Watch the brand new trailer for Dune: Part Three here:

Following on from the previous teaser trailer, this new look full trailer for Dune: Part Three promises an incredible and scale of the narrative that follows Dune/em> and Dune: Part Two and now finds Paul Atreides, better known as Muad’Dib, now declared the ruler of the known Universe, and who with an armed legion of fanatical warriors has unleashed a genocidal crusade that brought wanton destruction and chaos across his domain. But now the seeds of conspiracy and revolt hand in the balance and rule of Muad’Dib is set to be challenged and it shall make way for a cinematic experience that will leave audiences utterly flawed.

Academy Award nominee Timothée Chalamet looks to be delivery a far darker and more intense performance this time around as Paul Atreides as his megalomaniacal rule is threatened fro m within, and Chalamet is setting up a very interesting arc and development for this his character. Another key player who features prominently within the final narrative, and in the trailer, is Jason Momoa who returns as Hayt, a ghola or manufactured human who has been craeted in the likeness of Duncan Idaho, the sword master of House Atreides who died fighting to protect Paul, and who is now a pawn in the hands of the calculating Scytale (Robert Pattinson), a Tleilaxu Face Dancer who executes a plan to dethrone Paul.

 

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Dune: Part Three is again set to deliver an immense sense of scope and feeling, and you can feel the prestige energy that is vibrating off of the imagery with this picture. The sense of world building and the impressive cinematography of Linus Sandgren melds well with the narrative and storytelling of Villeneuve, and audiences who are Dune: Part Three is a story that will excite all of the audiences senses.

Ready yourself for a monumental watch when Dune: Part Three arrives in cinemas on December 17.

Image: Warner Brothers Pictures

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Check out the full trailer for Dune: Part Three below:

Drawing from Dune Messiah, the story follows Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), now deified as Muad’Dib and ruling as Padishah Emperor. His holy war has torn across the galaxy, leaving devastation in its wake, and Paul now finds himself encircled by enemies, conspiracies, and the ever-present shadow of death. At the centre of this rising storm is Scytale, a Tleilaxu Face Dancer (Robert Pattinson), whose calculated and deeply personal conspiracy begins to unravel Paul’s fragile grip on power—and sanity.

 

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With Dune: Part Three, Villeneuve leans fully into Herbert’s most provocative ideas: that charismatic leaders are dangerous, that hero worship breeds ruin, and that even the most powerful figures are undone by their own inner flaws. It’s a bold thematic pivot that promises a darker, more introspective conclusion to the saga.

Once again, the scale is staggering. Arrakis returns in all its harsh majesty, while the consequences of Paul’s interstellar jihad echo across a broken universe. The returning ensemble is as formidable as ever, with Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Charlotte Rampling and Javier Bardem all reprising their roles. Notably, Jason Momoa returns as Duncan Idaho; reborn as the ghola Hayt, a haunting echo of the warrior once loyal to House Atreides.

 

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New faces further elevate the drama, including Anya Taylor-Joy as Alia Atreides, Paul’s sister; a formidable, almost otherworldly presence of immense psychic power. Opposite her, Pattinson’s Scytale emerges as a cunning and ruthless adversary, one who sees the fatal flaw in Paul’s empire and moves to exploit it.

 

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Dune: Part Three is shaping up to be an immersive, visually spectacular, and emotionally charged finale—one steeped in political intrigue, existential reckoning, and the devastating cost of absolute power. Following the monumental achievements of Dune and Dune: Part Two, this final chapter looks set to close Villeneuve’s epic with seismic force.

 

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Prepare to walk the sands once more when Dune: Part Three arrives in cinemas on December 17.

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In the far future of humanity, Duke Leto Atreides accepts the stewardship of the dangerous desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune, the only source of the most valuable substance in the universe, “melange” (also called “spice”), a drug that extends human life, provides superhuman levels of thought, and makes faster-than-light travel practical. Though Leto knows the opportunity is an intricate trap set by his enemies, he takes his Bene Gesserit concubine Lady Jessica, young son and heir Paul, and most trusted advisors to Arrakis. Leto takes control of the spice mining operation, which is made perilous by the presence of giant sandworms. A bitter betrayal leads Paul and Jessica to the Fremen, natives of Arrakis who live in the deep desert.

For Denis Villeneuve adapting Frank Herbet’s Dune to the silver screen has been the realisation of a childhood dream come true. Since he first read this book at the age of thirteen, Villeneuve has wanted nothing more than to see this epic story brought to the big screen. And now more than 40 years later he has achieved it. And what a dream it is. Every single frame of this film is lavished with detail, and the crispness of the imagery pulls you ever deeper and deeper into the narrative that unfolds before you. It’s this attention to detail that makes all the difference with Dune and Villeneuve’s knowledge of the subject matter and his narrative’s protagonist, Paul Atreides serves him well as a director.

Watching Dune I felt like I had almost slipped inside a dream. You are pulled deeper and deeper into this otherworldly narrative and are transported to a place beyond anything you could have ever imagined. That place. Arrakis. Also known as Dune. Home to the Spice Melange, the most precious substance in the universe and which makes stewardship of Arrakis both a coveted and dangerous task. In terms of its narrative flow, Dune feels both like a complete film, but also like the first act of a greater story. Those familiar with the book will understand my thoughts here, and this is a story you certainly want to see expanded further as we see Paul Atreides come into his great power.

Villeneuve gives Dune such incredible detail, and with a perfect combination of images and sound, the building blocks of cinema, he truly brings this picture to life. Both the cinematography of Greig Fraser and the music of Hans Zimmer result in the monumental feat of cinema that we witness. Fraser’s eye results in beautiful images that capture both the harshness and beauty of the Arrakis landscape. His images are gorgeously crisp thanks to the IMAX cameras used to capture the film, and you feel like you are literally standing on the surface of Arrakis and are in a truly alien space. Zimmer’s score adds to the otherworldly nature of the film thanks to its combination of percussion sounds and the extremity of the human voice and the resulting sound is something, unlike anything you could claim to have heard of and adds a sense of operatic majesty to the narrative.

Front and centre in Dune is rising star Timothée Chalamet as the narrative’s central character Paul Atreides. And Chalamet is a complete revelation in the part. As a performer, Chalamet is quickly being lauded as one of the best talents of his generation and this power to bring characters to life on-screen shows through in his performance here as Paul. Bringing a sense of youthful angst alongside a dark sensibility, Chalamet completely transforms into Paul and you peer inside the mind and presence of this hero in the making. Chalamet’s Paul is a nobleman, born and raised to the promise of great power, but he is questioning his future, and strange dreams and the promise of a new world to explore give him pause and trouble him deeply. Via Chalamet’s performance, you are pulled deeper into his mindset as Paul and his’ is a fascinating character to explore.

Through Dune’s narrative, we see Paul grow and evolve, but it is only when disaster strikes that his character is tested and his strange dreams are brought more into focus as destiny wraps her hands around him. Chalamet brings a sincere and at the same time almost dangerous commitment to the role of Paul. He showcases a character who is both a good man, but who also has the shade of a tyrant in him. It is clear that his destiny and visions trouble him, and he has much to learn from the desert itself. We are seeing the first arc of Paul’s character here in Dune and I feel like we still have so much of him to see grow.

Standing next to Chalamet and providing him with a key sense of guidance in Dune is Rebecca Ferguson as his mother Lady Jessica, concubine to Paul’s father Duke Leto Atreides and a sister of the Bene Gesserit. Best described as half noblewoman, half priestess, Ferguson gives Lady Jessica a strict sense of love and duty. She is devoted to her husband and son but is also allegiant to her sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit, and the workings of Dune’s narrative test her to her limits. Like Chalamet, Ferguson’s portrayal of Lady Jessica is transformative, and she is incredibly important to Paul’s character development within Dune. Lady Jessica also proves herself a cunning and deadly warrior, and Ferguson marks herself out as a woman not to be messed with.

Completing the family dynamic of the House of Atreides is Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, the father to Paul, husband to Lady Jessica and now governer of Arrakis on the Emporer’s command. Isaac brings a strong sense of leadership and duty to his role as Duke Leto and there is a real royalty to his actions. Like any king or general, he is a man who is used to being in control and who has a massive level of power and respect at his control. But he is not shut off from his feelings and duty as a father and he brings a great sense of understanding and guidance to his interactions with Chalamet’s Paul. Isaac cuts an impressive figure as Duke Leto and he completely commands every scene in which he stands.

But the key to every story is its villain, and Dune possesses one of the most monstrous in the form of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen who is portrayed with fierce sadism by Stellan Skarsgård. As The Baron, Skarsgård is a hulking monster of a character who is more than happy to satisfy his chilling needs and who possesses zero empathy and who only possesses a ravenous, gluttonous desire for total power. Through the amazing artistry of his prosthetic make-up, he exists as this cruel and uncompromising character, and his mere presence is certain to send a chill down your spine.

Dune is a movie that is told more through imagery over dialogue and the world that is brought before your eyes is something that audiences can truly bask in. Cinematography, costuming, production design, art direction, sound design and score all combine to build an incredible canvas for this narrative to be brought to life on. And it’s very easy to get caught up in. This story may be gigantic, but due to Villeneuve’s direction, it moves at a quick pace. Villeneuve brings plenty of lethal action to the big screen thanks to Josh Brolin’s war master Gurney Halleck and Jason Momoa’s swordmaster Duncan Idaho crossing blades with the armies of the Harkonnen, and the action that unfolds is sure to spike your adrenal gland.

While we are only at the start of Paul’s journey, we see the thematic building blocks that will come to define the narrative of Dune presented to us by Villeneuve clearly in this film. Ideas related to destiny, power, politics, religion, ecology and the heroes journey are all explored in this first chapter of the story and it’s interesting to see how Villeneuve brings them to life on screen.

One of my favourite moments in the film is the juxtaposition of Paul’s last moments on his lush homeworld of Caladen; a planet of vast oceans and mountain ranges that is then suddenly spliced with the burning heat of the desert world of Arrakis. It’s beautifully shot and sets up the path that our hero is to follow. Another sublime moment is Paul’s first interaction with the Spice Melange and its hallucinogenic effects which amplify his visions and tease the audience of moments to come. It is a beautiful scene to behold and grounds the audience in this story and the power of the spice and therefore its importance in this galactic spanning empire. It’s moments like these that truly mark Dune out as a film of great cinematic significance and the audience will be left awe-struck with the images that they witness.

Dune is a story of immense scope, power and is simply a magnificent achievement of cinema. It is a vision of science fiction beyond anything you could have imagined and audiences are sure to bask in its glory. Dune is simply incredible to behold and it must be seen on the biggest screen possible for the spice must flow.

Image: Warner Brothers Pictures

The post ‘Dune’ – Review appeared first on SpicyPulp.

After he uncovers a dark secret that could lead to the end of humanity, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), a ‘blade runner’, goes in search of the infamous and legendary Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) to find the truth.

If your wanting plot, well that’s as much as you’re going to get. I pride myself on never revealing spoilers of any kind, and I must say that to attempt to refer to the plot of Blade Runner 2049 in a review would ultimately do a disservice to the scope, scale and size of this epic production. What acclaimed filmmaker Denis Villeneuve has done here is simply astonishing, and while the term auteur is regularly bandied about, and is applied to directors for just about every project, with Blade Runner 2049, the director rightfully earns this title. As a director, Villeneuve does the seemingly unthinkable and follows in the footsteps of the great master Ridley Scott, whose vision for the original Blade Runner was utterly groundbreaking. Villeneuve extends Scott’s original film into an even further future and builds a narrative that unfolds slowly, revealing a story that not only works on a narrative level but which also examines an array of complex themes.

The original Blade Runner was a stark and industrial look into a polluted and overcrowded future Los Angeles of 2017. Blade Runner 2049 is set 30 years later, and to put it bluntly the world has gone to hell. Call it the by-product of global warming gone wrong, this future is not the dream we all yearn for, but rather the dystopian nightmare we’d like to avoid. But while this slum cityscape makes for a harrowing environment for our characters, Villeneuve’s vision for this landscape is utterly magnificent. Combined with the talents of production designer Dennis Gassner and cinematographer Roger Deakins, along with the guidance of Ridley Scott, the world of Blade Runner 2049 is a stark, yet beautiful vision of a future of immense scale. Buildings rise above the clouds, and signs of animated virtual reality dance throughout the densely populated streets. This landscape becomes totally immersive in a format like IMAX. You’re pulled into this future, and find yourself marvelling at its vast proportions and epic size.

Blade Runner 2049 is far and away cinematographer Roger Deakins greatest achievement. This revered camera artist paints an astonishing cinematic vision with his use of lighting and dynamic camera work. Deakins’ eye gives the film both scale and intimacy and balances the slow burn effect of the original film, along with the quick tempo that younger audiences have come to expect from today’s cinema. I particularly liked his approach to capturing the fortified space of the Tyrell Corporation, and how his use of his camera took you for a ride in Officer K’s spinner. His approach to capturing this film is immersive and groundbreaking, and I have my fingers crossed that he will be awarded the praise of the Academy for his work.

Married with Deakin’s gorgeous cinematography are the sounds of Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch. The use of music is transportative, and the score of Zimmer and Wallfisch pulls you into this futuristic landscape. It moves from melodic and peaceful to screechingly loud and furious as the danger builds. Matched with intense sound editing. the music provides the emotional core of the film and extends the actors performances up on screen.

While I can’t go into too much detail on the cast of Blade Runner 2049 without falling into spoiler territory, I can say that they are all working at 100% here. Ryan Gosling brings a chiselled and intense performance as Officer K, a full-on blade runner whose curiosity leads him to a very dark place that could have world levelling ramifications. Harrison Ford again returns as the cynical and now aged Deckard, whose choices have left him as a haunted figure of the man he once was. Ana de Armas provides a sense of reassurance and compassion as K’s companion Joi, and Jared Leto makes a very creepy appearance as reclusive replicant manufacturer Niander Wallace, who carries a cruel and calculating god complex that makes him a very dangerous adversary.

While watching this film you absolutely believe that all of the cast are wholeheartedly invested in the outcome of this film. Each performer gives his or her all to their character and combined with Villeneuve’s layered storytelling and the film’s impressive production design, cinematography and score, all of this leads to a completely mesmerising piece of science fiction.

While I’ve only given you a snapshot of what Blade Runner 2049 is to reveal too much here would only serve to lessen the impact that this work of science fiction has on its audience. Blade Runner 2049 is a film that needs to be absorbed up on screen. Every piece of it has been rendered with a passion to tell a story that extends from the original, but which also asks new questions of its story and its characters. My advice is to watch it on IMAX if you can let it wash over you, for it is an incredible experience.

Image: Sony Pictures

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Idealistic FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) is enlisted by an elite government task force official (Josh Brolin) to aid in the escalating war against drugs. Led by an enigmatic consultant (Benicio del Toro) with a questionable past, the team sets out on a clandestine journey forcing Kate to question everything that she believes in order to survive.

With an all-star cast and powerful script you shouldn’t need any more reason to line up for this thrilling flick. In case you’re on the fence, here’s the extra push you need:

5. The Wild West 

Set in the dark and dusty plains of the American Border and Mexico, Sicario makes it clear that the Wild West never died, having simply replaced horses with four wheel drives and upgraded to bigger guns. When idealistic FBI Agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) first crosses the border, she comes to find herself in a completely alien world where the very question of right and wrong doesn’t exist. Villenenue uses the classic western archetypes to his advantage, but shifts them to suit this new world that his characters operate in where there are no rules, and the white hats have left town forever.

4. Cinematography on the edge 

In Sicario, Villenenue also finds himself blessed with the partnership of noted cinematographer Roger Deakins, and the two shoot one hell of a film together. Deakins captures the crimson dusk and fading light in clear, beautiful strokes which heightens the scope and epicness of the plot. But the biggest test for Deakins comes in the formidable border crossing scene: a tense, nail-biting, journey that is framed beautifully and tracks at the pace of a ticking clock attached to a stick of dynamite.

3. The shadow world

Part of what makes Sicario so compelling is Villenenue’s commitment to detail in the world he finds himself operating in. Centering his story on the shadow warriors of the elite Tier One units of the FBI and their fellow law enforcement organisations, Villenenue takes the time to get their look and actions right, from the kit that they wear to their weapons and tactics. Everything works to create a believable world that will both fascinate and scare audiences.

2. Benicio del Toro’s Muerte Encarnada 

Death takes human form in the shape of Benicio del Toro’s silent and intimidating assassin Alejandro — a lethal man of few words who is brutally efficient in the art of death. From the moment he graces the screen, you know there’s something off about this smooth and silent man with no name. Del Toro fully commits to the role of Alejandro, crafting a frightening and intriguing character who will live on as one of the silver screen’s most legendary antiheroes.

1.  Emily Blunt: a sheep amongst wolves

While del Toro may provide the horror, Denis Villenenue places Emily Blunt at the film’s centre as FBI hostage rescue operative Kate Macer — a thoroughly green agent who finds herself quickly in over her head in this dark and chaotic world. As the only women in Sicaro’s boy’s club, Blunt really steps up to the plate, crafting a performance that guides the audience into the dark and brutal world where they experience the events of the movie first hand as she does. Blunt brilliantly bears the responsibility of playing the film’s moral center, which places her at great odds with her puppet master superior, the sly Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), and the dangerous world in which she now works. Blunt gives a simply stunning performance, and it’s very likely that Academy Gold could be heading her way.

Image source: Roadshow Films.

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