Dune: Part Two Book vs Movie Review

Dune Part Two Book vs Movie Review is here. With this review, you will see how Denis Villeneuve has officially and triumphantly adopted Frank Herbert’s Novel (Dune) for the big screen with the release of the movie: DUNE.

Similar to Dune (2021), Dune: Part Two deviates significantly from the original work. A few of these are repeated from the first movie.

For instance, we don’t get any of the in-book consequences from the Dune storyline where Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac) pretends to believe Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) is a traitor in Dune: Part Two.

It’s a good method to simplify a story that is already on a large scale, and Villeneuve and co-writer Jon Spaihts stick with this strategy throughout Dune: Part Two.

Dune Part Two Book vs Movie Review

Let us take a look at the different ways the Dune Part Two movie differs from the book.

Attempting to do this, we will be considering the changes we noticed in the book’s characters, events, and objects below:

1. Leto II

In the book, Chani and Paul’s relationship develops considerably more quickly, and after Paul joins the Fremen, she becomes pregnant with a son.

Paul gives him the name Leto II in remembrance of his late father, who was killed by House Harkonnen and was portrayed by Oscar Isaac in the original film. 

The two proceed considerably more slowly in Dune Part Two, with a greater emphasis on Chani’s character development.

Zendaya, who plays Chani, previously told Total Film, “What Denis [Villeneuve] does very well is take the female characters more deeply into consideration.”

He did a great job developing a clear understanding of [Chani’s] beliefs and way of life. It wasn’t like she was completely controlled by the person she was in love with.”

2. Alia

Although the events of Dune: Part Two appear to transpire within a few weeks, the novel skips two years between Paul and his mother, Lady Jessica’s escape into the desert, and the Emperor’s attack.

Since Jessica is expecting a child when they first get to the desert, Alia, Jessica’s daughter, is born in the book. The only time we see Anya Taylor-Joy’s adult Alia in the film is during one of Paul’s visions.

3. Thufir Hawat

In Dune: Part One, Stephen McKinley Henderson portrays Thufir Hawat, the Mentat (human-computer) of House Atreides; however, the character is absent from Part Two.

Hawat, though, plays a part in the book’s second half. As we saw in Dune Part One after Leto is killed, he is blackmailed into working for House Harkonnen, but he remains devoted to House Atreides and surreptitiously opposes the Baron.

As the Emperor sends spies to Arrakis because he believes the Baron is attempting to build troops that are more powerful than his own, the novel depicts this as an attempt to sabotage the alliance by sowing mistrust between the two men.

4. Gurney’s Suspicions

Not everything goes as smoothly in the book as it does in the movie when Leto’s former assistant, Gurney Halleck (played by Josh Brolin), meets up with Paul in the desert.

Gurney tries to kill Lady Jessica because he thinks she is the traitor who betrayed House Atreides, but Paul stops him. Wellington Yueh, the Suk doctor of the Atreides, is the true traitor, of course.

5. Water of Life

There are other instances where Paul’s two years with the Fremen show how time passes more quickly in the film than it does in Herbert’s book.

Following Paul’s journey south of Arrakis, he falls unconscious for a while—in the novel, this period is three weeks, but in the movie, it seems to be an hour.

After consuming the Water of Life, a potent bright blue liquid found in the bodies of sandworms, it grants the Bene Gesserit (and Paul) ultimate clairvoyance. 

6. The Final Battle

The Emperor’s Sardaukar troops on Arrakis mark the conclusion of both the book and the movie. In the movie, Paul interrupts a meeting between the Emperor and the Baron and kills the latter after the Fremen attack sandworms.

In contrast, the Emperor’s forces attack a Fremen outpost first in the book, killing many people, including Leto, Paul, and Chani’s son.

However, in this Dune Part Two book vs movie review, you have learned that Alia, Paul’s sister, was kidnapped and brought before the Baron; in the novel, Alia was the one who murdered him to free Paul.