DUNE: PART II (Denis Villeneuve 2024)

[Chris Knipp]

DUNE: PART II (Denis Villeneuve 2024)
a preview



It's new, it's colossal and it's out now, or will be in two days. Will you see it? What will ou think of it? Le Monde in English has a very clear review - it's out in France because movies come out on Wednesdays there - that doesn't give away too much - by Mathieu Macheret HERE entitled "Dune Part Two': The making of a messiah. . . Denis Villeneuve has delivered a literal, plot-driven adaptation of Frank Herbert's best-selling novel."

Here's the AlloCiné pull-quote from Cahiers du Cinéma:

Villeneuve has never filmed so much from the sky (like Yann Arthus-Bertrand, his distant cousin), as if he wanted to make his scrum of stars barely discernible. It's true that away from them, the epic is more or less credible; seen up close, it resembles a contest of obsequious sentences disputed between affected youngsters, tired old glories and luxury brand muses.

I like "Luxury brand muses." Cahiers sounds as usual a bit grumpy. But the French critics like the new film: its AlloCiné press rating is 4.1=82%m and the Metacritic rating from US critics is close but not quite: 80%.