jo’s review published on Letterboxd:
“We gave them something to hope for.”
“That’s not hope!”
Lea Seydoux really put the ‘seduce’ in ‘Seydoux’.
Round 5. As of this writing, it’s been 2 weeks since this viewing, but I actually saw it immediately after my 4th viewing; this time, in a smaller IMAX theater (I don’t really like calling it ‘Liemax’) with louder sound and more bass. I felt my clothes blowing in the scene where Paul rides a sandworm as well as every explosion.
This is the viewing where I realized that, despite my initial prioritization of the biggest screen possible, I now want the best sound possible for these movies. As I was reminiscing that scene where Paul rides a sandworm upon this writing, I realized that I want the sound to overwhelm me as much as possible. We may not be able to physically feel the sand blowing on Paul’s face or how hard the hooks feel as he holds onto the sandworm, but you still somehow feel it because of the strong sound — and that alone is why the sound design in this film is beyond impressive. Hell, even in my IMAX theater, I could hear Paul’s new theme playing from the other regular theater beside us during the music-less Paul and Feyd duel. The loudness of this film is part of its personality.
I’ve always thought about this since my first viewing but that sudden voice change of Jessica when she says, “We’ll be waiting… all of us,” is fucking terrifying. Every cast member brings their A-game, but Rebecca Ferguson is just amazing and beyond impressive. We see the evolution of her motherliness in Part One to her slow loss of humanity to eventually becoming less human and more monstrous, cold, and evil figure in Part Two just from her eyes, the way she opens her mouth, and the tone of her voice. If she was relatively likable in Part One — and somebody you can feel some sympathy for — in Part Two, she’s almost hatable (or, at least, somebody you fear). I also find Lea Seydoux in her small screentime to be extremely underrated. Her charisma suits the character of Lady Margot Fenring so well, even reminding me sometimes of Cate Blanchett’s portrayal of Galadriel when Fenring uses the Voice. While I still wish that we would’ve gotten to see her with Count Fenring (rumor has it that Tim Blake Nelson played him but was cut from the final version), she has a certain appeal and charisma that allows her to stand on her own.
Equal to Rebecca Ferguson in of intimidating demeanor is Charlotte Rampling as the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam. Having more scenes than she did in Part One, her appearance brings some sense of authority, not in the sense that she magnetizes the screen with charisma, but rather, through fear and what she and the Bene Gesserit can do. That scene with Princess Irulan and the Reverend Mother before the third act had me frustrated (even having me going “whyyyy”) because of how cruel the plot of the Bene Gesserit and the way they trained Irulan for a terrible purpose were. It’s a huge testament to Denis as to how he handles characters like Irulan and Chani as real people who have opposing thoughts or aren’t submissive compared to the book. Irulan was never a full character in the book, but here, we almost feel bad for her because, like most of the other characters, she cannot escape what eventually happens to her.
And let’s talk about that score because holy fuck, this has to be one of Hans Zimmer’s strongest works yet, if not his best (that still goes to Interstellar). Hearing the Paul and Chani theme in IMAX was simply transcendent. I’ve always said that his music for both Dune films feels otherworldly, yet Paul and Chani’s theme is so grounded in that high feeling of love, so much that when it plays again one last time, it’s heartbreaking and mundane, which speaks volumes to how most of these characters, by the end of the film, eventually lose a huge fragment of their humanity. My past two viewings as well as my first viewing had me humming the score that plays in the arena scene. Feyd-Rautha’s entrance has been stuck in my mind since my third viewing (but mostly during my fourth viewing), and in this viewing, it’s even more glorious to hear as the loud IMAX speakers make the theater feel as if it’s about to tear down. I still can’t believe my first exposure to Austin Butler was Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure and Aliens in the Attic.
My first and fourth viewings are still my favorite experiences with the film, but this fifth viewing probably confirms it as my favorite film of all-time. It’s known that Part One was my favorite film ever, but Part Two sures it in every way. Denis Villenueve knew what he was doing with having Part One take its time in immersing its audience into the world and showing the basics of the coming conflict before having everything come to play in Part Two. It also does feel like a Part Two than a sequel, which, to me, is a smart move. Moments like that opening scene, Paul riding a sandworm, Gurney reuniting with Paul, Paul’s monologue, the way Baron dies and tries to turn his shield on but couldn’t, and that entire third act all make the previous film look and feel so tame in comparison. Even with that heartbreaking ending, I still felt moved by the end of it. It’s massive and scale but never forgets its smaller moments and intimacy that grounds everything before its characters are stripped off of their humanity. As somebody who had read the book thrice and has been a fan of it since the first film came out, I can officially say that the entirety of one of my favorite books has officially been adapted and done justice.
10/10
P.S. As always, the audience in my city was dead silent, but I did see two groups looking at each other when Anya Taylor-Joy showed up, which was nice. What I did not like, however, was that I caught somebody video calling with someone on the phone AGAIN. Post-pandemic cinema is great and all, but my God, audiences have lost their respect and etiquette in the theater ever since quarantine. This video calling shenanigan has happened twice in a row now, and while I understand doing this before a movie, doing it DURING a movie is just fucking disrespectful. Do better, Philippines.
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