MOVIE MUSIC UK

Original Review by Jonathan Broxton

The first true blockbuster of 2024, Dune Part Two is the continuation of director Denis Villeneuve’s epic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction novel. I’m not going to recap the plot of the first film – if you’ve seen it, you know it, if you haven’t, go watch it – but it essentially picks up immediately where the first film ends, with young Paul Atreides, having survived the attack on his family that killed his father, heading into the desert with the Fremen, the native inhabitants of the desert planet Arrakis. Meanwhile the Harkkonens – the sworn enemies of House Atreides – have taken back stewardship of the planet and resumed mining the valuable ‘spice’ that is only found in Arrakis’s vast sand dunes. However, as Paul begins to adopt the Fremen ways, and falls in love with Fremen warrior Chani, his mother Jessica is subtly manipulating events in the background to bring about the prophecy that has followed Paul since his birth – that he is both the kwisatz haderach and lisan al gaib, a messiah figure across different cultures. Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, and Javier Bardem reprise their roles from the first film, while Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, and Christopher Walken, join the ensemble cast.

As good as the first Dune was, I personally believe that Part Two is a better film. The visuals are utterly spectacular, filmmaking on an epic scale that hasn’t been attempted in years. Some of the landscape shots of Arrakis are truly breathtaking, the world building and design elements are steeped in intricate detail, and I especially appreciated the artistic choice to show Geidi Prime – the home world of the Harkkonens – existing in a different color spectrum due to the light given off by its particular sun. Thematically, the film feels richer and deeper; whereas the first film was mostly about warring families vying for control and currying the Emperor’s favor, this film intelligently explores themes relating to religious extremism and political corruption, and appears to have a much more expansive reach, while still presenting a series of exciting adventure sequences, full of intense action and viciously choreographed fights. The acting performances are also of a much higher quality than one would expect from such sci-fi fare, with Chalamet, Ferguson, Zendaya, and a near-unrecognizable Butler being special standouts.

In terms of music, as one would expect, Hans Zimmer returned to score the film, having won his second Best Original Score Oscar for the first film in 2021. It’s tempting to say that Dune Part Two is ‘more of the same,’ considering that it is essentially the second part of one long story, but that might be a little reductive in terms of what the score actually does. Having lived with the first score for almost three years, I still stand by my initial response to it, which was to say that I both like it and don’t like it at the same time, and my response to Dune Part Two is basically that too – but there’s more to it than that.

In my review of the first score I recounted how Zimmer told Jon Burlingame in an interview for Variety that part of his thinking was to “get away entirely from the concept of a western orchestra and create things that were usually impossible for human musicians to play”. One example he cited was taking the sound of a Tibetan long horn, running that sound through a sampler, and then manipulating it so that it was ultimately performed by a solo cello. In another interview, with Darryn King for the New York Times, Zimmer revealed that his longtime collaborator Pedro Eustache built a 21-foot horn and a “contrabass duduk,” a supersized version of the ancient Armenian woodwind instrument, while sound designer Chas Smith created a variety of metallic percussion instruments which he then scraped and hammered to create the eerie, unearthly tone of the Arrakis desert and the spice that floats through the sand and dust.

And then, of course, there are the vocal performances. Zimmer has often said that he felt that women drive the story of Dune, and so for the first film he spent more than a year working with three women – Loire Cotler, Lisa Gerrard, and Edie Lehmann Boddicker – to come up with the various vocal sounds that often dominate the score. These three women performed a series of chants, whispers, and vicious primal screams, and from this palette of sounds Zimmer extracted various syllables and lines that were musically interesting, and used them as the soul of his score. All of this music – the alien sounds of manipulated instruments, the metallic percussion, the vivid vocals – are all back in Dune Part Two, but there is some new material too, which allows this score to develop a personality of its own.

The major new addition to the score is the love theme for Paul and Chani, which is prominent in several significant cues, notably “Beginnings Are Such Delicate Times,” the lovely “A Time of Quiet Between the Storms,” “Never Lose Me,” and the more bittersweet “Kiss the Ring”. Villeneuve asked Zimmer to write ‘the most beautiful love theme in the world’ for their relationship, and whether Zimmer succeeded in living up to that description is up for debate, their theme is certainly notable as being the most conventionally melodic, intimate, and attractive part of either score. The melody is usually carried by a duduk, which gives it a timbre similar to some of the more ethereal music Zimmer wrote for Gladiator, but its harmonies and instrumental textures are different and very much rooted in Dune’s sonic world. In some cues the synth backing textures have some clear sonic echoes of Vangelis score for Blade Runner, or perhaps even Brian Eno’s ‘Prophecy’ theme from David Lynch’s 1984 Dune movie.

Interestingly, this theme appears to be a variation on, or a development of, the House Atreides theme from the first score, which appeared very sparingly in the film but featured prominently in the cue of the same name from the accompanying ‘sketchbook’ album, suggesting that Zimmer had actually written it prior to the first film being released. This contradicts some of the statements that Zimmer has subsequently made about how this theme came to be, but whatever… it’s very effective in context at conveying the relationship between the two young lovers.

What’s also interesting about this theme is the fact that… well… it’s an actual theme. While talking about the score for the first film Zimmer was adamant that he never actually thought about the score in terms of specific themes or sounds for characters or locales, instead preferring to work in a more abstract way, seeing everything as a totality. However, the love theme for Paul and Chani is very clearly a specific theme for these two characters, and personally I think that Zimmer adopting this sort of specificity is what makes Part Two a better score. I respond to film music in a linear fashion, associating sounds and melodies with concepts. Having that framework allows me to fully understand a film, its narrative, and how different things relate to one another, and the fact that Part Two has this more clearly-defined internal architecture is, for me, a very positive thing.

The second major new theme in the score is the theme for Austin Butler’s character Feyd-Rautha, the psychotic and violent nephew of Baron Harkkonen, who emerges as a challenger to Paul’s claim to be the kwisatz haderach. Feyd-Rautha’s theme is a dark cello motif that snarls and growls like a caged animal, capturing the simmering anger of the character in cues like “Harkkonen Arena” and “Seduction”. There is also what appears to be a related cello motif that links Paul and Feyd-Rautha via the concept of kwisatz haderach, which is especially prominent in the “You Fought Well” cue that underscores their vicious knife fight at the end of the film.

The rest of the score adopts the same ‘wall of sound’ approach that Zimmer took with the first score; at times the music is quiet, ambient, almost like a whisper. At other times the music is shockingly loud, violent and aggressive, an aural assault that in film context is sometimes so ferocious that the music almost physically pushes you back in your seat and makes your chest cavity vibrate; there are several moments in “Eclipse” and “Travel South” that feel like this. The action music in cues like “Harvester Attack,” “Ornithopter Attack,” the aforementioned “Harkonnen Arena,” “Worm Army,” and “Gurney Battle” is similarly imposing, often consisting of brutal rhythmic ideas accompanied by the battering-ram instrumental and vocal textures, and references to recurring motifs. Some of the writing here is occasionally a little reminiscent of Zimmer’s Batman action material, and will certainly appeal to fans of cues like “Like a Dog Chasing Cars” from The Dark Knight, or the ‘Deshi Basara’ chant from The Dark Knight Rises.

There are massive outbursts of the Fremen war cry (‘I read your e-mail!’) in “Worm Ride” and “Resurrection,” although my recollection is that there are several more of these in the film itself. The eerie whispering motif for the Bene Gesserit sisterhood appears throughout the bizarre, hallucinatory, aurally dissonant “Water of Life” sequence underscoring the scene where Jessica ingests ‘sandworm piss’ in order to establish herself as the new Mother Superior for the Fremen. “Each Man Is a Little War” is very peculiar, a collision of odd metallic textures and distorted, warped vocals, which underscores a scene on Geidi Prime where Feyd-Rautha is selecting weapons prior to his Gladiator-like fight in the Harkonnen Arena, and ruthlessly murdering his handmaidens as he does so. It goes some way to elaborating further on his deeply twisted mental state.

“Arrival” and “Southern Messiah” underscore the scene where Paul – having been resurrected and confirmed himself as the true kwisatz haderach – gatecrashes the Fremen clan meeting and proclaims himself to be their savior, lisan al gaib. There’s a superb, growling, aggressive electric guitar performance of the score’s main theme in the first cue, which then builds during the second cue through some brooding heroic chords underpinning Paul’s speech to the masses, but it’s clever how Zimmer clearly foreshadows the fact that Paul’s god-like ascension is not a moment for celebration, but a moment of darkness and fear.

“Only I Will Remain” is the first part of the film’s end credits, and is mostly a lovely reprise of Paul and Chani’s love theme, initially played with a soft and almost spiritual tone, soothing vocals, and a prominent electric guitar doubling the duduk. It slowly grows in scope and stature, before finally climaxing impressively during the conclusive “Lisan al Gaib”.

As you can probably tell, if you’re contrasting this with my review for Dune Part One, I consider this score to be an improvement, and it’s mostly down to two things. First, the repeated statements of Paul and Chani’s love theme give this score a stronger and more resonant emotional anchor; there’s something tangible, something concrete, to grasp on to from a melodic standpoint, and the fact that it is related to the core relationship in the story – how Paul and Chani fall in love, but then grow apart as the religious fervor around and political manipulation of Paul increases – makes it the score’s cornerstone. Second, as I mentioned earlier, the fact that Zimmer appears to have increased his thematic specificity in this score, not only with Paul and Chani’s love theme, but with the ideas representing Feyd-Rautha, the Bene Gesserit, the ‘kwisatz haderach’ concept, and more, gives the score a tangible internal logic, and this is something that I appreciate on a fundamental level. When I understand that the score actually means something, and is not simply presenting abstract ideas, I can dig into the storytelling aspect of it all, and this in turn increases my satisfaction enormously.

Still, anyone who had issues with Zimmer’s overall approach on the first film will find that many of the same problems remain. Zimmer’s aesthetic is still, at times, the aural equivalent of a battering ram, a wall of sound that can be overwhelming and potentially painful on a physical level. Orchestral traditionalists will continue to find his reluctance to embrace this sound frustrating, and his general broad-brush painting style of using colors and textures to represent certain things, rather than identifiable long-lined themes and melodies, may alienate listeners who don’t connect with that style. At this point, you’ll know if this applies to you.

Personally, I find the whole thing quite fascinating, and I am becoming more and more drawn to it the more I listen. Like I said in my review of Dune Part One, there are parts of it I really dislike, which are tonally unpleasant and very difficult to connect with, but then there are moments where it is spellbinding, hypnotic, and very beautiful. There remains something timeless, ancient, epic, but also futuristic and progressive about this music, all at the same time, and now when you add this score’s elegant theme for the love at the core of the story, it takes it to another level. Fear may be the mind killer, but this music sets it free.

Buy the Dune Part Two soundtrack from the Movie Music UK Store

Track Listing:

• Beginnings Are Such Delicate Times (8:56)
• Eclipse (5:13)
• The Sietch (2:34)
• Water of Life (3:06)
• A Time of Quiet Between the Storms (4:21)
• Harvester Attack (3:40)
• Worm Ride (2:19)
• Ornithopter Attack (2:10)
• Each Man Is a Little War (1:21)
• Harkonnen Arena (5:22)
• Spice (0:37)
• Seduction (2:02)
• Never Lose Me (1:16)
• Travel South (1:10)
• Paul Drinks (1:47)
• Resurrection (2:16)
• Arrival (1:40)
• Southern Messiah (5:22)
• The Emperor (1:38)
• Worm Army (3:33)
• Gurney Battle (2:25)
• You Fought Well (1:42)
• Kiss the Ring (3:12)
• Only I Will Remain (6:44)
• Lisan al Gaib (6:36)

Running Time: 81 minutes 02 seconds

Watertower Music (2024)

Music composed and arranged by Hans Zimmer. Orchestrations by Oscar Senen, Joan Martorell and Nacho Cantalejo. Additional music by David Fleming, Steve Mazzaro, Omer Benjamin, Steven Doar and Andrew Kawczynski. Featured musical soloists Pedro Eustache, Guthrie Govan, Juan Garcia Herreros, Tina Guo, Mariko Muranaka, Molly Rogers, Chas Smith, and the Pipers of the Scottish Session Orchestra. Special vocal performances by Loire Cotler. Recorded and mixed by Alan Meyerson. Edited by Clint Bennett and Ryan Rubin. Album produced by Hans Zimmer.

One final thing I just wanted to note, which has absolutely nothing to do with the music itself, is the absolutely appalling cover art of the soundtrack. With all these spectacular visuals, all the astonishing key art, all the choices they had at their disposal… this is what they chose? A mass of badly photoshopped floating heads above half a sandworm? It’s terrible. The sooner Joel Griswell gets hired to do these things professionally, the better.