Brian Earl Spilner said:
Exactly. To me, it's all about whether the main character's arc/mission is actually completed or not.
LOTR, Kill Bill, Dune, those were clearly stories that were split into multiple movies, but it's one story.
Whether or not you want to call them sequels is another argument, but there's a clear difference between these movies are your standard sequel.
"Complete" is the wrong way to look at it, because there's no unified definition of "complete."
Paul's arc isn't "complete" by the end of
Part One, but again, he does have a FULL arc in
Part One. 100%.
No different than Bruce Wayne's arc not being being "complete" by the end of
Batman Begins, but he does have a full arc in
Batman Begins.
No different than Neo's arc not being "complete" by the end of
The Matrix, but he does have a full arc in
The Matrix.
Also, by all accounts,
Part Two takes place roughly a few weeks/months after
Part One. However long it is, there's some kind of gap, and it doesn't pick up immediately where the last one left off. If only because Gurney's hair is so much longer, but I'm sure book readers can attest as well, unless the time jump is something Villeneuve added. Either way, you know what other sequels take place just a few weeks/months after the first movie?
The Dark Knight and
The Matrix Reloaded, movies that no one here has any issue calling sequels.
And like I said earlier, for all intents and purposes, half of the characters - the bad guys - believe the story is OVER at the end of
Part One. They believe they've won, and that House Atreides is no more. Just like the good guys think
they've won at the end of so many other first movies in a ton of other franchise.
It's just reversed here.
And yes, I do admit, slightly more untraditional.
But Paul joining the Fremen at the end of
Part One, to me, is no different than Gordon giving Batman the Joker card at the end of
Batman Begins, or Neo in the phone booth, warning the machines, before flying off at the end of
The Matrix. There are dozens more examples, and it's roughly the same vibe as all of them.
I don't know, this whole argument is just so weird to me, one started by a guy who was clearly off his rocker, did a drive by, and bailed the thread. And now we're all here arguing over his nonsense. In this case, I think people are simply blinded by the source material. But if there was no source material, and Villeneuve & co were telling this story for the first time, there would be ZERO argument as to whether
Part Two was a tried and true sequel or not, for all the reasons I've listed and more.