imagine my surprise upon rewatching Denis Villanueve’s latest and realizing, contrary to what i’d previously moved myself to believe, that a second go did not in fact, improve my opinion on the film (i think i genuinely liked it a lot less on this rewatch). my goodness is the film epic — you watch it in IMAX and can just experience the largeness of Arrakis seeping through the screen, you can basically taste the spice and feel the arid grains against your skin. 

but the movie just feels so void of an emotional core that i couldn’t bring myself to care about anything happening on screen. the stakes in this film are clearly higher than the first’s, and yet the filmmaking feels so much more detached here than in the first installment. which is insane because so much is better here: the acting (timothee, javier!!, austin), and the score (couldn’t stand zimmer's work in the first movie, but he really pulled me in here). and i am of the opinion that the scene with the clan leaders is one of the best blockbuster moments like ever. but gosh i just felt, not interested in any of it. i know this sounds borderline blasphemous for a movie this highly acclaimed, and i do apologize, my dear Denis, but my knife has chipped and shattered.