Speaking with Collider regarding what audiences can expect from “Dune: Part Two,” Dave Bautista promised a much more heightened experience as the stakes are raised for the denizens of Arrakis, calling it an improvement in every regard over the first installment. “This is so amped up from the first film,” the exiting MCU star said. “The first film was just an introduction to what this film is.”
Frank Herbert’s original text is a political jeremiad transposed onto the cosmos. But whereas Villeneuve’s first “Dune” movie had a lot of heavy lifting to do — establishing the lore of this otherworldly empire, setting up a cavalcade of colorful characters, and fleshing out the setting of Arrakis — “Dune: Part Two” will have the luxury of being able to dive right into the story, assuming audiences have already seen its predecessor. Bautista said, “There’s just so much going on. It’s so much more cutthroat and political and intense.”
But Bautista assured that the movie won’t be nonstop grimness and swordplay, saying there will be plenty of moments to ease the tension. “There are moments of levity,” he said, “some funny moments, and they’re kind of absurd humor, but there are those moments.” In his best-known role as Drax in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Bautista has excelled at delivering humor while playing a similarly beefy brawler, and recently played to similar type in Netflix’s “Glass Onion,” so perhaps he was secretly one of the best casting choices for the “Dune” franchise.
“Dune: Part Two” is currently slated for release on November 3, 2023, to theaters for an exclusive 45-day window (via Collider), before landing on HBO Max.
