So we have now reached 2024 and it's time for another year of newly anticipated movie releases
to look forward to. We've got Todd Phillips Joker sequel, George Miller's Furiosa, Ridley
Scott's Gladiator 2 and so much more coming in the year ahead. But the one film that tops
the list for me when it comes to pure theatrical anticipation, is of course, Denis Villeneuve's
Dune Part 2. The second part of the director's planned science fiction trilogy promises greater
scale, revelations and fulfilling character work, that was also a part of Frank Herbert's
groundbreaking novel. So in this video, I'm going to be discussing the reasons why Dune
Part 2 is my most anticipated film of 2024 and how the second film can surpass the first
instalment, both in its storytelling and in its filmmaking. This marks the first video in my
returning Road To Dune series, which over the next 2 months will include video essays and
topical uploads on the Dune movies, the novel and Denis Villeneuve's previous work. Before I get
into though, if you want to keep up to date on any of my upcoming content surrounding
Dune Part 2 and beyond, then don't forget to support this video by giving it a like rating,
subscribing to the channel and turning on your notifications. But without further a do, lets
dive into why Dune Part 2 is my most anticipated movie of the year.
So with us now hitting 2024, I thought I'd base my first video of the year on my most anticipated
release, talking about why it excites me the most. Director Denis Villeneuve has a long
history of making artistically great films, pushing the limits of filmmaking in multiple
genres to new levels with his directorial style and narrative motifs in tact. And after some
great films in 2023, particularly from the auteur scene with that of Christopher Nolan's
Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig's Barbie, there's a greater sense that filmmakers who work on the
biggest stage can craft films that push filmmaking in exciting new directions,
both from a storytelling perspective and from a practical filmmaking one
too. Lead that into 2024 with a new Villeneuve movie, and I'm hoping that
he can be one of many filmmakers that strive to give us something boundless
in both imagination and ambition. When it comes to his film, Dune Part 2,
the new instalment will dive deeper into the rising powers of Paul Atreides, the growth of his
relationship with the fremen and their vengeance against the brutal Harkonnens, bringing
all the main pilars together in an explosive, yet meaningful way too. And with cast additions
of Austin Butler as the cunning Feyd Rautha, Christopher Walken as the Emperor, and Florence
Pugh as Princess Irulan, huge talent has been added to an already stacked cast. Part 1 won
6 academy awards and was a relative success at the box office, even in the wake of that
terrible HBO Max decision during the pandemic to simultaneouslt stream new releases the day
they hit theatres. And with the first film being one of the most rewatched films in the
last few years since its release, you can expect Part 2 to have a much wider audience come this
March. Now of course, I can't wait to see how Denis captures large scale sequences such as
the battle of Arrakeen and all the war that takes place involving multiple sandworms and
numerous armies. But I'm particularly intrigued to see how he will adapt the more intellectual
moments from the book too like with say the water of life scene, and then make that feel impactful
within a war movie template. There's a huge difficulty in pulling some of these moments
off, but if anyone can do it it's Denis Villeneuve, the filmmaker who did so with that
first movie. In my opinion, Dune was the artistic blockbuster done right and I expect part 2 to be
more than just your average sequel with lots more action. So hopefully he delivers and sets up an
expansive Dune universe that can be approached in even more films and tv shows by other
quality storytellers and filmmakers in the years after.
While Part One acted as a sort of laying the table for what's to come, it was also just
a great film that really stood on it's own as a example of character-work when it came to Paul
Atreides. It was a film about Paul adapting to the deep desert and in the process of finding the
fremen, he started to become Paul Muadib. Yes it is setup for Part Two just like
Fellowship Of The Ring was for the Lord Of The Rings, but it was also a singular film telling
the first part of a huge story with so much events to fit into a single adaptation. It was
impressive in its own right, and it only touched on the lore and deeper story that's to come in the
follow-up. Paul is on a path to achieve his destiny as the messianic Kwisatz Haderach
and take vengeance against the brutal Harkonnens following the devastation of House Atreides.
Part One was just a starter meal that still had the emotional impact that an individual film
should have without feeling like only setup. It introduced the factions and mysteries that will
be explored and fully realised in Part Two. There are incredible possibilities on the
big screen with the characters, cultures and planets we got in the first film, showing us that
Paul Atreides’ journey is only just beginning. The journey was never complete in A New Hope
or Fellowship Of The ring, it was build upon and gave us the payoff we so desired, more
context and deeper exploration into the world and characters. After Part One, Denis Villeneuve can
now really dig deep into making something even greater with the foundations in place, and that
is very exciting to think about, especially if you know where this story goes. There's
so much to adapt from the genius that Herbert put in his books, and with this new adaptation
potentially being a trilogy in the words of the director, just imagine how much
further he could take it. Dune is in touch with the cinematic experience, one that calls for
a sublime presentation of the visual, sound and the storytelling through that. Part One pulled
this off brilliantly, but Part Two will have the chance to expand, to deliver on expectations and
to give us another classic sequel in the vein of Return of the King or The Empire
Strikes Back. The world and the characters have been introduced, the ideals have been set,
the filmmaking is strikingly bold and now all of that can be played with by Denis Villeneuve
through the structure he has so fittingly layed out. Making Part One was setting the table,
and Part Two will essentially be the full course meal.
When it comes to this war film approach that I mentioned before, it cannot be denied that
Denis is making Dune Part 2 in a different way to the first. It's new territory for him, because
a lot of his sci-fi projects or bigger budget movies have focussed on the deeper exploration
of characters, their core ideals or interesting humanistic themes at the centre of them. Yes
he will still aim to achieve that in Part 2, but he's got to do so in the mold of a war film,
or a Dune sequel with much more action. He's spoke about this in interviews for part 2
leading up to its release and the all the trailers and footage we've seen thus far have
really signalled that that is the greater focus of the second film. You may say that this could
end up taking away from what so many people loved about part 1, but what excites me is that
Denis can still maintain that level of detail which he did before, but this time with an
added sense of war and then evenually payoff. In all of his films he's kept that level of
immersive nuance in multiple ways, so I trust that he can do so with a more action packed
sequel. The trailers themselves promise a level of immersion on a larger scale, rather than just
excessive CGI battles that carry little weight a lot of blockbuster films today. We see it
in a lot of comic book movies specifically, so I'm hoping the shift of Part 2 will feel
natural. Having read the book and being on board with Villeneuve's adaptation in part 1 though,
I'm sure that this is indeed a key driving structure of the second film, so hopefully it
turns out as yes, more thrilling, but also really effective on a storytelling level. If it does
fully capture that big turn in Paul Atreides journey, one revolving around Herbert's original
ambition for the Dune story, then the second part will definitely be satisfying. And that
is the ramifications surrounding Paul’s ascension as Emperor. In a reverse to other sci-fi stories
like say Star Wars, it critiques the whole idea of a saviour and shows us that even the
most hopeful of messiahs can lead the world to genocide. The very notion of what we are
leading towards, gives the climax of this film and the rest of the whole potential trilogy
more originality when it comes to the idea of the one or the savour-role at the heart
of fantasy storytelling. So overall, Dune Part 2 looks
to be another example of an artsy event film, that aims to be both fascinating,
deep and thrilling. We're getting more of this kind of event film, one that
takes risks in genres they lie or ones that try to do spectacle in an impactful way. Take Oppenheimer
last year, the original Dune, The Batman, Top Gun Maverick or even a film like The
Creator. Dune Part 2 may be more focussed on capturing the climactic war at the end of the
novel, but there's many moments at the end of Herbert's book that critique built upon
relationships, physcological themes, ecological ideals and power structures. Like we saw in the
trailers and based on what Denis has said about part 2, he's looking to keep the level of
detail in his character work and the worldbuilding just as present. That excites me being a fan of
Dune and I think Part 2 can act in some ways as this years Oppenheimer, giving audiences
a smart, exciting and detailed event film in the Science Fiction genre that they'll want
to rewatch over and over again. So hopefully Dune Part 2 will deliver on the hype from its
marketing campaign and build upon all the greatness we got in that first film.
But that was my video discussing why Dune: Part Two is my most anticipated movie of the year.
With lots of insane story beats, characters and lore to explore in the second part
of Frank Herbert's novel, alongside the ambition from Denis Villeneuve and his team to raise the
bar in science fiction filmmaking on a repeating basis, Dune Part 2 is the kind of film
that has been set up to be huge within the blockbuster landscape. I suspect that
the second film will only grow on the box office numbers attained by Part 1, releasing now in a
theatrical-only environment, and this will only benefit the whole franchise going forward. Part
2 will have the opportunity to build on the word of mouth from part 1 with all the awards
and hugely positive responses going for it, so the Dune saga is set up to be a growing success,
as long as it doesn't drop the ball in quality. The current track record of director Denis
Villeneuve and the people he works with speaks for itself and right now we can only expect
another great film that pushes the boundaries of what is possible in sci-fi filmmaking. We'll
have to see but I think all of these elements combined make Dune Part Two a film that can
be a groundbreaking one, if it's all delivered on. But let me know down below in the comments
section what your most anticipated movie of 2024 is, and if you are excited for Dune Part 2,
what particularly excites you about the second part in Villeneuve's sci-fi saga.
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I hope you guys enjoyed it, I've been Cortex and as always make some noise.