Dune Part 2 [ 4K - HDR ] Nuclear Attack Scene, Final Battle Begins (2024)

[@Halo1138]

Just look right into a nuclear explosion. I'm sure that won't have an adverse reaction on your eyes, Paul. I'm sure you won't regret that in the future.

[@sill5876]

He’s gonna be blinded by another one and simply use prescience to see anyway.

[@DisorderedFleshAutomata-sm8cd]

@@sill5876 That's exactly the point he was making.

[@rickacton7540]

@@DisorderedFleshAutomata-sm8cd he didnt regret it, though.

[@magicalmagicmagician5223]

This series is about a boy who can see into the future using space drugs made using giant worm poop I'm pretty sure they already have the means to cure blindness

[@TheKaMeLRo]

Wouldn't all people in this scene gonna be blind then? Surely they all look at the nuke

[@Lavthefox]

0:46 "waving the Atreides banner in my Father's name.." - Some guy, high as a kite in a tent somewhere

[@rickacton7540]

paul really thinks he's Big Daddy Arakkis, which kind of Mars his image at least to chani

[@donseavey3704]

Not a cellphone in sight, just living in the moment

[@VLFBERHTwolf]

Stupid-ass response.

[@Kokuyous3ki]

Considering that in their belief that cellphone might just want to murder you I can see why that would be the case :)

[@aryamanbhadauria1584]

No phones in the future I guess

[@VLFBERHTwolf]

@@aryamanbhadauria1584 They have communicators.

[@VLFBERHTwolf]

@@donseavey3704 They have communicators.

[@woodysmith2681]

No air patrol, no outriders or scouts, or forward bases. Just tight, closed formations on open ground. Sardukar were brawlers, not soldiers.

[@lizd2943]

In the book it's because there was a massive sandstorm that grounded everything, but for some reason they changed it.

[@obrys5494]

​@@lizd2943it didn't feel totally right in the movie, in part one they are badass in part two they are useless

[@HappyH4x0r]

its just bs bro

[@matiasdevaglia4541]

​@@lizd2943 it's similar in the movie. The shield from the Emperor's ship is doing that light show because of high winds and the impact of sand particles. I suppose they didn't want to obscure the entire scene with a proper sand storm. Also, both in book and film, no one thought the Atreides would use atomics to break a path through the Shield Wall, for a full frontal attack with sandworms and a fremen army. They were supposed to be in a safe place, protected from sand storms and large scale attacks.

[@pedropierre9594]

Plus the other side has big worms kinda changes the tactics innit

[@ArcologyCrab-gq9ub]

The Atreides were smart AF for putting their nuclear stockpiles on Arrakis. They knew it was the only planet that could be spared from the great convention, as blowing up Arrakis would be civilizational suicide.

[@bence1830]

They had to move their whole house to Arrakis when the duke accepted the offer from the emperor. Why would they leave their atomics lol

[@imp187]

@@bence1830 I think the other houses kept theirs mostly in space to threaten retribution.

[@QuanNguyen-bk4pn]

@@ArcologyCrab-gq9ub or a plot convenience

[@kaimilize8328]

​@@QuanNguyen-bk4pnI think is more because, Atreides can nuke spice fields and screw everyone.

[@djdc1970]

Just when you thought that movies were dead, Villeneuve comes a brings me back to believe in the cinema experience. Nolan and Villeneuve are the reason why there’s still hope

[@SaberRexZealot]

Where’d this belief start that movies ever died? Dozens of great movies get made every year. Do you guys only watch Hollywood and nothing else?

[@corbanbausch9049]

@@SaberRexZealot believe it or not, most people do. I watch some anime, but that’s really the only non-Hollywood or streaming (I’m not sure how much streaming shows count as Hollywood) thing I watch.

[@williemherbert1456]

@@corbanbausch9049 Literally Denis Villeneuve not even from the line of American filmmaker, his filming career began in Canadian studio, most of his film rotated on classical European-esque movie with heavily themed on romance, etc. There are many good films recently made in France, or China, or Korea, or Italy, or even UK for goodness sake, that you can watch despite less effort being put into their marketing, literally just now we could watch a film adapting the famous 1800's romantic tragedy novel with the same title, The Count of Monte Cristo.

[@sammiller6631]

@@williemherbert1456 Canada is part of the Americas. Vancouver Canada is called North Hollywood for a reason.

[@valentin7693]

​@@SaberRexZealotWith platforms, people are going less to the cinema, it's a fact. And too many mediocre superhero movies.

[@isaacchan5960]

1:22 “UNDER THE BLUE SEA OR SOMETHING”

[@deepakjain4481]

I heard under the mirror see yourself die

[@GasparKvarta]

LMAO

[@itszaen]

I died 💀💀💀

[@azorahai7837]

Now I can't unhear it, thanks

[@Major_Beetus-ki9rw]

Bro 😭

[@brcshephard]

This wasn’t a movie, it was an immersion!

[@CATDHD]

a perfect theme park ride

[@brcshephard]

@@CATDHD its to the level of Avatar. You forget your watching a movie

[@bad_to_the_bone4431]

Most boring movie i ever watched.

[@CATDHD]

@@brcshephard well, theme park is both a compliment and an insult. as with all theme parks, I had a great time, but as soon as I left the premises the feel evaporated. no story, just spectacle.

[@indeeditsjacque]

I cannot wait for the 3rd film.

[@abirbinhabib7669]

When the third movie drops, dune will be my modern day LOTR, would be nice to rewatch them back to back

[@eneveasi]

Should have been 3 films for the first book imo. But overall yes, I agree

[@Silaguk]

Not even close

[@akhil108]

I missed seeing the first two in theaters but will 100% be there for the third one. That said, I'm really curious to see how they adapt Messiah. There is practically zero action in that book so it will be almost all drama

[@oguzcaliskan123]

@@akhil108 There is actually, the part where Paul lost his eyes. Maybe they start the story form the Jihad(10-20Mins MAYBEEEE=). IDK. But I agree with the first guy. There should be 3 movies for first book.

[@orale_]

Those vibratons from the nukes must of seriously pissed off the worms 😂

[@button4boy]

'Must HAVE' or 'must've'... never 'must of'

[@orale_]

@@button4boy must have this nuts

[@UnfunnyDaffenDales98775]

*deez

[@LTYakkoHellLetLoose]

How I wished the battle scenes were a tad bit longer

[@eneveasi]

Same. Actually everything in this movie I wanted longer and a whole other film. It should have had long battles like LOTR. And leaned into its political intrigue plot lines more like GOT. Would have made these movies a true masterpiece imo

[@pyromancer7445]

@@eneveasii think its mostly to illustrate how complete and utter pauls victory was, no chance of resistance

[@eneveasi]

@@pyromancer7445 Ok I could see that for the long battles... I'd still like to spend much more time with the characters, especially Feyd. Like a whole other movie for the same stuff they just covered basically on fast forward. There was so much political intrigue that wasn't savored... having it almost be like GOT in that way would have made these movies unmatched masterpieces imo.

[@Kanig94]

Well, they weren't even in the books so be glad we actually got something. And even that 'something' was badass af

[@LTYakkoHellLetLoose]

@Kanig94 The battles were absolutely in the books. Actually they even left battles out like the fight in the caves between the Fremen and the under cover Sardaukar

[@ericfig11]

Crazy thing is, every single shot is a thing of beauty

[@InTheBannerOvShadows]

“Adaam reishi a’zantah” gets me so HYPE

[@benjamins.107]

At 0:35 those weren’t thumpers those where the drums of war

[@josephastier7421]

Sending three missiles so close together ensured that the first to detonate would destroy the others.

[@voxelamateur]

yeah, and it was probably the explosion from just one missile.

[@pseudonymousbeing987]

they have individual guidance systems.

[@josephastier7421]

@@pseudonymousbeing987 They were so close together that the first to go off would have destroyed the others in flight.

[@ExpelMire]

What a tiny nuke - and these were 3 at once

[@michaelknight37]

one thing armies haven't done in a LONG time when at the ready for battle. stand in formation.

[@swiftlymurmurs]

Hey genuine historical question, when's the most recent battle where traditional formation tactics were used like that? Seems like these days having large groups of people run at each other in a clear shape is just a recipe for disaster with the whole bombs and machine guns situation

[@jordan605632]

@@swiftlymurmursWW1

[@Izzyduude]

Unless stated in the book they don’t seem “nuclear” but just warheads that have a large damaging ability. Something similar like MOAB but not dropped from an aircraft.

[@jacko0394]

No, they're from the Atreides family atomics. In the book, they worry about the Great Conventions banning of using nuclear weapons on humans. Pauls's argument is that he's not using them on humans but rather on a feature of the desert. They never talk about the radiation from the use of the weapons though lol. Maybe it's not as much of an issue in tens of thousands of years in the future.

[@PrivateMemo]

@@jacko0394 Realistically nuclear weapons don't produce particularly high amounts of radiation. They're airburst munitions. Which means a majority of the radiation dissipates in the atmosphere. The heat radiation and shockwave are far more damaging and dangerous. (Also; It makes no sense politically either. Imagine a nation today nukes an uninhabited part of a nation. That's a can of worms nobody wants to open. Even if no one dies.)

[@inkedseahear]

@@jacko0394 "But sires, I was merely aiming on the space above for an EMP pulse, it was unfortunate a legion was caught and wiped out in the airbrust."

[@Brandon-bc1fz]

@@jacko0394 Interesting in my mind I imagine very sophisticated atomic weapons that can actually be tuned to be dirty or not. So through some fancy space tech you can lessen the collateral damage or increase it.

[@marvinwoods4556]

Or they are (very) small tactical nukes , but even then you would have to think about radiation.

[@Lumminere]

1:52 look how big that thing is 😂

[@joshuak8982]

Denis Villeneuve is a genius artist

[@lajbeak9142]

Thanks for uploading!

[@StephenJohnson-jb7xe]

Was the blast behind the ridge, how come the people were showered in rocks and not blasted by radiation and a powerful shockwave?

[@dawuid1491]

1:27 there's no way dude just yelled "fire" as if he's ordering some archers behind him to fire lol

[@grahamhill676]

The correct term for archers is "loose" as wasn't used until firearms.

[@tonycezar1645]

archers dont "fire" anything

[@mturner89]

That did not look like a nuclear attack

[@phaiz55]

Look up the W54 and MOAB. One is a 0.01kt nuclear weapon and the other is a conventional bomb and they both do about the same thing. Not all nuclear weapons are city killers.

[@tsopmocful1958]

​@@phaiz55There was no characteristic white flash and the Sardaukar standing so close would have been flattened by the shock wave and carbonised by the heat seconds later.

[@skunkworksdistilleryandfir7122]

Yup definitely not a nuke but everybody is too busy being awed and oohhhing because...it's CG and it's *4K* 🤣 Dune. A sci-fi about a beach planet but without the water.🤣

[@The_SSSlopper]

@@skunkworksdistilleryandfir7122😂🤣😂😂🤣 your comment is so funny 😂🤣🤣

[@mitchellsahl4555]

Looks pretty similar to the Project Sedan nuclear test, which was an underground detonation in 1962. It would make some sense for the missiles to penetrate the ground before detonating if the objective is to spray rocks everywhere, and this would significantly reduce the flash and air blast effects.

[@efsanefener-m2z]

Bir çocukken . Yaklaşik 20 sene 30 sene önce. Dune kitaplarini okuyor ve oyunu oynuyordum. Ne zaman yillar geçti.❤

[@masteraso]

Better nuclear explosion than in Nolan's Oppenheimer.

[@mediocremaiden8883]

I stand like that at the store whenever I find a teller or clerk with no lines

[@augiechiavuzzi4907]

This scenes is so good the nuke doesn't scare sardukar the legions of fremen don't scare them but the damn worms that definitely scared them

[@tiutran2610]

Eyes blessing 4k HDR.

[@dixieflatline1189]

Small tactical nukes?

[@oldmonkey7720]

i like how imperial orb is just staying still

[@outthere6465]

This has more impact than the nuclear scene in oppenheimer.

[@Caldweeze420]

I will say, I thought the Sardukar in this one didn’t look the part enough.

[@tamlandipper29]

The designers came up with the most boring designs for the armour. Complete cinema fail. You should quickly know who is who. None of the other adaptations whiffed it this badly.

[@Caldweeze420]

@ yeah, I agree, they should’ve looked like fierce fighting monsters amongst men. I don’t know but, the imperial guards did not look menacing or like they truly belonged

[@suhelsheth4621]

Star wars , Rouge One ... hold my Dark Side

[@purplelord8531]

it would have been cool if the thumpers were synced or very slightly off

[@xAdam2gx]

You really have to watch this several times to see the scale of everything in the scene... Like 3 nucs going off the explosion doesnt look very big... then you look below the Emperors ship and see the small little ships that bring the Sardukar down... which are actually fucking massive and then look at the size of the emperors ship compared to them and then look at the emperors ship leaving the high liners which makes the emperors ship look like a bit small marble.

[@ballbby3775]

Cant wait for the next movie i really cant.

[@samueldesmondtuah1421]

But why would the shield go down? It just doesn't make sense 😂 That is the opposite of what shields should do. 😅

[@jonathanpeterson1984]

I wanted a Suadukar to swing a sword at one of those giant falling rocks😂

[@anglermatt]

Would have been funny if he slipped off that rock ledge walking up. Credits roll

[@bambistrackstoo6118]

Best way to " Adapt" Dune for the screen is just turning it into an "action Flick" what a shame....

[@MasterSteve_117]

I love this scene but it was also way way to Short for me to give 10 out of 10

[@imcpan2590]

Converting that to mono means no respect to sound crew's work. Why not black and white?

[@ginsan8198]

I doubt that was nuclear, but it still looks good.

[@ChupeTTe]

1:29 Zaghrouta in the back ground

[@josephastier7421]

I guess "duck and cover" wasn't a thing on Arrakis.

[@ME262MKI]

Nuclear strikes and the entire planet (or moon) atmosphere didn't lit like a balloon of gas?, so this means conventional warfare is viable here?, are we gonna see the real battle for dune like in the RTS games??

[@surjeetsingh7213]

Movie name please

[@4KArchives]

Dune: Part Two (2024) - as the title of this upload clearly indicates

[@happymouse7798]

Song?

[@jockeb2651]

They had like 72 of them? "enough to blow up the whole fucking planet" But fires three of them with "only" that impact

[@tzarcaz_4385]

The goal was to destroy the Mountain so the fremen worms can come head first in. The goal wasn’t to obliterate their army, nor annihilate the emperor, though Paul could have done that..

[@Aeonikos]

This is like 20,000 years into the future. I'm sure the Atreides atomics and all atomics must have futuristic capabilities, allowing them to adjust the yield for strategic deployment. Otherwise, what would be the point of the Houses fearing planetary destruction due to the atomics of other houses?

[@jockeb2651]

@@Aeonikos Smart nukes, I can totally buy it

[@jockeb2651]

@@Aeonikos Then adjust one of them for blowing up the mountain?

[@Shakwon19]

Highly doubt that was a nuke...

[@ElioOliver99]

The Cylons are attacking 😅

[@opelsnest]

Dont they have sattelites??

[@fallenone0315]

nope, proximity of the moons and stars makes it a gravitational nightmare for satellites, its the same reason how the Harkonnens were undetected for the most part

[@fatmanslim4592]

to do what? detect a missile that can circle the planet in 10minutes?

[@saintniccage2818]

First film the barron literally says " there's no satellites over arrakas

[@thibaud1832]

No, they explicitly don’t.

[@mattwho81]

The Freman pay huge spice bribes to the Navigators guild to stop satellites

[@ishido70]

Самое идиотское это битвы на мечах, когда есть лазеры разрезающие любые двери и стены. Топоров нн хватает.

[@camcam9691]

I wonder if air and satelite reconnaissance is a thing in this universe, such big military force should know that another army is preparing in such close vicinity 🧐 like, nuclear strike capable force is close and ready to attack should be a thing to know about in advance 😇

[@ComradeOgilvy1984]

The book makes this more clear: (1) there is a dangerous gathering storm so aerial patrols are grounded and satellites would be of little help; (2) there are no such satellites (the Fremen have bribed the Guild to not deploy any)

[@SMNBLMRDM]

Pay attention to the first movie they literally explain why there are no satellites several times.

[@camcam9691]

@SMNBLMRDM 👍

[@KoiYakultGreenTea]

Whyd you make it darker

[@christophertran2139]

Why didn’t they just nuke the emperor. Why did they miss

[@ArtyKibbles2190]

They needed him alive

[@manakin5]

The Great Convention forbids the use of atomics against people. This topic is discussed in the book in detail.

[@DARTHNECRION]

The Great Houses would’ve ganged-up on the Atriedes and eaten them alive, Fremen or not.

[@ali4enjoy274]

Thay have nuclear maissails but thay dont have AK47 ammo😂

[@sinepilot]

Peak Hanz Zimmer

[@davidmstephenson69]

is there no radiation ☢️

[@nisargkothari1976]

Absolute cinema

[@joseboutsen6659]

How they use nukes and radiation dosen kill them?

[@jakubkarczynski269]

So there is no nuclear falout after attack?

[@kneelbeforezak]

I assume that in the future they've created hydrogen bombs that don't leave fallout

[@QuantumChrist]

The bombs are already expired... That's ten thousand years old.

[@jacko0394]

@@kneelbeforezak Actually, in the book they do mention the issue of radiation. That, however, is said well before we ever see them used and it's not brought up again even when they deploy the family atomics against the shield wall.

[@PrivateMemo]

Nuclear weapons don't create particularly large amounts of radiation. Although I suspect the heat from the blast would kill a significant part of the Emperor's army at that distance.

[@jakubkarczynski269]

@@PrivateMemo the last wolud afect also Arakis army. They were quite close to blast.

[@TheNeverDry]

The Tesla Army

[@ultralaggerREV1]

3 nukes... And didn't do that much damage?

[@AsttoScott]

Nukes also don't blow up mountains simply by hitting them. Dune 2 really was pretty bad. People need to take their rose colored goggles off. Even the opening scene was stupid. If spice and harvesters are so important then why the hell escort them with such a small force. It's dumb writing. No thought was put into anything.

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

Someone have hste boner here...​@@AsttoScott

[@skunkworksdistilleryandfir7122]

I guess the fissionable materials in those 3 gizmos were the size of pinheads 🤣

[@PrathameshChibade]

With emperor

[@CptApplestrudl]

Fire ...and they missed everyone and instead bombed the mountain XD Good job.

[@ComradeQ]

The atomics were meant to bring down the Shield Wall and allow the rest of the Fremen reinforcements to crush the Sardaukar for good. Paul didn't want to nuke the Emperor, but capture him and bring him to the bargaining table since the other houses had fleets in orbit and were still a threat.

[@abinodattil6422]

So glad this movie doesn’t have. A joke every minute

[@KhaoticReach]

Why didn’t they just nuke the base instead?

[@SMNBLMRDM]

Because of the Great Convention prohibiting them. If they did ALL of the other Houses would be obligated to obliterate the Fremen and what's left of House Atreidies together.

[@Lazerbadger2]

That is like the smallest nuclear blast ever.

[@danielnurminen3796]

You know tactical nukes exist.

[@Lazerbadger2]

@ that’s not even close

[@Aeonikos]

This is like 20,000 years into the future. I'm sure the Atreides atomics and all atomics must have futuristic capabilities, allowing them to adjust the yield for strategic deployment. Otherwise, what would be the point of the Houses fearing planetary destruction due to the atomics of other houses?

[@Lazerbadger2]

@ oh actually a good point.

[@abhisheknaithani3647]

That not a nuke its normal bomb😂

[@QuanNguyen-bk4pn]

The film was great, but Denis Villeneuve really did not how to direct fight scenes. They set up an impressive battlefield, only to end it after less than 2 minutes. I've never seen anything so anticlimatic. And please don't tell me my favorite films are Fast and Furious, because other films have short fight scenes as well but they are so much more memorable.

[@Zyvold]

Villeneuve stayed loyal to the books in this aspect, there wasn't really a description of a battle in them as well

[@QuanNguyen-bk4pn]

@ If that’s true, then I’d rather watch a Dune without the fights at all, because they look so half baked.

[@SnJQ-r6z]

2:08 Wait a minute. He just got played this time?

[@Kanig94]

?

[@greglbennett]

While I was watching this, all I could think was that I always thought the "Star Wars" prequels were hot garbage, but this made them look even worse. I mean, THIS is how you tell the story of a turn to the dark side.

[@WarlordEnthusiast]

This scene is beyond baffling, there's so much wrong with it. They're meant to be some highly organized army that takes over entire planets, and yet they keep all their troops sitting out in the middle of an open area surrounded by mountains? To make matters worse, they don't set up any sort of outposts on those mountains or even send out scouts? Not even a few air patrols to make sure there isn't an entire army hiding behind them? That has to be the dumbest army I've ever seen in a movie. Also, staring into a nuclear explosion. Great, you've just blinded your own army trying to nuke the easiest target to hit ever, and then they missed with the aforementioned nukes! Lastly, why did three nukes create one explosion? That's not how nuclear weapons work, even with conventional weapons you'd just create three explosions.

[@SMNBLMRDM]

"Also, staring into a nuclear explosion. Great, you've just blinded your own army trying to nuke the easiest target to hit ever, and then they missed with the aforementioned nukes!" The foreshadowing is immense. But no they cannot use their Warheads on living targets, the Great Convention prohibits this. And if he nukes the Emperor where would he ascension and hostage bargaining chip go, exactly? He obliterated the shield wall mountains of the basin to let the sandstorm in, which provided the Fremen cover to move in with their sandworms undetected.

[@SandTiger42]

This version of the movie adaptation was doing so well, until the end. Why stray so much from the books? It needed to be a 3 part movie.

[@mlleplle4570]

Love this movie, but how doesnt the Sardukaar scout craft spot the massive gatherings of Fremen?

[@Kiboxxx]

The main actor automatically does everything right. No problems. Everything works. Boring.

[@juleeez628]

1:03 could’ve been so epic if you had a better soundtrack

[@josephastier7421]

Yet another weak special effects nuke scene due to ignorance of the effects of nuclear weapons.

[@deaddropsd1972]

Annoying intro & outro bumper

[@sydneyperryman7894]

Don't you mean Dune 2+3 squashed in together to make an absolute mess because of the pandemic? They actually ruined the majesty of the first film by doing that. What did it all of a sudden cost too much? What a joke

[@mitchellcox1912]

The first Dune was weird in the 1980s and took me a long time to like it. This will be like that.

[@jck7986]

Yeah, that whole thing made no sense

[@josepalos6848]

But if it nuckear how can you still fight there

[@davidjennings127]

They can travel the stars but fight with knives,good work Hollywood 😮

[@RicardoGarcia-xz1rz]

Disappointing battle. Good movie anyway

[@Jry088]

I just don't get why they're fighting hand to hand combat when they have nukes

[@postminchoppa]

Not to put a giant plot hole in the whole movie, but wouldnt the shields, both structure and personal just protect everything? Isnt that one of the main themes/weapons of the movie?

[@martinaee]

I mean…. It IS a little convenient that they had literal nukes at their disposal 🙄

[@Hopscotchlemonadespritz]

Every great house does

[@sop2510]

The still suits would never work as portrayed in this version.

[@kukuricapica]

Im sure sand wouldn’t turned to glass and the nuclear fall out would have zero effect on anybody . lol Btw: loved the movie

[@PrathameshChibade]

I think this nuclear missiles gone west because they can easily blow the whole army of emperor 😂😂😂

[@irrationallynegative]

Looks pretty gay to me.

[@filmfanaat]

A build up of almost four and a half hours and the final battle is over in about seven minutes...And the way Chani and Paul's relationship was handled at the end was utterly laughable. If you can stomach the aged effects of Lynch's 1984 version of Dune i highly recommend watching the spice divers edit here on yt.

[@GrishaPutin]

😮

[@lttacos2092]

These movies/books are pure garbage. 😂😂😂😂

[@CallMeWB]

This movie sucks, was more cheesy than the 80s one

[@DJWillyGMPLS]

Original movie was way better

[@AsttoScott]

I agree, better writing. Superior battles. Better acting. Better casting. Far more thought provoking.

[@skunkworksdistilleryandfir7122]

Better looking lead actor too. This movie's lead is more suited for zombie movies 🤣

[@dartznight]

Do you mean Dune 1984 or Dune 2021 (part one)?

[@Trolden01]

Worst aim ever!

[@UwU-yq1qj]

Idiot

[@QuantumChrist]

The bombs are already expired... That's ten thousand years old.

[@Kittenz-uq1uq]

It was actually intentional. Use of nuclear weapons against another house's forces is prohibited, and if Paul did so, House Atreides would've essentially been nuked into oblivion by the other Great Houses. However, since he only technically targeted the Shield Wall (which was a strategic decision to let in the sandworms), they got nothing on him law-wise. A lot of Dune is about this sort of politicking around lives...

[@kawikaahina1759]

They weren't aiming for the city, they were aiming for the mountains so the worms could pass through the new (manmade) valley. They hit their mark perfectly.

[@tokyodove]

The books explain this but the movie leaves it out- if Paul hit the emperor's army directly with the nukes it would violate the nuclear convention and would compel every other faction to work together to destroy him, also delegitamising his claim to the throne. By aiming at the mountains instead he skirts around the rule as there's nothing in the convention against nuking the landscape