Fremen as him proposing to Chani.

Sure, Jamis’ death still scene is shown towards the beginning of the film, but without the Fremen and Paul paying their respects it all feels quite mundane. Usul (Paul’s secret Fremen name) doesn’t give water to the dead, it just seems to happen in the background when they are first entering sietch Tabr.

I think the first film should have ended with the funeral ceremony instead of Chani’s “This is just the beginning”.

There is one way however in which the films improve Jamis’ character over the book in my opinion. In the first film, Paul has visions about meeting a friend on Arrakis which turns out the be a reference to Jamis. Had Paul acted slightly differently and not offended Jamis when they first meet, they might have become good friends. While this does a good job of how Paul cannot see “the” future but just some possible futures, I did have to explain it to a few people with whom I watched the film.

Missing Characters

Little Leto

In the book, Paul and Chani have a son, Leto, named after his grandfather. He never appears directly in the book, is only spoken of, and is killed during the emperor’s raid on sietch Tabr when he captures Alia.

Leto does not appear in the film at all. Even if Chani is pregnant with Leto by the end of the film, there simply isn’t enough time between her and Paul meeting for the first time and the end for her to carry out the pregnancy because of the significantly shorter timeline in the film. Even if there is a Leto in the third film, they’d have to find a new way for him to die, since he is otherwise insignificant.

His omission from the second film is fine I think, but it has me worried for the continuation of the story. Spoilers for Dune MessiahConsidering Chani runs away at the end of Part Two, with enough “creative” writing, she may actually end up never returning to Paul, precluding Leto II and Ghanima.

Thufir Hawat

Duke Leto’s old mentat disappears during the Harkonnen attack. In the book he is captured by the Baron and “serves” him until the end of the first book while plotting against them from within. However, all plot lines involving him have been cut from the second film.

Thufir often played Feyd against the Baron, largely orchestrating both the fight with the undrugged slave as well as helping Feyd set up the assassination attempt on the Baron.

While his presence would have added more interesting layers to the story, I didn’t miss him when watching and don’t think the story was hurt by this omission.

Harah

“Your rugs are very dirty in here,” Harah said. She swept her gaze around the floor, avoiding Jessica’s eyes. “So many people tramping through here all the time. You really should have them cleaned more often.”

Hara was Jamis’ wife whose responsibility Paul unwittingly inherits after being challenged by and subsequently killing Jamis. I would have liked to see this character in the film, but her omission is understandable as she is mostly of little consequence. She mainly serves to convey Fremen customs to the reader and as one of the few Fremen who understand the situation of Alia, who is also absent.

She was also completely missing from the Syfy miniseries and was almost completely cut from the 1984 film, although more scenes with her were shot.

Filmography

I was blown away by the visual on Giedi Prime. A completely colorless world, seemingly bathed in intense monochromatic sunlight, called a “black sun” in the film. At first I thought it was simply a grayscale image, but later I learned that it was actually recorded in infrared. The fireworks look like drops of ink suspended in a liquid.

All of this lends the Harkonnen homeworld a ghastly appearance which underlines their characters very well.

Conclusion

I’m very much of two minds about this film. Seen in isolation, I think its a great film and a breath of fresh air for the film industry which is otherwise busy conjuring up superhero movie nr. 583. I love the visual style, sound design, and score. The acting is quite good for the most part as well.

Many people seem to like these films, both people who have read the book and those who haven’t. I understand the latter group, but I’m confused by the former. While this latest attempt at translating the book to video is certainly a better piece of media, the way it adapts the book is no better than the Syfy miniseries.

I guess I will have to wait another couple decades before someone attempts to adapt this book again, ideally in a more faithful way. All I hope is that this latest adaptation leads to more people picking up the book.