My Top Ten Films of 2023

This list is coming late this year because it took me so long to watch a few of the Japanese titles.  2023 was a great year for films, though pretty rough for the industry due to the strikes and some trouble at the box office.  We continue to be in an era of great transition, but good movies are still getting made.  

My criteria for eligibility require that a film must have been released in its own home country during 2023, so film festivals and other special screenings don't count. Picks are unranked and listed in no particular order, and previously posted reviews are linked where available. The "Plus One" spot is reserved for the best film of the previous year that I didn't manage to see in time for the last list.

The Holdovers - It feels reductive to call this a Christmas film, but at its heart, that's exactly what "The Holdovers" is.  A mismatched trio, stuck at a boarding school over the holidays, briefly become a makeshift family and help each other to be better.  It's designed to be a throwback, using slower pacing, longer shots, and simpler editing.  However, crucially, it is not nostalgic, with the excellent performances of Paul Giamatti, DaVine Joy Randolph, and Dominic Sessa keeping us in the uncomfortable moment.  

The Zone of Interest - There's never been a film about the Holocaust like this, where the horrors are kept on the margins of the screen and the most banal episodes of domestic life are put front and center.  The use of sound, fourth wall breaking, and negative photography to provide the contrasting elements to the Nazi experience are striking, and "The Zone of Interest" often feels more like an experimental piece than a commercial feature film.  However, the central themes and message come across crystal clear.  

Anatomy of a Fall - A criminal trial becomes the examination of a difficult marriage, and a showcase for the performance of Sandra Huller as the accused wife.  This is one of the most riveting courtroom dramas in years, and resolves in a way that doesn't provide any answers, but absolutely comes to the right conclusion.  The drama is so empathetically, intelligently written, and the filmmaking is fantastic.  The explosive argument scene is one of the year's best, and positioned in the narrative just right.

Saltburn - I absolutely respect anyone who thinks that this is a terrible movie.  On several levels, "Saltburn" does not work at all.  However, this is by far the most enjoyable experience I had with any film from 2023.  I love the excess, the campiness, the skewering of the ugly upper classes, and the fact that our protagonist, played fearlessly by Barry Keoghan, is a scummy little freak who in no way has the moral high ground.  Emerald Fennell bit off more than she could chew, and I love her for it.  

Afire - Christian Petzold's metaphysically dubious romances can sometimes be a little gimmicky.  However, "Afire" works great because the romance is largely one sided, and the story is more interested in prodding its deeply flawed hero toward maturity and redemption.  It's also the story of a creative person struggling through the creative process, which I can't resist.  I also admit that as someone often too obtuse to see what is going on in front of my nose, I identify with the protagonist significantly.  

All of Us Strangers - There are many parts of this film that should not work, from the fantasy premise to the twist ending.  However, Andrew Haigh gets the tone just right, sending us on a dreamlike nocturnal journey with Andrew Scott into the deepest recesses of the hero's psyche.  The fantasy isn't really about finding your lost loved ones, but about resolving all the emotional baggage you have with them, on your own terms.  Nostalgic, elegeic, and heartbreaking, it's the most emotional film of the year.   

Femme - An erotic thriller primarily featuring LGBT characters, but more importantly one that incorporates some of the less savory parts of the LGBT experience.  As Nathan Stewart-Jarrett's Jules embarks on a campaign of revenge against George MacKay's Preston, he also explores aspects of his own identity, sexuality, and more dangerous impulses.  I also appreciate that "Femme" acknowledges how difficult it can be to navigate the intersections between LGBT culture and traditional masculinity. 

The Boy and the Heron - I can already tell this is a film that's going to be a touchstone, even if I haven't quite been able to get my head around all of it yet.  Right now it's the quieter, more autobiographical parts of the film that I respond to most, and the way that they capture the young hero's emotional turmoil and uneasy ghosts.  I get the sense that Hayao Miyazaki put more of himself into this film than any of his others, and "The Boy and the Heron" may be the Rosetta Stone for all of his other projects.

Poor Things - This feels like Yorgos Lanthimos's most upbeat and positive film, a cheerfully weird, feminist "Frankenstein" about a woman's journey of self-discovery in a male-dominated world.  It shares a lot in common with "Barbie," but is aimed at adult audiences, with more sexuality onscreen than I've seen in a long time.  Emma Stone as Bella Baxter may be the performance of the year, a relentlessly curious spirit who outgrows all of her would-be teachers, and makes her own place in the world.   

Origin - This was my hardest inclusion, but in a year with so many good films about the African American experience, "Origin" strikes me as the most daring by far.  It's an adaptation of a nonfiction book that is simultaneously a loose biopic of its author, and set in relatively recent times.  It feels like an incredibly personal work, and yet its subject matter crosses centuries, continents, and disparate cultures.  There's really nothing else like it, and I can only hope it'll find its audience with time.

Honorable Mentions:

Beau is Afraid

20 Days in Mariupol

Society of the Snow

They Cloned Tyrone

Asteroid City

The Killer

Killers of the Flower Moon

The Artifice Girl

Nimona

Wonka

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Dreaming "Robot Dreams"

Spanish director Pablo Berger has made his first animated film, and it's a wonderful thing to experience.  Based on a graphic novel by Sara Varon, "Robot Dreams" takes place in New York in the 1980s, except it's a New York populated by anthropomorphic animals.  Rabbits go boating.  Ducks fly kites.  Octopi play the drums, naturally.  Also, there are robots.  Also, there's no dialogue, but lots of sound effects and plenty of music.  

Our main characters are Dog and his friend Robot, who he orders and constructs in order to have a companion in the lonely city.  Dog has to help Robot get adjusted to life as a New Yorker, and takes care of him - teaching him skills, taking him on outings, and keeping him safe.  The two form a lovely friendship together.  Unfortunately, a trip to the beach goes terribly awry and the two are separated.  From there, the story becomes a series of misadventures, existential musings, and bittersweet transformations, as Dog and Robot try to find a way to reunite.

"Robot Dreams" is rendered in the kind of very simple, graphic style, with pleasantly rounded shapes and distinct linework that you usually see in cartoons for young children.  The whole vibe is similar to Richard Scarry's Busytown books, and the PBS "Arthur" cartoon.  However, the world of "Robot Dreams" is crueler and harsher than it seems at first.  The misfortunes that befall Dog and Robot are absolutely gutting to watch.  Robot in particular, is subjected to some truly awful treatment because most of the other characters in this universe don't seem to consider him a sentient being.  I have all kinds of questions about the status and personhood of robots in this society.  Is Dog simply imagining that Robot is alive?  Are there some metaphysical "Toy Story" rules in play? - Robot does bear a vague resemblance to the Brave Little Toaster -  but the film isn't interested in the larger questions.  It's about Dog and Robot.  And it's about friendship and loneliness and fleeting connections and heartbreak and letting go.    

 

The lack of dialogue makes the film much more absorbing than I expected.  The characters are very expressive, full of joy and worry and sadness.  When Dog is first separated from Robot, his panic is palpable through the screen.  Robot, the more innocent of the pair, never seems distressed until the situation is truly dire.  The animation - old fashioned, traditional 2D for the most part - is excellent.  The sound design and soundtrack do a lot of the heavy lifting, including the crucial use of Earth, Wind, and Fire's "September."  Pablo Berger has some experience with this kind of dialogue-free storytelling.  The last film of his I watched was his silent, black and white reworking of Snow White, "Blancanieves."  It's a similarly lovely film that I hope gets more attention because of "Robot Dreams."  

And I'm sure that "Robot Dreams" is going to get plenty of attention when it becomes more widely seen.  It's very close to a totally universal film, watchable by anyone but the very smallest children who might find parts of the story too upsetting.  Kids will be able to follow the storybook visual language without any trouble and enjoy the appealing characters.  There's a scene where a snowman takes Dog bowling.  There's a scene where Robot helps a baby bird learn to fly.  At the same time, "Robot Dreams" feels like a film about grown-ups, exploring some difficult emotional territory, and certain situations that could be allegories for more serious issues.  

I also appreciate "Robot Dreams" for reminding me to be a little more adventurous in my animation viewing choices.  We're getting so many good animated films now from all corners of the globe, I've stopped feeling like I have to keep championing them, and defending the art form.  "Robot Dreams" is a Spanish production, despite taking place in New York, and only had very limited distribution.  I admit I would have passed this movie by if it hadn't been nominated for an Oscar.  It's been an awfully long time since "Blancanieves," and I didn't recognize that Berger was the director at first.  

2023 really was a very good year for animation, and "Robot Dreams" was one of the highlights.

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My Favorite Terrence Malick Film

Well, here I go again, picking the film from a director's body of work that feels like their most commercial output, and the least representative of their style.  Then again, Terrence Malick isn't a director whose films I've particularly enjoyed over the years.  I respect his deeply spiritual writing and penchant for spectacular cinematography, but without strong characters or story, my attention tends to drift.  So is it any wonder that the Malick film I'm on the best terms with has his most straightforward storytelling?

There are many movies about couples on the run, but Holly and Kit are an unusually memorable pair.  Played by Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek at the start of their careers, they're a young reprobate and a sheltered teenage girl, who fall in love and quickly decide that they'll do anything to be together, including kill people.  "Badlands" is loosely based on the crime spree of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, but it's better understood as one of the many similar crime films that was made after the runaway success of "Bonnie and Clyde."  Instead of the Depression Era, "Badlands" takes place in the 1950s, mostly in the upper midwestern states.  It's less interested in the crimes than in the rebellion, following the young miscreants into the South Dakota badlands, where they evade the law and play at living in a state of nature. 

"Badlands" was Malick's first film, an independent feature made with very little money.  The production was notoriously troubled, badly managed to the point where most of the crew quit before the film was completed.  Three different cinematographers ended up being credited.  However, "Badlands" was where Malick established several of the working relationships that would carry through his entire career.  And the end result shows that he already had a very clear and specific approach to filmmaking.  Told from Holly's perspective, "Badlands" has a dreamlike, poetic quality that would recur in Malick's films again and again.  However, "Badlands" is unique in the way that it captures Holly's very specific, immature voice and outlook.  She falls for Kit because she thinks he looks like James Dean, and he's happy to indulge her adolescent fantasy of escaping from her stifling small town existence.  Her narration is full of little mundanities and romantic aspirations.  And every time he kills someone, she makes excuses and looks the other way.    

   

Of course, Kit isn't James Dean but a troubled young man with a taste for thoughtless violence.  He's so detached when shooting people, it's as if he's playacting a part, and is slow to appreciate the consequences of his actions.  At times he seems younger than Holly, despite being ten years her senior. His initial scenes with her are genuinely charming, and we don't question for a second why she wants him.  He's also a creature of youthful fantasy, nonchalantly claiming that he always wanted to be a criminal, but displaying no understanding of what that means.  Kit truly believes that he can outrun and outgun anything that stands in his path, self-mythologizing every step of the way.  There's a terrible poignancy to his unwavering self-confidence.  

Terence Malick retreated from the limelight after the completion of his second film, "Days of Heaven," and became something of a cult figure after he reappeared twenty years later to direct "The Thin Red Line."  His filmmaking has become more and more experimental with time, delivering staggeringly beautiful images that I wish I enjoyed more.  I've dutifully watched every single film Malick has directed, and his work is exquisite, but I rarely find it moving.  "The Tree of Life," for instance, is an intimate, personal reverie on childhood that I was entranced with one moment, and completely out of sync with the next.

And I don't know how much I would have enjoyed "Badlands" if it weren't for the work of Sheen and especially Spacek, who is one of my favorite actresses.  The leads of Malick's other films often feel like they're all interiority, so ungrounded from reality that they barely feel like people.  Kit and Holly, however, are very much beholden to the real world, and that's their ultimate tragedy.    

What I've Seen - Terrence Malick

Badlands (1973)

Days of Heaven (1978)

The Thin Red Line (1998)

The New World (2005)

The Tree of Life (2011)

To the Wonder (2012)

Knight of Cups (2015)

Voyage of Time (2016)

Song to Song (2017)

A Hidden Life (2019)

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A Riveting "Ripley"

Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley is a fascinating criminal character, who has been portrayed by Alain Delon, Matt Damon, Dennis Hopper, and John Malkovitch over the years.   The latest Ripley, Andrew Scott, might be the best one yet, though Scott is not an obvious choice for the part.  Netflix's new "Ripley" miniseries adapts "The Talented Mr. Ripley," which is about the early days of Ripley when he was just starting out with minor scams and confidence games.  Scott, who is in his forties, initially seems much too old to be playing the young Ripley.  However, he's so mesmerizing to watch that I completely forgot about his age after two episodes.  

Scott's performance gets plenty of assistance.  Written and directed by Steven Zaillian, the miniseries is immaculately constructed so that every little detail is imbued with character, and every look and glance and pause by the actors is as important as the spoken dialogue.  A significant amount or "Ripley" is in Italian, and I found it very easy to follow what was going on, even when I neglected to turn on the subtitles.  The visual storytelling is so concise and so clear, in a way that is far too rare.  I can't say enough about the stunning black and white cinematography from Robert Elswit, creating dreamlike views of Italy and private film noir purgatories.  And of course, he knows just how to focus on the little details that ratchet up the tension to dizzying heights.    

I've seen other adaptations of "The Talented Mr. Ripley," but this production feels completely unique.  Maybe it's Zaillian's takes on the characters, such as a Richard Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) and a Marge Sherwood (Elle Fanning) who feel like more substantial people with their own problems.  Maybe it's the careful attention to fashion and decor choices that make the whole experience feel so immersive.  Maybe it's having a Freddie Miles played by a nonbinary actor, Eliot Sumner.  Maybe it's the slow burn pacing that doesn't really ramp up until the third episode, but drops all these little hints and insinuations at just the right times, so the lead-up never feels boring.

But the more I think about it, the more I'm sure that it's largely due to Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley.  He's the only person onscreen for much of the running time, so we're intimately acquainted with his behaviors, his preferences, and his patterns of thought by the time his plans really start being put in motion.  We watch him struggle with the Italian language, with the multiple guises and subterfuges he has in play, and finally with the unexpected challenges of more serious criminal activity.  All his insecurities about himself are on display, and his failings are all too obvious.  This Ripley is so inexperienced that he's frequently fumbling through nervewracking situations, which is sometimes funny and sometimes incredibly tense.  Sometimes it's both.  I love that Zaillian lets many of the long, long suspense sequences play out with no dialogue, because it's unnecessary.

 

I've been watching a lot of classic film noir lately, and this version of "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is taking its cues from the best.  There's such a patience and a thoroughness to the depiction of a man that is neither patient nor thorough - at least not yet - and at times it almost feels like a critique on the work of a criminal by a more accomplished criminal.  It's a little disturbing to realize how easy it is to root for someone who is utterly without scruples or remorse, and get invested in the success of their schemes.  Of course, it's also very, very enjoyable to watch.    

There are four other Tom Ripley novels, and I very much want to see them adapted by the "Ripley" team with Scott returning.  I want to see how his performance as Tom Ripley is going to evolve over time, and where else it could go.  This is the best thing that Netflix has made in a while, and it's frustrating that it hasn't gotten nearly as much attention as it should have.  

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A Flight With "The Boy and the Heron"

It's been a decade since Hayao Miyazaki's last film, "The Wind Rises," and fifteen years since his last fantasy film.  In that time, animated films have exploded in number, with studios around the globe tuning out exceptional work.  However, nobody makes an animated film like Miyazaki, and "The Boy and the Heron" is one of his best.  After having seen the film once, I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping to.  However, there are enough moments of sheer wonder and brilliance that I know this is one of those films I'll be revisiting over and over again, the way I have with "Spirited Away" and my other Studio Ghibli favorites.  

"The Boy and the Heron" is reportedly Miyazaki's most autobiographical project.  It follows a boy named Mahito (Soma Santoki) in wartime Japan.  A year after his mother dies in a fire, his father (Takuya Kimura) is going to marry Mahito's aunt Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura), who lives in the countryside.  Mahito is suddenly thrust into a new environment and forced to confront his unresolved spiritual and emotional turmoil.  The impetus for his journey into the unknown is a Grey Heron (Masaki Suda), who keeps appearing to Mahito and claims his mother is alive.  The first hour of the film is fairly slow and sedate, as Mahito explores his new home.  The second half, when he goes on an adventure, and we meet characters like Kiriko the fisherwoman (Ko Shibasaki), fire manipulator Lady Himi (Aimyon), and a Wizard (Shohei Hino), is an overwhelming bombardment of fantastical creatures, places, and concepts.  It's the second half I had some trouble with, and I think I'll need a few more viewings to really get my head around it.  

This film feels in many ways like a spiritual cousin to "Spirited Away", where the rules of the fantasy world are not explained, and dream logic prevails.  Mahito travels through several different worlds, and some have suggested that they represent Miyazaki's other films, with the Wizard standing in for Miyazaki himself, or his mentor Isao Takahata.  However, there have always been recurring elements in Miyazaki films, like the appearance of cute, benign spirits.  Here, we get the Warawara, who are revealed to be people who haven't been born yet.  Lady Himi is the intrepid girl heroine, the Grey Heron is revealed to be the childish scallywag in disguise, and there are ecological and war parables going on everywhere you look.  Oh, and there are the adorable elderly ladies, of course.  "The Boy and the Heron" has seven of them (and they're diminutive enough to be dwarfs), acting as Natsuko's loyal troupe of maids and housekeepers.  

I was more impressed by the quieter, more immersive moments in the first half that really got me into Mahito's headspace.  There are wonderful, simple shots of him staring at slippers on the floor, or crossing an empty courtyard, that are incredibly evocative.  I love seeing the slow, but deliberate way that simple tasks are carried out - cooking, getting dressed, and even carrying a suitcase.  The fantasy segments have some of this, particularly Kiriko sailing and fishing, but the pace of the story is so rushed in the final scenes that there's far less time to take in the artistry.  And I so wanted to slow the movie down as it approached its conclusion so I could take in every frame of animation and every note of the score.  Every detail feels imbued with meaning, from bird droppings to lost bandages.

"The Boy and the Heron'' is one of Miyazaki's most ambitious and difficult films.  It is likely the most expensive Japanese film ever made, and took seven years to complete.  And more than ever, this feels like Miyazaki bidding farewell to the medium that he helped to transform, by putting more of himself onscreen than he ever has before.  After multiple attempts, it's clear that he will have no successor, and Studio Ghibli will never be as it was without him and the dearly departed Isao Takahata.  I'm clearly biased, having adored Miyazaki's work for decades now, but the appearance of this movie after such a long absence feels miraculous, and I'm already looking forward to watching it again.  

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My Top Ten Episodes of "30 Rock"

I've watched all 139 episodes of "30 Rock" plus the pandemic special, and it's time to pick some favorites.  Narrowing this list down to ten entries was tough, so the honorable mentions list is pretty hefty.

Episodes are unranked and listed by airdate.  Spoilers ahead.

"Black Tie" - One of the first big format breaking episodes, and the first to feature some major guest stars: Paul Reubens and Isabella Rossellini.  The two of them are given so much fun material, it's no wonder that "30 Rock" was able to convince so many other big celebrities to drop by over the years.  This is also the closest that Jack and Liz ever got to a romance, subverted of course in the end, but it's nice to think about the possibilities.

"Rosemary's Baby" - Even if the rest of the episode doesn't match up to it, I can't in good conscience leave off the episode with Jack Donaghy's award-winning trip to the therapist to help Tracy with some of his unresolved parental issues.  Alec Baldwin channeling "Good Times," "To Kill a Mockingbird," and Mrs. Rodriguez is one of the comedy highlights of 21st century television, and even though I didn't watch "30 Rock" in 2007, I knew that clip.

"Reunion" - "30 Rock" was always very good about subverting typical sitcom plots, and Liz Lemon's high school reunion was a doozy.  The show has established that Liz is terrible, and now we find out that she was always terrible.  Even if she was the stereotypical nerd, she was also the mean girl, and is forced to confront her own villainy.  To cap it all off, we have a "Carrie" homage gone wrong and Jack getting in on the fun as Larry Braverman.

"Generalissimo" - If it wasn't obvious by now, Jack Donaghy is my favorite character.  "Generalissimo" gives us the first of his many doubles, in this case an actor on a Mexican telenovela who plays the evil Generalissimo, a character hated by his girlfriend's grandmother.  Cue Baldwin in a mustache.  This was also the first episode for Jon Hamm as Drew, who proceeded to get more and more dimwitted with every subsequent appearance.  

"Klaus and Greta" - The one with James Franco and a body pillow.  This is a strong ensemble episode, with Jack and Kenneth breaking into Nancy's house to erase a phone message, Jenna in a fake relationship with James Franco (playing himself), Liz trying to help her gay cousin, and Tracy overcorrecting his attitudes toward women to prepare for becoming a girl dad.  The show was on a hot streak in season four, and this was one of the highs.  

"Anna Howard Shaw Day" - "30 Rock" did Valentine's Day episodes better than most other sitcoms, because it understands that Valentine's Day is always awful.  This is where Jack first meets Avery, who is easily the best of his romantic interests, and Liz has to find a ride home after her root canal.  The way the two subplots converge is perfect, and I love that all of Liz's exes stick around for a final gag, playing her hallucinations of the Afro-Caribbean nurses.

"Double Edged Sword" - Jack and Avery are stuck in Canada while Liz and Carroll are stuck on the tarmac, forcing both couples to evaluate their relationships.  Jack and Avery are a fantastic comedic pair, and I always love them being elitist snobs together, especially in a crisis where John Cho has to sneak them over the border.  Meanwhile, the end of Carroll's arc was inevitable, but what a way to go out!  The absurd airplane standoff is one of the best moments in the show.    

"Live From Studio 6H" - Yes, the live show where Jon Hamm briefly shows up in blackface, which leads to some great commentary on how racist TV used to be (and still is), and enables some righteous and very funny rage from Tracy.  Kenneth presenting a history of live television means all kinds of costume changes and everybody playing multiple roles.  Amy Poehler and Donald Glover also shine in guest parts - plus a Beatle or a Kardashian depending on which version of the episode you're watching.   

"Mazel Tov, Dummies!" - Liz finally gets married, after spending most of the episode trying very hard not to make a big deal out of her wedding.    I've never felt closer to a fictional character as I have with Liz Lemon here, valiantly trying not to follow social expectations, and deciding in the end that it's okay to want something.  The wedding itself was exactly what it should have been, and I'm glad the writers resisted getting the whole "TGS" crew involved to complicate matters.    

"A Goon's Deed in a Weary World" - The more I think about it, the more I'm sure that this should have been the last episode of "30 Rock."  Liz is finally convinced to let the show go, with help from her whole writing staff.  And after an extended "Willy Wonka" spoof, Jack anoints his successor, and Kenneth finally gets a capper to his multi-season search for a better job.  I understand the actual finale has to subvert all the usual tropes of sitcom finales, but I'm a sucker for a happy ending.   

Honorable Mentions: "Tracy Does Conan," "Up All Night," "SeinfeldVision," "Subway Hero," "Sandwich Day," "Believe in the Stars," "Gavin Volure," "Floyd," "The Moms," "Emmanuelle Goes to Dinosaur Land," "Reaganing," "TGS Hates Women," "Queen of Jordan," "100," "Leap Day," and "My Whole Life is Thunder." 

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"Dune Part Two" Goes the Distance

Spoilers ahead.

I don't think I need to say much about the spectacle of "Dune Part Two."  If you've heard anything about this movie, you know that Denis Villeneuve has made one of the best looking space operas of all time.  All the elements introduced in the first "Dune" - the deserts, the sandworms, the brutal combatants, and their arsenals of impossible weaponry - are used to create some truly massive, awe-inspiring action and war sequences.  The sandworm riding scenes are especially immersive, making great use of the thunderous sound design.  If that's all you want out of the movie, go forth and enjoy.  You will not be disappointed, especially if you go for an IMAX or other large format screening option.  And stop reading now if you don't want spoilers.  I mean it.  

However, what completely caught me off guard about "Dune" is that it has made substantial improvements to the story in adapting Frank Herbert's novel to the screen.  I've read Herbert's first "Dune" novel more than once, and its "chosen one" narrative never resonated much with me.  Villeneuve apparently agrees, taking elements from the later books in the "Dune" series to portray the rise of Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) as far more morally troubling than the novel ever did.  Chani (Zendaya) has been radically changed, from an unquestioning follower to a lone voice of dissent.  Through her eyes, Paul's triumph is a disaster, and what was once the victorious ending of the original "Dune" novel is now the low point of Villeneuve's "Dune" trilogy.  I expected the first movie to feel unfinished, but I never expected "Part Two" to also feel like a cliffhanger.

Despite all of the fabulous action sequences, with a climactic duel deciding the fate of the universe, "Dune Part Two" leans far more into the character drama than I expected.  The first hour is almost entirely devoted to setting up Paul as a Fremen fighter, integrating into their society and winning over the incredulous.  This is vital, because it humanizes the Fremen and makes the stakes of his decisions more meaningful.  Paul's ability to become the Fremen Messiah - the Lisan al Gaib - is never really in question.  However, he resists this path because his visions show that his coming to power will result in the deaths of millions.  All the characters supporting Paul, aside from Chani, end up being fanatics in some way.  Stilgar (Javier Bardem) is almost funny at first in how single-minded he is in promoting Paul as the Messiah, but this eventually morphs into more unnerving devotion.  Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) is downright terrifying as she becomes a Reverend Mother, and continues the Bene Gesserit campaign of manipulating the Fremen through her religious authority.  

This is unusually heady material for an action film, but "Dune" is one of the most influential science-fiction series for a reason, and I'm thrilled that Denis Villeneuve decided to really engage with its themes and ideas so fully.  There's still plenty of time for clashes with more traditional villains, though, and "Dune Part Two" has a really fun one with Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Austin Butler), the psychotic nephew and new favorite of Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgaard).  There's a really visually interesting black-and-white sequence that takes place on their creepy homeworld, involving a gladiatorial battle and a Bene Gesserit named Lady Margot (Lea Seydoux).  Also being introduced in this movie are the Emperor (Christopher Walken) and his daughter Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh), who don't get enough to do.  Oh, and Paul's unborn sister Alia keeps having psychic conversations with various family members, and it's very weird in a good way.  Villenueve never gets anywhere near as weird as David Lynch, but it feels like he's trying, at least.          

After all the delays and all of the outsized expectations for the film, I'm a little stunned that "Dune Part Two" was exactly what it needs to be - bleak, cautionary science fiction for grown-ups that is absolutely entertaining as any blockbuster ever made.  It immediately made me want to see the film version of "Dune Messiah," which is probably not happening for a long, long time.  It's one of those rare movies that actually makes me like the first film more in hindsight.  Villeneuve left out a lot of material I'm sure the established "Dune" fans are wringing their hands over, but the end result is an adaptation that has plenty to say and conveys it in the most grandiose, cinematic way that a modern filmmaker could ever dream of.  

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