Dune Part II Review (brief)

 Visually stunning again, and the portrayal of Feyd Rautha was brilliant, but a couple issues, one rather large. 

 I can understand not having Alia be born yet (and hence Paul killing the baron, but nice that they kept the "grandfather" in) or not having Chani have had Leto II yet, but it would have been better to work in much, much more solidly the theme of Alia being the abomination (and what makes that so, that one who gains knowledge or experience before they are ready, especially in the womb, will be an abomination and do horrible things sooner or later . . . one of the Bene Geserit in the final confrontation says "abomination!" in Jessica's direction, but it is nowhere near clear that this is even anything about Alia), and the big error is having Chani feel like Paul has abandoned her by asking for Irulan and then going out on her own to call a sandworm. In the book, Chani is his concubine but the real love of his heart, kind of cemented in being mother of his children, just as Jessica was concubine to Leto I but the true love of his heart and mother of his children, and the Irulan marriage is simply political, to really solidify before the other houses the right to the throne, and the big error in the film interpreting the themes in the book is that you don't get that really central conversation where Jessica tells Chani that they the concubines are the real ones whom the men love and who have influence in steering public affairs. This is central because, in the whole original six-book series, the real arc is the survival and evolution of the Bene Gesirt in relation to a huge force like Leto II as god-emperor (as well as then surviving by evolving by assimilating the Honored Maters into themselves); and much of it (and what Leto II is a challenge to) is that they work behind the scenes, only counseling but still really controlling. And really, when Jessica has a son instead of a daughter like she is supposed to and makes them have to adapt their plans for the kwisatz haderach, she really, in her place as concubine, does the same kind of impacting from the shadows that they do with regard to the empire . . . and that's a pretty big theme to miss, especially when it is wound with the theme of Paul and Chani and his kids, the first of which, Leto II, will become this force to be reckoned with that shapes the history so much.