Dune 2 - 2024 - 7/10
The initial film was so tedious, I barely stayed awake, never bothered to scribble a review.
Followup is action galore! Conflicts and strategies, on the battlefront and within the royals.
Paul Atreides, as the perceived messiah, Lisan al Gaib, unifies the southern tribes.
The path to jihad sprawls open.
One can easily view a proxy conflict between the decadent West and fundamentalist worshipers over a precious resource. Spice / oil.
Filmmakers skirt this issue as best they can, although they can neither disguise nor bury it.
Likewise, the sense of feudalism, which is today’s simmering infection, ignored or unseen.
A dense film, carefully updated from Herbert’s novel, to make a narrative more palatable to current sensibilities.