He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!

A staggering movie in scale, cinematography, sound, acting and story-telling. It is a narrative of the danger of religio-political manipulation, but over a vast time and distance. Paul is the ‘prophesied’ Messiah of the Fremen on Dune, but he is fully aware that it is all due to the millenia-long machinations of the Bene Gesserit, the secret society of ‘witches’ who have been preserving and determining the destiny of the powerful families in the galaxy. He does not want to be a pawn in their plans as he can foresee the horrors that he will unleash, but even he cannot stop what is coming. The scenes with the sandworms, the Harkonnen home planet, the final assault and knife fight - all are massive and incredible. There is a lot to think about in this movie as well, particularly in the nature of control of people’s minds and shaping whole cultures in certain ways through messianic promises. I’ve read the books so I do know what is coming in the third instalment, but it will be interesting to see how people react to Paul being an anti-hero/villain.