All I kept thinking was how the sand must get everywhere: Dune – Part Two reviewed

Dune: Part Two is not a sequel but a continuation of Dune, so picks up exactly at the point you’d started to wonder if it would ever end. All I can remember from the first film is sand, sand, so much sand, and it must get everywhere, and into your sandwiches. But it is set in a massive desert so it goes without saying there would be a lot of sand. I don’t blame the sand especially.

There are all sorts of allegories at play; I’m not paid enough to think about them

Directed by Denis Villeneuve and based on the series of books by Frank Herbert, this second outing has already been hailed as ‘thrilling’, ‘breathtaking’ and ‘a masterpiece’ by those who are too easily carried away and said the same of the Marvel films – although I’m glad to say they are coming round to my way of thinking. To summarise where we were when we were praying for the last film to end: we were on the inhospitable desert planet of Arrakis which is famed for its rare and extremely valuable resource, ‘spice’. When the emperor shifted control of Arrakis from House Harkonnen to House Atreides it set off a conflict between the two families. After Duke Leto Atreides was murdered his heir, Paul (Timothée Chalamet) and Paul’s mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), fled into the desert where they found sanctuary with the planet’s indigenous people, the Fremen. Here, we now discover, Paul does not plan to become an aromatherapist and develop his own brand of oils, even if I’d like to see that. Instead, he plans to retake Arrakis and avenge the death of his father.

It is a hero’s personal quest story even if we know from the get-go (there are prophecies) that Paul will survive and also that, even if he doesn’t comprehend his destiny yet, he is the ‘Kwisatz Haderach’: the saviour.