jo’s review published on Letterboxd:
“We’re losing men to *rats*.” - Rabban
Round 3. Less than 24 hours after my second viewing, I’ve come back for a journey to Arrakis — this time, in Dolby ATMOS with a slightly smaller screen but still bigger than most regular theaters. I keep forgetting to say this since I first saw the preview at the end of my first IMAX viewing of Part One three weeks ago, but Part Two boast so much more confidence in its filmmaking and its holding of the camera. Even with a smaller aspect ratio this time around, its precision in filmmaking is something to behold. It’s a straight-up upgrade from Part One, and no matter how many times I and several others have said that, the only way to believe it is to actually see it on the big screen.
One of the more underrated aspects of the film is that “rats” line that Rabban utters in the first fifteen minutes. A lot of people may know Dave Bautista for playing Drax the most (apart from his wrestling career), but his non-Marvel roles have continuously blown me away, and he does it again here. The ragefulness in Rabban actually almost makes me feel bad for his character, given how he is later often considered a disappointment to the Harkonnens. Dave Bautista’s acting is exceptional, and his line-delivery is always on-point. That “they’re not humans; they’re rats” line is just a cherry on top, immediately selling to me who this character is after Part One. And Timmy, man. Timothèe fuckin’ Chalamet. How can you go wrong with him? Actually, how can he go wrong? He completely disappeared into the role, especially in THAT monologue in the sietch. Everyone’s going to keep talking about that scene, and I probably will as well for my future reviews.
I love especially all the tiny details that I’ve noticed in this viewing. Only now did I catch on that insert shot of Paul stabbing Feyd making it to that scene with the big twist that he and Jessica are Harkonnens. I don’t know how a book reader such as myself missed out on that the first two times, but the visual foreshadowing is insane. And what the fuck do you mean that the man who says “shields” in the arrival to Arrakis in Part One is one of the slaves whom Feyd-Rautha fights in the arena? Fucking brilliant continuity, man. Not to mention, Gurney Halleck’s fight scene and the build-up to his killing of Rabban has been stuck in my mind ever since as that is the moment where it was most akin to The Lord of the Rings (not that it has to be on that level to be fucking amazing and epic).
Perhaps another great change in the film is how it has much more emotional depth than the book. I’ve always said to my friends before that if there’s one thing that the book is weak at, it’s character. ittedly, Part One isn’t the best in it either, even if it does it characterizations better than the book does, but Part Two manages to have its audience invested in them. Maybe it’s thanks to the cast bringing their A-game to these characters whom most of them have played before or Denis taking into some of the criticisms that Part One got, but my God, if it wasn’t for those, I wouldn’t have shed a tiny tear at that ending. Yes, I finally shed at least a single tear in this viewing and had to recollect what I had just seen when the credits rolled, even if all the janitors were staring at me. And even with a smaller screen, it’s still amazing how a film of this magnitude could still exist and make your trip to the theater worth it.
But goddamn, I sure did miss my big IMAX screen. There were only 9-10 of us inside, and while that at least means nobody is annoying enough to pull out their phones, even if they are dry, I kinda missed the excitement that my opening night audience had, so much that I immediately went to the IMAX theater I had gone to previously and bought tickets for myself and my friends for the following day.
10/10
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