Spoilers Ahead

On March 1, 2024, the highly anticipated film “Dune: Part Two” was released in theaters across the United States. “Dune Part Two” is the second installment of the Dune saga which is inspired by the “Dune” book series by Frank Herbert. Going back to the first film of the franchise, “Dune: Part One” follows Paul Atreides from House Atreides and the Harkonnens; the story mainly takes place on Dune, a desert planet that has an extremely valuable dust known as spice. For the past 80 years, the House Harkonnens had been harvesting spice on Dune until the emperor requested a rival group, House Atreides, take over the spice harvesting operation on Dune. Shortly after they took over the spice harvesting operation, the Harkonnens attacked the Atreides and quickly took back control. After the war, the only known survivors of the latter were Paul Atreides and his mother Jessica. The movie ends on a cliffhanger as Paul and his mother find the Fremen, a tribe of natives that have distinct blue eyes since they have been exposed to spice for so long.

The sequel takes place less than nine months after the first film where Paul Atreides and his mother begin to settle in with the Fremen community. Believing that Paul is a holy figure and profit, the Freman ask Paul’s mother to become their reverend mother by drinking the water of life. However, the water ends up being poison and Paul’s mother begins to try and convince nonbelievers that Paul is the Lisan al Gaib which translates to a messiah. Paul Attriedes and the Freman begin to attack Harkonnen spice harvesters. As the Fremen start to win, a new ruler, Feyd-Rautha, arrives and attacks Paul’s home, leaving the main character no choice but to go south and drink the water of life. After Paul drinks the water, he gains the ability to see into the future. With this new power and being deemed a holy figure, Paul leads his army of Freman to attack the Harkonens and overthrow the emperor.

Overall, “Dune: Part 2” is a very visually appealing film with interesting cinematography and costuming. Furthermore, viewers can watch huge transformations in the characters; for instance, Paul was a typical 15-year-old boy in the first film, but in “Dune: Part 2,” he starts to become a villain as he exploits his power over the Freman. With the film clocking in at almost three hours, I give this movie an 8/10; despite some cool moments and captivating special effects, the story wasn’t executed as well as I thought it would be.