WARNING: Spoilers Off applies to all Moments pages. There will be unmarked spoilers below.
For Dune: Part One, see here.Previews:
"Long live the fighters!"
- Paul, who wears a Badass Cape, walks slowly on a rock above a crowd of Fremen warriors and draws his knife above his head. The warriors then do the same and acclaim him, ready to unleash hell upon the Harkonnens and Sardaukar.
- Hearing Paul say the iconic "Long live the fighters!" line in the language of the Fremen is a major highlight of the second trailer.
- In the second and third trailers, Paul stands up on a rock while looking at the explosion of a big Harkonnen vessel in the distance.
Film:
- The whole Harkonnen arena scene, particularly Feyd-Rautha's Big Entrance with a rousing and bloodthirsty crowd (one can see why Denis Villeneuve saved his appearance for this film). And the final Atreides prisoner, who's not drugged unlike the previous two, putting up a good fight against him (much to his liking). The whole scene just perfectly establishes what kind of menace he is. The best part? He took off his shield before the final fight against the aforementioned final prisoner, and ordered any intervening Harkonnen warriors to back off, which goes to show that this Feyd-Rautha isn't willing to resort to dirty tricks this time, nor does he have to.Baron Vladimir: Show me who you are.
- Jessica's dramatic change into the new Reverend Mother is visibly showing as she becomes much more compelling and manipulative to Paul and the Fremen after gaining the knowledge from the previous holders of the role. She turns from the Skeptic to the firm true believer of the prophecy and will now stop at nothing to see it through.
- Paul jumping on a gigantic Shai Hulud after luring it with a thumper, holding onto it as it moves in the sand and managing to ride it. It causes the Fremen to accept him, and even Stilgar is flabbergasted.
- Bear in mind Paul accidentally summoned a worm four times larger than what the Fremen are used to riding. Not impossible, but definitely not ideal for a first-timer. It's not easy-riding for Paul, but he eventually gains control and rides the wormsign confidently from then on.
- The Fremen raid on the Harkonnen military vehicles. We get to see Paul and Chani's Battle Couple status in full action.
- Rabban, fed up with the Fremen's hit and runs, led an attack force to hunt down the Muad'Dib, which consists of several Harkonnen soldiers flying ornithopters in a sandstorm. After bombarding what seemed to be a Sietch, they landed to kill the stragglers, only to be killed systematically by the many stealth experts hiding in the storm, and find out that they are greatly outnumbered as they heard the chants of the Fremen marching towards them in the storm. The vision of Paul himself, walking calmly towards them, caused Rabban, who was previously crying out for Muad'Dib's blood earlier in that scene, to run back to his ornithopter.
- A nameless Fremen woman also comes dangerously close to killing Rabban then and there. She hangs on, even as the ornithopter nearly buck both of them off, and is inches from killing Rabban before she is shot by a random soldier. It goes to show how dangerous and tenacious the Fremen are that when faced with a single one, Rabban would have lost his life if not for dumb luck.
- After the northern Seitches are raided and destroyed by Feyd-Rautha's forces, Paul, still defiant, intended to stay behind in defense while everyone else traveled south. But he was conflicted. He asked the spirit of Jamis for advice. Jamis's spirit did not hesitate in responding in kind. The advice given convinces Paul to go south after all.
- Harkonnen's successful campaign of destruction against the Northern Fremen is a Villainous CMOA for Feyd-Rautha. In what seemed to be a day, he did what Rabban could not in the months he became Planetary Governor of Arrakis: Decimating the Fremen. Or, at least, the Northern Nationalists. How? Instead of using several splinter groups of attack forces to hunt them down like Rabban did, Feyd used Harkonnen ships and artilleries to commence aerial bombardments in all Sietches in the North. All at once. It may not be honorable, as Stilgar pointed out, but it works. The spice fields in the North are secure for the Harkonnens to harvest. But, his decimation left Paul with no choice but to use the Southern Fundamentalists and their belief in their prophecy to retaliate with extreme prejudice.
- Paul's powerful messianic speech to the assembly of Fremen leaders, all while proving his ability to see the past and the future, effectively winning them over despite not being a leader. While he knows the prophecy has been engineered by the Bene Gesserit and Chani is not onboard with it, Paul/Muad'Dib fully embraces his destiny. Especially after he wears his father's signet ring in front of everyone, showing that he's embracing two destinies, as both the Duke of House Atreides and the Fremen's Dark Messiah. Perfectly showcased by Paul alternating between English and Chakobsa perfectly.Paul: I am Paul Muad'Dib Atreides! Duke of Arrakis! [In Chakobsa] The Hand of God be my witness, I am the Voice from the Outer World! I will lead you to PARADISE!
- The Title Drop to end all title drops:Paul: [In Chakobsa] At that time, this world had a Fremen name... Dune.
- The final battles between the Fremen and Sardaukar, and then later between the Fremen and the Harkonnens, are gloriously and cathartically one-sided affairs in favor of the Fremen, and that in the previous film House Atreides only lost because they were caught completely unawares by the Sardaukar and Harkonnens only further goes to show how dangerous of an alliance between House Atreides and the Fremen really would have been.
- To further illustrate this, while the Emperor goes to Arrakis and meets with Baron Harkonnen near the capital city Arrakeen, Paul orders three of the House Atreides' atomic warheads fired at a mountain range that would have shielded the Emperor and his Sardaukar from the worst of an oncoming sandstorm. They practically wipe the mountains off of the face of the planet, with the blast scattering huge boulders across the desert and crushing hundreds of Sardaukar underneath them.
- Stilgar's entry into the battle on the back of a huge Sand Worm is also worthy of mention. After the Sardaukar start to recover from the blast, and the sheer shock of the sudden attack, as the sandstorm closes in, from the dust cloud emerges the full, toothy mouth of a giant sandworm, with two others beside it and hundreds of Fremen on their backs. The giant only stays above ground long enough for the Sardaukar to realize what's about to happen to them, and most don't even bother trying to fight and instead try to make a run for it. Not that running was going to do them much good anyway...
- That scene is so reminiscent of the Lannister army seeing Daenerys on Drogon's back. And the soundtrack used, certainly amplifies the badass charge of the Fremen.
- To give the Sardaukar their due, after being at the epicenter of an acknoweldged mother of all sandstorms they... pick themselves up and get back into formation; their numbers don't even appear to be noticeably smaller, which just shows how inhumanly tough those guys are. It's just that Fremen are even tougher.
- What absolutely seals the deal is, after Paul and the Fremen take the throne room, Paul orders the prisoners brought to the palace, and "kill the Sardaukar." Just casual-like. Like taking the Emperor, his daughter, the Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit, and the rest of the Royal Court prisoner and killing the Emperor's hand-picked Super-Soldier bodyguards is no more difficult or note-worthy than grabbing the laundry and emptying the wastebasket.
- Paul's revenge on Baron Harkonnen for his father's death is two fold. One, he reveals to the Baron that Paul is his grandson which means he's been trying to kill his own flesh and blood this whole time. Two, the Baron only gets to ponder that for a few seconds before Paul tells him to "Die like an animal" and kills him. All of this happens mere feet away from the coveted Emperor's throne that Baron Harkonnen will never have.
- Paul does what no other character in the franchise has managed before and stops the Reverend Mother in her tracks, silencing her and making her stumble back with judicious application of the Voice. He is the Kwisatz Haderach, for better or for worse.Reverend Mother: Consider what you are about to do, Paul Atreides—
Paul: SILENCE!
Reverend Mother: [stumbling backwards] Abomination...!- Even Feyd-Rautha gets a bit taken by surprise, if the few seconds where he raises his eyebrows is anything to go by. His expression pretty much says: "Damn, this guy is something else."
- Gurney in the final battle he barely breaks his stride as moves towards the center of Arrakeen. Each enemy that tries to fight barely last a second. He's less fighting his way through the opposition and more walking through it, and delivered a Curb-Stomp Battle to Rabban himself, stabbing him in the throat and making the bastard feel it.Gurney: For my Duke... and my friends!
- The final duel between Feyd-Rautha and Paul that will decide the future of Arrakis and by extent the universe. Unlike in the book, where Feyd resorts to fighting dirty and dies as a result of his own cheating, it's a fair and incredibly tense fight between two evenly matched opponents. Paul eventually manages to win the duel by taking a non-lethal stab from Feyd, allowing him to get close enough to deliver a killing blow. Even Feyd-Rautha is impressed and congratulates him on a fight well fought before dying.
- After seeing Paul win the duel, Jessica had a few choice words to Reverend Mother Mohiam. Fitting, as she was the one who manipulated the Emperor to exterminate the Atreides, all to exterminate a defiant bloodline, save for a Bene Gesserit whose "pride" believed that she could give birth to the Kwisatz Haderach, along with her son, the "prospect". She can only stand by and watch as her plans backfire spectacularly in her face as the Dark Messiah, the so-called ultimate power, is beyond her control. The following exchange, from one chessmaster to another, is awesome.Jessica: You should've believed. You chose the wrong side.
Mohiam: "Side"? You, of all people, should know, there are no side... Reverend Mother. - Paul forcing the Emperor to kneel and kiss his signet, completing his ascension to becoming the most powerful man in the universe. Appropriately karmic, given that in the same scene, the Emperor has the audacity to accuse Leto of being a weak man in front of Paul.
- Give some props to the Emperor, too. The guy just watched Paul go through anything he threw at him and even after Paul defeats Feyd-Rautha, he doesn't show an inch of fear for Paul. The old bastard's manerisms pretty much spell out: "I've dealt with punks like you before." Sure, he eventually submits since he still cares about his skin, but he kept his composure better than a lot of people would have.
- Princess Irulan spends her every scene showing the formidable intellect behind her beauty, seeing through the lies the Bene Gesserit and her father Emperor Shaddam IV try to feed her, deducing that Paul Atreides is involved in the Fremen guerilla, and finally convincing Paul to spare her father by offering to give him voluntarily what he could take by force anyway - her hand in marriage - and getting her way. As Shaddam himself said, she would have made a fine empress.
- Just the whole idea of riding sand worms is so awesome. Every shot of Paul and Fremen riding the sand worms is so epic. Is just as cathartic as seeing Daenerys Targaryen riding Drogon and charging into battles.
