Dune: Part 2: Trailer Review and Analysis the Film by Denis Villeneuve
The first, highly anticipated trailer for Dune: Part 2 by Denis Villeneuve, the sequel to the 2021 film starring Timothy Chalamet and adaptation of the second half of the famous novel by Frank Herbert, has just been released. Let’s go through it one step at a time, trying to reveal as much information as possible with the few frames available to us. We certainly have no intention of anticipating the content of the film or making any kind of spoiler, but obviously to decode the trailer we will resort to the information we have from reading the novel and watching the 1984 film by David Lynch, which adapted the whole story in just over two hours. Here’s our breakdown of the trailer for Dune: Part Two, arriving November 3, 2023.
Dune: Part 2: “Where You See Sand, Imagine Water…”
In the first scene of the trailer, Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) is talking to Chani, the young Fremen played by Zendaya. Paul explains to her how to dive into the water and swim, but Chani looks at him with dreamy eyes and can hardly believe her words: the young duke comes from the planet Caladan, where water flows in abundance, between rivers, lakes, oceans, and continuous rain. For the Fremen tribes who live in the deserts of Arrakis, however, water has always been a priceless commodity, which is painstakingly collected to make survival possible.
Paul intends to take the dream that the former leader of the Fremen, Liet Kynes, confided to her in the last film before she died, and make it a reality: he will collect enough water to transform the planet’s climate forever, and he will transform its arid deserts forever in a pleasant garden. Shortly after we briefly glimpse his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) aboard a porter that the Fremen use to allow women to travel in the desert. Her face is covered in tribal tattoos (already seen in a vision of the future in the 2021 film) and her eyes are solid blue, a sign of complete addiction to the spice (the Fremen call them the Eyes of Ibad). The woman has become a full-fledged Fremen.
Princess Irulan
“Many secrets are hidden in the shadows of Arrakis: the darkest of all, however, remains the end of the house Atreides “. Speaking is a new entry, Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh), daughter of the emperor of the galaxy Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken). We know that it was Shaddam himself who conspired with Baron Vladimir Harkonnen to destroy the house of Atreides, but evidently not even the emperor’s daughter is aware of the conspiracy. In all likelihood, the young woman is talking to her father (who does not appear in this trailer) and is asking him about her many, too many secrets. Meanwhile, a warrior wearing a still suit sets fire to what appears to be a pile of enemy Armor lying in the dunes of Arrakis.
By design, it appears to be a Fremen disposing of the remains of hundreds of Sardaukar, the emperor’s elite troops. In another scene, evidently disconnected, the portrait of Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaacs) burns. That the Fremen and Paul have found his body, and are giving him an honorable burial. Things on Arrakis are getting worse for the imperial house of Corrino, and Princess Irulan haunts the emperor with an ominous hypothesis: “What if Paul Atreides is still alive?”. The scenes featuring Irulan were clearly filmed in Veneto, in the Brion tomb created by the architect Carlo Scarpa. In the film, the setting reflects the planet Kaitain, the capital of the galaxy. Meanwhile, we catch a glimpse of a dirty and aged Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin), mentor to Paul.
“Your father didn’t believe in revenge”
Lady Jessica tries in vain to dissuade Paul from seeking a showdown against the Harkonnens over his father’s death. “Your father didn’t believe in revenge,” she begs him. As we will see at the end of the trailer, however, Paul will not stop and will continue in his destiny, which will lead him to become the Lisan al-Gaib, that is the mythical warrior Messiah of the Fremen. A significant detail: the scene is certainly placed at the beginning of the film, because Jessica still doesn’t have the tattoos seen in the previous sequence on her face, and her eyes are not yet blue from addiction to the spice.
Here is Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen…
Played by Sting in the 1984 film, the great antagonist of this second film now makes its sensational entrance: the young Feyd-Rautha, nephew of Baron Vladimir and heir to the Harkonnen house. To interpret it is an unrecognizable Austin Butler who, to be consistent with the physiognomy of the other members of the house who appeared in the previous film, is completely bald. This is no small detail: the great houses of Dune are the result of millennia of genetically controlled evolution, and they all share the same somatic traits. Feyd prepares to enter an arena in the guise of a gladiator, and brandishes two blades: his gaze is that of a sadistic assassin, worthy of his uncle.
The whole sequence is shot in black and white: is it a flashback? Or the sinister atmosphere that reigns over the corrupted planet Giedi Prime, birthplace of the Harkonnens? A few scenes later, after seeing (this time in color, on the planet Arrakis) also the baron (Stellan Skarsgard) and Feyd’s cruel brother, Rabban (Dave Bautista), we find the boy again in the arena, while he screams in anger against a enemy kneeling in front of him. His face is twisted into a mask of hate and madness, and there is very little that is human about him!
…and here is also Lady Margot Fenring
Also appearing briefly is Lady Margot Fenring, another newcomer played by Lea Seydoux. We do not see Count Hasimir Fenring, her husband, whose interpreter we still do not know at her side: at this point it is probable that the director has completely eliminated the character, incorporating him into that of Lady Margot. This is, of course, only our hypothesis. The move could generate controversy among the most hardened fans of the novel, but on the other hand, it would allow for depth to be given to the character of Margot, who, in the book, literally disappears into thin air and represents a mere narrative tool. To find out more, we will have to wait for November 3rd… Next, we see Margot watching Feyd-Rautha through binoculars as he fights in the arena (the scene is black and white again), and finally getting ready to kiss him. Why should the woman feel any attraction for that young psychopath?
Unless it’s a very different mission, which has very little to do with love… Lady Margot is still a Bene Gesserit, that is, a member of the female sisterhood which also includes Lady Jessica, the mother of Paul…
The Ampoule of the Water of Life
A hooded figure holds out an ampoule containing a strange transparent liquid towards the camera. It is the Water of Life, a derivative of the spice that allows women to experience mystical visions and to enter into communion with the spirit world, the Alam al-Mithal. No man has ever survived this substance.
Paul Against a Mysterious Assailant
While we see Feyd-Rautha fighting in the arena, Paul too is fighting for his life on the sands of Arrakis against a mysterious assailant who wears the stillsuit and has his face covered. For those who have read the novel it is quite clear who it is, but for the benefit of all the others we will obviously leave his identity a mystery… We can only anticipate that it will be a real surprise, both for the spectators and for Paul!
“Don’t try to Impress”
Following the wise advice of Stilgar (Javier Bardem) and under the fearful gaze of Chani (Zendaya), Paul places a hammer in a dune, which resounds faster and faster. As we saw in the last film, the device attracts sandworms, which the Fremen revere under the name of Shai Hulud and the title of “creators”.
Paul follows the advice of Stilgar, who in this second act becomes his new mentor, and uses two cables with harpoons to get on the back of a giant sandworm and make it his mount. Will something unforeseen happen during the test? Stilgar tells him to act “unimaginatively”, and Paul repeats his words with a smug smile. Shortly after, however, Chani and the Fremen exult, delirious: his initiatory test is finally accomplished, and Paul is now one of them to all intents and purposes. The holy war against the Harkonnen and Imperial invaders can finally begin!
The War Begins
The situation becomes more and more exciting: “You can’t lose me, Paul Atreides,” says Chani before tenderly kissing the protagonist. Earlier, we caught a glimpse of a fleet of Empire ornithopters heading toward the Fremen stronghold of Sietch Tabr. War is imminent: we see a Fremen woman captive in a cave and meet Princess Irulan again as she wears armor and a face-covering vestment, typical of sisters of the Bene Gesserit order. “We gave them something to hope for, “says Lady Jessica, with the blue eyes, tattoos, and clothing of a Fremen priestess of hers “There’s no hope“, Paul angrily yells, who has evidently just suffered a severe blow.
The boy leans over a cliff, and a horde of thousands of Fremen returns his greeting. It is no longer Paul Atreides, but Paul Muad’dib, the bloodthirsty leader of the tribes of the desert. The holy war is about to begin. A curiosity: in Lynch’s book and film, there was talk of “jihad”. Those were different times, and the term did not yet evoke 11 September, Al-Qaeda and ISIS: for his part, Villeneuve has already declared that he will not use this word.
“May Your Knife Chip and Break”
This is the Fremen ritual curse with which Jamis, at the end of the first film, challenged Paul Atreides to a duel to prevent him from joining the tribe. Now, however, the protagonist speaks like a Fremen, and in front of him stands the menacing silhouette of the scion of the Harkonnens, Feyd-Rautha. We are in a closed environment, and no longer on the desert battlefield seen in the previous sequences. Behind both duelists, various silhouettes of waiting men can be glimpsed: will the duel between the two decide the fate of the war?
