'Dune 2' solves one of Hollywood's thorniest problems
For much of the 2010s, it seemed like the days of new movie stars taking over the industry and collecting their own box office revenue were over. Instead, Hollywood will be overtaken by an era of superheroes and pre-existing characters whose popularity will forever eclipse that of the actors hired to play them. Those who felt panicked about this trend online weren't wrong, as the early part of this decade suffered from a drought of new movie stars.
Fortunately, this period appears to be over. At least that's just one thought that comes to mind when you watch Denis Villeneuve's latest sci-fi blockbuster, Dune: Part 2.
Dune Part 2's cast is full of heavyweights, but as good and memorable as the veteran actors (Javier Bardem, Rebecca Ferguson) are, it's easy to watch the movie without getting carried away by the star power as much as younger actors. It's difficult to watch. Main actors.
Timothée Chalamet is asked to give one of the most difficult performances of her career as Paul Atreides, a man who is initially troubled by the powers at his disposal but ultimately decides to unleash them anyway. ing. Chalamet exudes confidence throughout her films, but her most memorable performance as Paul comes after "Water of Life." He perfectly conveys the unholy rage and terrifying conviction needed to make the effects of Paul's downward spiral into a selfish, mercenary villain feel fully felt.
Opposite him, Zendaya is asked to carry much of Dune: Part 2's emotional weight on her shoulders. Her character Chani is the heart and soul of the film, the true heroine, and Villeneuve visually captures many of Chani's most emotionally revealing moments through close-ups of her face. I'm guessing. Luckily, Zendaya is more than up to the task. In Dune Part 2, she's fierce and soulful, but also affectionate and skeptical, and she and Chalamet, in the middle of a film like Dune Part 2, create a mesmerizing old-Hollywood film. Watching them build their romance together is an impressive feat.
The world has long known that Zendaya is a star, but Dune Part 2 shows just how well she masters something as terrifyingly large as her IMAX screen on her own. It seems like it will be the first movie to prove that it can be done.
Chalamet and Zendaya aren't the only young actors who stand out in this movie. There's also Austin Butler, who is completely unrecognizable due to the prosthetics that cover his face and head and his voice adjusted to make the character Fayed Lausa Harkonnen actually resemble the Baron's uncle (Stellan Skarsgård). Can not. His "Fade Lauta" doesn't have a trace of Butler's iconic Elvis performance, but the same charisma is still there, and it's less toned down here and skewed into something purely menacing. It is being (If his performance as Fade isn't charismatic enough to convince those who doubt his star power, just wait until you see him in Jeff Nichols's Bike Riders.)
Rounding out the film's young Hollywood ensemble is, of course, Florence Pugh. Relegated to a fairly small supporting role as Princess Irulan, the daughter of Christopher Walken's Emperor Shaddam IV, Pugh doesn't get a lot to do in Dune: Part Two. She is a spectator and an archivist, and it isn't until Chalamet's Paul abruptly demands her hand in marriage at the end of the film that her importance becomes heartbreakingly clear. Despite all of that, Pugh commands your attention whenever she appears. Some, including this writer, would argue that there's almost no better test of an actor's movie star capabilities than asking them to just be onscreen. Pugh does that in Dune: Part Two, and she is just as spell-binding to watch in it as she's always been.
What's truly noteworthy about that is it proves Pugh is an actor who can, like any great movie star, shine in a film no matter how developed or blank her character may be. The same is true of her aforementioned co-stars. None of them are overwhelmed by their characters the same way so many superhero actors have been over the past decade. It is, in fact, Zendaya, Chalamet, Butler, and Pugh's individual star presences that make their characters stand out so much.