Big worms on a big planet in a film with a big
runtime. It's a lot to take in. If you missed these small details in "Dune: Part Two," don't
worry — we've got you covered. Spoilers ahead! "Dune: Part Two" opens with expository narration
from Princess Irulan. She catches viewers up on the events of the first film — in particular,
the destruction of House Atreides by House Harkonnen and her father, Emperor Shaddam IV.
If you've read the novel, this opening narration will immediately evoke the
epigraphs that begin
each chapter which are written by the princess. In other words, Herbert's "Dune" is loaded with
excerpts from Irulan's writings — accounts of Paul and Arrakis written after the events
of the book. She spends much of her life as a writer and historian, and it's fun to see
this aspect of her character included in "Dune: Part Two." We're shown at the very start of
the movie that she's interested in the larger goings-on of galactic history, foreshadowing
the critical role
she'll play in chronicling it. And since Irulan doesn't appear
at all in the first "Dune" movie, beginning "Part Two" with one of her citations
is a great move for longtime fans of the novels. Throughout much of "Dune: Part Two," Chani
wears a blue ribbon in her hair. Later, during battle scenes especially, you can see
it wrapped around the arm of her stillsuit. Its bright hue stands out against the colors
of most Fremen clothing and the desert itself, but what does the ribbon actually repr
esent? This accessory appears to be a Nezhoni scarf — an
item in the novel that's worn by Fremen women who are married or otherwise romantically committed,
and who have given birth to a son. In the book, Paul and Jessica live among the Fremen
for years in the desert, whereas "Dune: Part Two" spans less than a year. This shortened
timeline cuts out some arcs from the novel, including one in which Paul and
Chani have a son named Leto II. Leto II is killed while still just an infant
in the no
vel, the victim of an attack by his father's enemies. Giving Chani the blue scarf
in the movie could be a nod to this storyline, as book fans will likely clock it. Some
have theorized that the Leto II arc was planned but cut from the movie, but that
seems unlikely, as there isn't enough time for Chani to get pregnant and give birth.
Instead, the scarf seems to represent her relationship with Paul in the movie — one that
becomes increasingly distant in the final act. "Get out of my mind." "N
ot until you tell them both who I really am." If you're a fan of Frank Herbert's "Dune," then
you probably had one big question about "Dune: Part Two": How would the movie handle Paul's
younger sister, Alia? In the book, about five years pass between the death of Duke Leto
Atreides and Paul's victory over the Harkonnens and Emperor Shaddam IV. Alia is four years old in
the climactic battle of the first novel, and as a fully conscious mind with centuries of knowledge
— thanks to being expose
d to the Water of Life in utero — she's already a competent leader, referred
to for her viciousness as "Alia of the Knife." Creating a convincing four-year-old murder
princess with deep cosmic knowledge is no easy feat for a live-action movie. To avoid this
dilemma, "Dune: Part Two" truncates Paul's desert chapter to less than nine months, allowing
Jessica to stay pregnant for the whole movie. Alia persists as a vocal agent in the plot, but
she does so from within her mother's womb. In one
scene, though, we do see her appear to Paul
as an adult woman, played by Anya Taylor-Joy. If you haven't read the books, this
all may be a bit confusing. Alia is incredibly important in "Dune Messiah"
and "Children of Dune," and because she possesses powers of prescience similar to
Paul's, she's able to commune with him both cognitively and out of time. Both siblings
exist on a shared frequency of future-sight, and Alia's brief onscreen cameo foreshadows
a much larger role in the potential
sequel. "Dune: Part Two" mostly takes place on Arrakis,
but it does visit a couple of other planets, including the Harkonnen homeworld
of Giedi Prime. In the novel, the planet is described as being incredibly
industrialized, to the point that the natural ecosystem is in decline. Director Denis
Villeneuve and his team take things a step further in the movie version by making
Giedi Prime literally a black and white world. The distinctive color choice is explained
briefly in a line just befo
re Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen enters the gladiator's arena
for his big fight. The announcer mentions that Giedi Prime has a "black sun,"
which paints the whole world in stark, brutalist grayscale. This is both a nice bit
of sci-fi flavor and a perfect symbol of the Harkonnens' worldview. They live in and perpetuate
a cold, violent culture. Their military mobilizes in scenes that evoke real-world fascist
imagery, and they deploy airstrikes and drone warfare against the Fremen instead of
fighting
fair. Villeneuve told Moviefone, "The idea came from the book. The book is a study
of the impact of the ecosystem on human beings, all from the nature of the ecosystem. [...]
we are the product of our environment." By using infrared filming techniques,
the director was able to establish a uniquely harsh ecosystem on
Giedi Prime. He continued to say, "What if instead of revealing colors, the
sunlight was killing them and creating a very eerie black and white world,
that will give us inform
ation about how these people perceive reality,
about their political system." Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen is the classic literary
foil — a match for Paul Atreides in every way, but with a dark, bizarro spin. The
parallels between them aren't just symbolic, either. Part of the grand Bene Gesserit plan
is keeping multiple candidates for Kwisatz Haderach active at once. They don't
put all their chips on Paul Atreides, and it's clear that they have other options
on the table, including Feyd-Rautha.
"It’s not a prophecy, it’s a story." One blink-and-you'll-miss-it hint at this
occurs when the Bene Gesserit named Margot Fenring seduces Feyd and administers the Gom
Jabbar test. In their initial confrontation, Feyd says that he dreamed about her the night
before, despite them never having met. Like Paul, Feyd possesses a level of future-sight.
Had he been raised with the same Bene Gesserit training and Mentat conditioning
that Paul received throughout his life, it's possible that he could
even achieve
similar powers through extended spice exposure. The existence of an alternate path drives home
just how fragile Paul's prophecy actually is. He sees the future, yes, but he also gets lucky.
In the world of "Dune," prophecies are crafted for political gain. This little glimpse of
Feyd-Rautha's prescience emphasizes that one little misstep could lead things
in a drastically different direction. One of the big set pieces in "Dune: Part Two"
is Paul's first sandworm ride — a majo
r moment in the book that's translated beautifully to the
big screen. The sequence is recreated perfectly, but if you haven't read the original version,
you may not recognize everything that's going on. Sandworm riding is explained in great detail
in the book. The hooks that Paul and the Fremen use aren't just for steering or holding on, but
for keeping the worm above ground. The hooks are designed to latch onto individual plates of the
worm's exoskeleton, prying them open to expose the sof
ter parts underneath. Such an opening makes
the worm vulnerable to irritation from the sand, so it instinctively rotates to keep the open
plate on top, as far away from the sand as possible. This naturally positions the rider in
a spot where they can stand, leverage more hooks, and begin to steer the worm more actively. And
because the plate stays open during the ride, this process also ensures that worms won't try to
go back underground while a Fremen is atop them. One of the smaller plotl
ines in "Dune: Part
Two" is the rivalry between Glossu Rabban Harkonnen and Gurney Halleck. We glean in
bits and pieces over the two movies that Gurney doesn't just hate Rabban because
he hates Harkonnens, though that's part of it. Rabban killed his sister when she and
Gurney were slaves on Giedi Prime. To Gurney, he represents all the brutality and
viciousness of the Harkonnens, and it's only appropriate that such a loyal servant of
House Atreides would be the one to kill Rabban. However,
this moment is strangely melancholic.
It marks the end of the longstanding feud between the Harkonnens and the Atreides, but
the start of a much more violent conflict. One thing that Denis Villeneuve's
"Dune" movies gloss over a bit is how the whole Arrakis ecosystem
actually works. The first movie reveals that terraforming efforts
stopped after the discovery of spice, but we don't get the same expansive
explanation that the book provides. "Dune: Part Two" also provides some tidbits about
how
the worms work, but it isn't laid out explicitly. In the film, we see that the Water of Life
is actually extracted from young sandworms. It's a biological fluid of some sort. The
reason it carries similar prescient powers to spice is that sandworms themselves are
critical pieces of the spice-growing process. We also see in "Dune: Part Two" that water
is lethal to the sandworms. Though this is never said out loud, we see it in
practice. The delicate ecosystem of Arrakis creates a harsh
cycle by which
spice is perpetually generated. However, this process also prohibits the planet
from being made more habitable for humans. "Dune" is really a tragedy at its core. It's
the story of a young man pushed into a violent future by forces beyond his control. "Dune: Part
Two" shows us Paul's rise as a leader amongst the Fremen, but also of his fall. For most of the
movie, Paul resists going south. In all of his visions, that trip leads to the holy war he fears
— a galactic wave of
bloodshed fought in his name by zealots beyond his ability to control.
Yet he goes anyway, seeing no alternative. One detail you might not have noticed is that
Paul is shown very differently after he drinks the Water of Life. Before that, there are
tons of scenes showing him in intimate moments. Like Chani, we see the real Paul —
the private person, not the public figure. But we never get another moment like this
after he wakes up from his coma. Instead, we only see him as his followers see
him — as a
bold leader without a shred of doubt. And like Chani at this stage, we don't get access to his
inner convictions. She tells him at one point, "You'll never lose me as long
as you stay who you are." But Paul Atreides dies in the end,
and the Kwisatz Haderach rises. "I will love you as long as I breathe." Feyd and Paul have a lot of little parallel
moments in their journeys. When Feyd takes over Arrakis from Rabban, he insists that his older
cousin kiss his feet. At the end of th
e film, Paul makes a similar command of the
old emperor by ordering him to kiss his ducal signet ring. It's revealed that
Paul and Feyd themselves are cousins, as Jessica's father is none other
than Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. "Your blood comes from dukes and great houses." Feyd-Rautha meets his end in another mirror
moment. At the end of his knife fight with Paul, Feyd gains the upper hand, sticking his own
blade into Paul's side and approaching his enemy for the killing blow with the knife
he
dropped. When Feyd goes in for the final blow, though, Paul catches him on his knife,
which he seems to pull out of himself without Feyd noticing. They pull apart to
reveal parallel wounds, but Paul's is just barely non-lethal. It's a final reminder of
just how narrow Paul's path to victory is, and it's only appropriate that the
duel ends with identical attacks. Throughout the last act of "Dune: Part
Two," it's clear that Paul has changed. The Water of Life fully activates his powers,
and whatever it is he sees with them convinces him that war is necessary. Even as the final
battle rages, you can convince yourself that Paul's behavior is reluctant. He has to
defeat the Harkonnens because they're evil, and he must assume the imperial throne to
maintain order. Maybe he'll be able to find another answer besides galactic war. He just needs
to take back Arrakis first and figure things out. But then, after defeating Feyd-Rautha, Paul
is informed that the other great houses ref
use to bow to his rule. Stilgar
asks what he'd have the Fremen do, and Paul's answer is simple: "Lead
them to paradise." It's a sinister, chill-inducing line. Not only is he playing on
the language of the prophecy to compel the Fremen, but there's clear malice in his voice. He knows
he's directly ordering the murder of millions, perhaps billions. But he doesn't waste a
second trying to negotiate a more peaceful result. It's just four words, but they tell
us and Chani that the old Paul trul
y is gone.
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