It’s somehow odd to think about a series like Dune, and the many adaptations that come about by a director’s willingness to see the adaptation through a new lens. For Denis Villenueve’s “Dune Part II” there’s the reminder that the stakes are higher. Duke Leto is dead. Paul and his mother Jessica are on the run with the Fremen. The film does a few things right—building up Paul’s decision to become the Ilsan Al Ghaib, the voice from the outer world, the leader that he must be. Deepening the relationship between Paul and his mother Jessica and how she shaped him into the legend of Muad’Dib. The downside is also finding the right balance to the first film that somehow feels soulless and scattered in a theatrical run, if you never read the book or saw the first film, missing a few key moments from the book that could have strengthened the film overall.
Paul, after the first film, is left with a few choices. Some of the Fremen believe he’s the voice from the outer world, but half of the northern tribes don’t. Jessica, as a Benet Gesserit, has to become a Reverend Mother, or die, according to Stilgar. But Paul is also left with a real moral quandary. “Your father didn’t believe in revenge,” to which Paul answers his mother, “but I do.” To that end, he wants to fight with the Fremen, building a life with Chani, gaining blue eyes, but also remembering what happened with his father, Duke Leto. To that end, he finds Gurney Halleck who shows him the atomic weapons, which were banned in the world of Dune. The film itself does a faithful rise, but also answers some moral questions. Paul, in having to attempt revenge, must become the Ilsan Al Gaib, not by will, but by his own choice. By facing off against the Padishah Emperor, he must enact the Jihad across the Galaxy. Chani resents him for it, because it’s not who he wants to be. But taking the water of life, and Chani’s spit, her name meaning Spring water, awakens him.