Dune: Part Two

2024

★★★★

With another insane election year coming in the United States, “Dune: Part Two” might give welcome relief to lovers of aristocratic manliness, whether they know they love it or not.

This movie, the follow-up to Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” and a continuation of that movie’s storyline, couldn’t be more iring of some forgotten classical past if it tried.

I haven’t seen more shots of ducal rings ever than this one has.

Perhaps we are in “Lord of the Rings” territory, what with serious questions of whether the heroes should use weapons of ultimate power — both atomic weapons and religious propaganda — to control vast hordes of people.

You might know the story. And if you don’t, you’ll have to go back either to the previous “Dune” or to Frank Herbert’s original book. Either of which will catch you up on this dark, stark, bleak movie that has a winning character and story arc that pleasantly surprised me.

This probably is my favorite Denis Villeneuve movie so far, despite length problems and too many dialogue simplicities.

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