While Denis Villeneuve didn’t always make movies with runtimes surpassing two and a half hours, it appears to be indicative of his present-day approach to filmmaking. The first Dune movie is 2 hours and 35 minutes long, so even as “Dune: Part Two” sets a new record for the director, it’s only 11 minutes longer than its predecessor.
Villeneuve’s first few films — “August 32nd on Earth,” “Maelström,” and “Polytechnique” — all clock in under the 90-minute mark. His first long movie, 2010’s “Incendies,” totals 2 hours and 11 minutes. His follow-up feature, “Prisoners,” is even longer, at 2 hours, 33 minutes. However, between “Prisoners” and “Blade Runner 2049,” he directed a string of films around or under two hours.
“Blade Runner 2049,” notably, was once going to be four hours before its runtime was pared down significantly. Now, with “Dune,” Villeneuve is essentially able to direct an even longer five-hour movie of sorts by splitting the book’s original story into two parts and releasing each half as a distinct feature.
