Riding a huge sandworm in ‘Dune Part 2’ trailer is exhilarating 2023

Long live the combatants!

After what felt like centuries, the new trailer for acclaimed director Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune Part 2” has arrived with a somewhat confusing and unimpressive first look at the sequel to 2021’s “Dune.”

Paul Atreides adopts his role as the prophesied savior, leading azure-eyed Fremen on a crusade to retake their home planet, as depicted in this operatic advertisement, which employs a scattershot technique with a montage of images of Arrakis’ arid landscape.

Here, we see that Paul’s eyes are now blue-within-blue as a result of protracted exposure to the spice mixture, as well as cutaways to a kaleidoscope of swarming ornithopters, infinite sand dunes, flashing blades, and massing native troops.

Stellan Skarsgard’s colossal Baron Harkonnen makes a brief appearance, along with the mystical Water of Life, a bald Austin Butler as the fierce Feyd-Rautha, Zendaya’s Chani whispering romantic secrets, Dave Bautista’s hulking Rabban, Josh Brolin’s brooding Gurney Halleck, and Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan.

Later, Paul places a thumper tool to attract a monstrous worm, while Fremen chieftain Stilgar (Javier Bardem) instructs the nascent messiah on sandworm riding techniques by advising, “Be straightforward. Be forthright. Nothing special.” And coincidentally, that may also be the best way to describe this initial lackluster trailer.

Here is the film’s official plot summary:

“Dune: Part Two” will examine Paul Atreides’ mythic voyage as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking vengeance against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Faced with a choice between the passion of his life and the fate of the known universe, he attempts to avert a dreadful future that only he can predict.

Still, despite the lack of a particular through-line or thematic cohesion, this is only the first of many “Dune” trailers that will focus on the plot and character storylines before the film’s autumn release.

This sneak glimpse serves to whet the appetite for the next installment of the “Dune” narrative by reacquainting audiences with the overall situation between the barbaric Harkonnen clan and the planet-altering holy war to come after the tragic fall of House Atreides.

Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgard, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, and Charlotte Rampling reprise their roles in Legendary Pictures’ sci-fi saga, which also features newcomers Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Lea Seydoux, Tim Blake Nelson, and Christopher Walken as the treacherous Emperor Shaddam IV.

“Dune Part 2,” directed by Denis Villeneuve and shot wholly in IMAX and based on Frank Herbert’s seminal novel, will be released in theaters on November 3, 2023.