In the late 90s, if you told me I would get three more Ghostbusters films, two with the original cast members, I would have shouted your name from the mountains the way Stilgar proclaims Paul Atreides as the Lisan al Gaib in Dune.
06.03.2024 - 14:29 / polygon.com / Denis Villeneuve / Paul Atreides
Denis Villeneuve’s planned trilogy of Dune movies is unmistakably focused on telling the story of Paul Atreides, as played by Timothée Chalamet. But just because it’s Paul’s story doesn’t mean he’s the main character of all of the movies. In fact, one of the cleverest, most effective methods Villeneuve uses to show us Paul’s journey in Dune: Part Two is by subtly shifting the Freman warrior Chani (Zendaya) from her initial role as narrator and love interest into the movie’s main character. And Zendaya is one of the few actors who could actually pull that off.
[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers forDune: Part Two.]
At the beginning of Dune: Part Two, Paul’s mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), is slowly consolidating power, trying to convince both the Fremen and Paul himself that he is the prophesied messiah, Lisan al Gaib. That prophecy was planted by Jessica’s Bene Gesserit organization many generations ago as a means of controlling the Fremen. At first, Paul is resolute in refusing to back Jessica in manipulating the Fremen, who saved Paul and Jessica’s lives after the Harkonnen family attacked them and drove them into the desert. Paul doesn’t want to be the Fremen’s messiah, he wants to be their equal.
But as the movie progresses, Paul’s desire for revenge against the Harkonnens grows, and the idea of surviving without taking control of the Fremen on Arrakis begins to look less and less possible to him. By the time he decides to go south and meet with the Fremen fundamentalists, it’s clear that Paul has chosen to accept the role of the Lisan al Gaib, something he knows will bring about the death of billions of people across the universe. His Fremen lover Chani wants to steer him away from that future, and she can’t.
Communicating his shift from main character and hero to something far darker and more complicated is one of Dune: Part Two’s greatest challenges. It would probably have been impossible for the movie to fully make Paul a villain. It wouldn’t have been authentic to the narrative or its themes for his story to end that cleanly anyway. But Villeneuve’s much cleverer solution is to show us Paul’s slow but steady drift toward the lures of power.
Dune: Part Two lets us see that transformation through Chani’s eyes. From the moment Paul first rides a sandworm, Villeneuve starts showing us Chani’s reactions rather than Paul’s when people speak. Where the camera used to hang on Chalamet’s face after he delivered a particularly stirring speech to the Fremen, it instead cuts to Zendaya, reacting with mounting fear that she may have lost the person she loves to the weight of manipulated prophecy.
By the time Paul drinks the Water of Life and Chani is forced to revive him, Paul has
In the late 90s, if you told me I would get three more Ghostbusters films, two with the original cast members, I would have shouted your name from the mountains the way Stilgar proclaims Paul Atreides as the Lisan al Gaib in Dune.
In a repeat from last weekend, the animated adventure Kung Fu Panda 4 and Dune: Part Two led the box office, per Deadline. Both movies maintained their strong performance, with Panda experiencing only a 48% decline, accumulating $30 million in its second weekend and reaching a domestic total of $107.7 million. Meanwhile, Dune saw a 37% drop, earning $29.1 million in its third weekend and bringing its domestic total to $205.3 million.
Denis Villeneuve’s Dune movies can seem like a rebuke to Hollywood’s quip era. They are as far as you can get from the Marvel rule that no situation is so grave, no stakes so high that they can’t be punctuated by a smart, self-aware gag. These are solemn, earnest movies, modeled on classical cinematic epics like Lawrence of Arabia and intent on delivering the bizarre visions of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi books in as straight-faced a manner as possible.
The domestic box office received a nice shot in the arm this weekend thanks to Kung Fu Panda 4 and Dune: Part Two, which helped propel business 13% over last year, per Deadline. DreamWorks Animation’s fourth entry in the long-running franchise featuring the voice of Jack Black got off to a hot start, earning $55 million in its debut week. This makes it the second-highest opening for Po and Co., trailing only the original Panda’s $60M opening in 2008. That film earned $631M worldwide, followed by Kung Fu Panda 2’s $664M and Kung Fu Panda 3’s $521M. How high can Po fly? With an A- CinemaScore, on par with the original, there’s a chance this one legs out to solid worldwide numbers.
A Dune fan has spotted a fascinating detail about the posters for both movies – and it's something that spoils a major part of the plot. Naturally, that means we'll be getting into spoilers below, so look away now if you're not up to speed on Dune: Part Two.
Funcom, developer of the upcoming Dune: Awakening, has issued a statement regarding the role of religion in the game after fan concerns erupted on the internet this week.
Visually, looks like it's set in the world of Denis Villeneuve's movie adaptations, with the studio behind these films, Legendary, having shared assets with the development team at Funcom, as well as inviting them on set. Despite this, the game's story has made at least one massive change from the book and the movies that could have major consequences going forward.
Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two film wormed its way through theaters over the weekend, and if you’ve still got sand in the brain, there’s plenty more where that came from. Namely, Funcom shared a closer look at the upcoming Dune: Awakening survival game, which is in the works for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Dune: Part Two is here, and as a fan of the original novels, I did my part on premiere weekend by dragging my oldest daughter to the theater to join in on the ride. And what a ride it was: Our local theater is currently showing the film in 4DX. Riding sandworms, it turns out, is cool as hell when your seat is bucking about thanks to hidden hydraulics. But the rest of the film’s 4DX integration? Not at all as enjoyable as I’d hoped. The flaws in its presentation are worth keeping in mind as you shop for tickets this weekend.
Following the early box office success of , as well as its critically acclaim, many are wondering whether or not Dune 3 is in the pipeline.
Denis Villeneuve's Dune 2 has taken the world by storm, and one cosplayer decided to celebrate the film’s release in the most unique way possible.
Funcom and Nukklear GmbH have released a new, previewing the upcoming open-world action survival MMO game currently in development.