in preparation for this masterpiece of a film, I felt compelled to warm up my Dune knowledge by rewatching the first film. I have to say,as someone with no prior knowledge of anything Due before watching the first Denis Villeneuve entry, I wasn’t jumping all over it like a lot of people. I think about the aspect of my blindness, and how that affects my watching and enjoyment,and there is a possibility that the spectacle just doesn’t translate, and I’m left with a script that is difficult to follow. I’m careful not to complain too much, because I hate data dumps of exposition, so I appreciate that Villeneuve dosn’t treatn his audience like idiots, and challenges us, but there is something that keeps Dune and its sequel from being my favorite thing of either year. I watch and consume plenty of science fiction shows with audio description, plenty of stuff whose source material I’m not familiar with. So there is something here that is keeping me just a few feeet behind those who love it, and it might be that I can’t enjoy the award winning visual effects. I do want to shoutout the first films original audio description team, Deluxe and narrator William Michael Redman, without whom I would not follow the film at all. I’ll probably be rewatching all three when the third film comes out later. Perhaps by then, I’ll feel more secure in the lore of this series.

I thought the sequel was certainly as good as the first, and while people continue to throw praise around at obvious actors like Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, and Austin Butler, I really enjoyed Rebecca Ferguson’s work in the first film, and while she does a little less here, she’s still phenomenal. Josh Brolin isn’t bad either. These actors, and these performances, feel elevated especially within their genre, yet I’m not sure anyone here deserves an Oscar nomination.

The stakes are bigger, there certainly is more action, and Chalamet’s character has to deal with being this messiah that may have come to save everyone, which throws certain things in political unrest. I think this is likely the more interesting script because it does have the benefit of following a lot of setup in the first film. Zendaya also has infinitely more to do here, and she reminds the audience why she’s the next big thing. seeing her acting in stuff like Euphoria though really puts the perspective on if this is the best Zendaya has to give, and that answer is no. it’s more about being an on screen commanding presence. Butler also has that, though his screentime isn’t what Chalamet or Zendaya has, but he certainly makes the most out of it, and thank God he stopped talking like Elvis.

The audio description here is also just incredible. There was one scene that William Michael Redman was describing involving a corpse and some ants, and not only did he mention that there were ants, but he mentioned the exact number that were seen crawling into the ear.There are fight scenes, giant worms, and many other things that of course made sense for him to go big on, but to get that really small detail just pulled me in even more.

I think these are really solid movies, and if you like them more than me, that’s valid. I do feel disconnected, or like I really only follow 90% of what is happening. It’s hard to really sink into the film. My favorite Villeneuve film is Arrival, followed closely by Prisoners, and I’m very much of the mindset that this is a director that deserves an Oscar win. However, we live in a world where we totally forgot to ever give Ridley Scott an Oscar, so I don’t know that it will ever happen for Villeneuve. I’m hopeful, even if it is for this.

but, this just doesn’t spark quite the level of joy I get from other films, and I’m still not certain I fully understand the spice life these kids are living in.

Final Grade: B+