Dune: Part Two is both incredibly faithful and slyly revisionist of Frank Herberts Dune.
And the changes make it better.
This article contains massive spoilers forDune: Part Two.
Herberts novel has proven notoriously difficult to adapt over the years.
In many cases, hes even improving upon it.
Villeneuve told us he exclaimed to Roth.
Herberts Jessica considered Chani beneath Pauls marital prospects.
With false promises of turning Arrakis into a green paradise, Paul eventually embraces his bleak destiny.
This is only achieved onscreen after Jessica has literally appropriated Fremen culture.
Conversely, Fergusons Jessica is accused of poisoning her own son by Chani so you can advance her designs.
If you dont recognize the name, its because Villeneuve wisely cut Fenring from the film.
Its even a plot point!
She becomes the bitter heart of the movie.
WhenDen of Geekspoke with Villeneuve, the director was open about making these changes.
In the book, Chani is a believer, Villeneuve said.
This contrast gave me the possibility to have some perspective on Paul at the end.
It also makes Chani a much more compelling character.
Herberts Chani is quite passive and fairly staid on the page.
She takes a sword to them.
Nonetheless, she is attracted to him and comes to love him deeply.
In the novel, Chani is accepting of Pauls proposed marriage to Princess Irulan (Florence Pughs character).
She holds back tears, but shell do whatever Usul commands.
Zendayas Chani is not settling for any consolation prizes or semantic arguments.
It is there that hes killed tragically when a Harkonnen raid in the south slaughters many innocents.
That child is then killed almost as soon as hes introduced.
Villeneuve streamlined much of this in his film, by compressing the timeline to less than eight months.
Villeneuve explained his rationale for some of this when we spoke with him earlier this month.
Momentum, Villeneuve said about why he condensed the timeline.
I did that just to put Paul more on edge.
That was the main idea.
This holds true even after Villeneuve spent a whopping five and a half hours tellingDunes story.
The tragedy of this is clear when we meet on the page a child absent of a childhood.
She has the bitter wisdom of an adult ancient in her years.
We suspect Villeneuve even saw a compressed timeline as an opportunity to avoid that potential pitfall.
They converse as siblings, and it foreshadows a complex and strange relationship to come in Villeneuves nextDunefilm.
Nonetheless, its a shame well only properly meet Alia so late in the trilogy.
Wheres the Spice Orgy?
Thats literally what Herbert and Lady Jessica call it in the book.
Were not saying if its a good or bad thing this sequence was cut.
So its pretty interesting that the PG-13 blockbuster version from a major film studio just skipped it entirely.
Dune: Part Two is out in theaters now.
