Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Dune: Part Two.

The Big Picture

• Austin Butler's performance as Feyd-Rautha in Dune: Part Two is a defining villain role, showcasing his range and talent.
• Butler's magnetic presence contributes to christening a new generation of movie stars in the industry.
• Dune: Part Two sets a high bar for big blockbuster movies by offering mature, challenging content with intense action.

The success of Dune: Part Two is an exciting thing for everyone involved, and for audiences who are thankful to be in a position where a mature, challenging, rich movie can also coexist as a spectacular blockbuster, packed with intense action and beautiful movie stars. There is a lot to love about Denis Villeneuve's movie, but a single performance makes a splash that disturbs, delights, and leaves audiences wanting more from this character. That showstopper is none other than Austin Butler, who portrays Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, the brutal nephew of the Baron who is brought in to take over the spice mining on Arrakis and eventually challenge Timothee Chalamet's Paul.

Butler immediately establishes himself as a freakish, unconventional villain who is undoubtedly one of the most distinctive and interesting antagonists in a blockbuster movie since the Joker in The Dark Knight. Butler took inspiration from Heath Ledger, who similarly gave himself entirely over to an unrelenting character with phenomenal results. While there is overlap, and Butler is open about the inspiration, it feels unfair to compare anyone to the high bar that Ledger established with that part, and regressive to act as if Butler is simply imitating that iconic performance. Feyd-Rautha is a unique character that Butler completely disappears into, and the movie really soars anytime he shows up.

Dune: Part Two

Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.

Austin Butler in 'Dune: Part Two' Makes You Forget About Everything on Arrakis

Dune: Part Two is a sprawling story with a lot of new characters to introduce. None make an impression as bold as Feyd-Rautha, when the film takes us to Giedi Prime, the home planet of the Harkonnens. The audience is introduced to Feyd-Rautha, being presented with a new knife for an upcoming gladiatorial fight. Feyd-Rautha takes the weapon and brutally cuts down two of his concubines, remarking callously on the quality of the blade. Within minutes the stakes have been raised as the story immediately emphasizes that this character is extremely dangerous. He then enters a massive arena where he engages in a melee fight against three prisoners of House Atreides. This sequence is filmed in black-and-white, not only as a stylistic modifier, but also as an indication of the brutalist, void-of-nature status of the Harkonnens' domain, which reflects their ruthless disregard for life.

The extended introduction of Feyd-Rautha's character is an exceptionally striking sequence which offers insight into the inner-workings of the Harkonnen culture, and it brilliantly establishes Feyd-Rautha as a mirror to Paul. During his duel, it is revealed that two of the prisoners are drugged and essentially unable to fight. Feyd-Rautha cuts them down quickly, but struggles with the third, who was left sober as a test by his uncle, the Baron (Stellan Skarsgård). This choice could stand to undercut Feyd-Rautha's imposing presence, but what it does instead is showcase that, Feyd-Rautha, like Paul, is having his ego inflated to a dangerous degree by the expectations put upon him, and the performative greatness that is partially legitimate but manufactured to a degree.

Feyd-Rautha and Paul are two sides of the same coin. One already given over to the idea that all the power he seeks, but arguably does not deserve, is within his reach. Another who tries, and ultimately fails, to reject the temptation of this power. The sequence is a masterful exercise in introducing a complicated character, almost a movie unto itself, nestled into the larger story around it. But it also hinges on the success of the performance, and Austin Butler is more than up for the task.

Austin Butler's Feyd-Rautha Is a Defining Villain Performance

Austin Butler first found massive acclaim thanks to his lead performance in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis. The Oscar-nominated turn shot Butler into the stratosphere, and led to a swarm of media attention around his method-acting sensibilities, and his unique devotion to the craft. Much time and attention was spent questioning whether Butler would ever be able to shed the distinctive Elvis voice which seemed to latch onto his soul during the production of the film, but Butler is not playing Feyd-Rautha Presley in Dune: Part Two.

Feyd-Rautha, being a close relative of the Baron, could sensibly have a similar voice to the villain portrayed by Stellan Skarsgård. Butler decided to emulate Skarsgård's uniquely gravel voice for his own character. The effect is uncanny, and completely transformative. Butler disappears into the role, with a unique physical appearance and a distinctively new vocal quality, while never losing the movie star gravitas that he is continually proving with each passing role.

This is a challenging part which demands a bold approach to work, and Butler really goes all-in. The dichotomy between this and what he does in Elvis puts him in a position where he has shown a massive spectrum of types he can play. Butler can step into the spotlight for a rousing, maximalist biopic, and he can recede into a dark and uncomfortable place for a character like Feyd-Rautha. There hasn't been a villain on screen as memorably brutal and delightfully evil in years, and despite fairly limited screen time throughout this massive movie, Feyd-Rautha steals every scene he is in.

'Dune: Part Two' Christens a New Generation of Movie Stars

The emphasis on what it means to be a movie star has waned in recent years, leaving us with a much smaller batch of names that truly feel like they fit the bill. Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise, and Denzel Washington are a few of the major ones who still manage to have that effect on audiences, but who will be around to replace them? Jennifer Lawrence proved with No Hard Feelings that her name still carries a lot of weight, but the bigger picture of who else may ascend to that status as Gen-Z takes hold as the primary adult movie-going audience has been relatively unclear, until now. Dune: Part Two is the most concrete declaration of this next generation of stars thus far.

The film is the biggest opening weekend of Chalamet's career, receiving major acclaim for Florence Pugh, Zendaya, and Butler as well, and made huge waves in the entertainment news cycle for the surprise appearance of Anya Taylor-Joy which was kept secret throughout production. The four younger leads soar in this movie, and the actors are all able to hold their own on screen against the gravitas of seasoned performers like Javier Bardem, Rebecca Ferguson, and Stellan Skarsgård. They're going to be people we see in movies for decades to come, so it should not be lost on audiences how exciting it is to have all of them on screen together for a movie as big and spectacular as Dune: Part Two.

Butler's presence is especially magnetic, and comes at such an exciting time in his career that it really just leaves us feeling more excited about what he will do in the next few years. The Bikeriders is releasing soon, and there are unconfirmed rumors circulating that Butler is in talks to take on Val Kilmer's role in Michael Mann's forthcoming Heat 2. Whether that comes to fruition or not, following an Oscar-nominated starring role with what is shaping into a fan-favorite performance in one of the biggest movies of the year tells us that Butler is here to stay, and we are much better off for it.

Dune: Part Two is now showing in movie theaters across the U.S.

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