I finished re-reading the second book of the Dune Chronicles, Messiah, last night and I have mixed feelings about the coming movie “Dune Part III” later this year.

I have seen its trailer on YouTube and some cuts from interviews with Denis Villeneuve claiming with all the words that part 3 is the zenith, the “grand finale”, of the movie trilogy.

I personally found this hard to believe, unless Denis is a real genius!, more than we can even imagine.

Messiah is a slow paced book that revolves around an assassination plot. Okish.

There is no war, no big conflicts narrated, no visits to other planets, no use of the voice and a timid presence of Bene Gesserit’s power demonstration.

It feels like an intermediary part of a longer story which is the Chronicles themselves.

I don’t see how the third movie can be more interesting than the first two on the screen.

The introduction of Face Dancers as a whole new character and the return of Duncan Idaho as a ghola can be the most impactful elements of the movie, especially because of the actors involved and Villeneuve’s production touch.

In no way I think the character of Paul Atreides can do anything moving in the film. He is already too affected in a bad way by his own life and, because of that, decadent. He’s not the young beautiful prince anymore.

Maybe the cinematography depicting his blindness, again, via Villeneuve’s genius, can be remarkable or just plain cool. But that would be a small angle in the plot anyway.

My dream at this point would be to see the director go further and enter into Children of Dune just a bit to introduce Leto II, leaving room for another production in the future to take over and continue through the Chronicles until the end of the God-Emperor.

But I doubt this could happen either. It would be too much of a production to go for, even to someone like Villeneuve.

Maybe Christopher Nolan could jump in for that. Who knows? Or maybe it’s just another dream of mine.

I’m anxious for Part 3, but expectations are low.