AHHHHHHHH It’s so good! Denis and co have made due on the promises they made with Part 1, with a more character focused sequel that’s brimming with awe-inspiring spectacle. Watching this on the big screen is akin to a religious experience. The booming of the speakers and height of the visuals, such as Paul’s taming of the worm sent goosebumps shimmying up and down my arms. Dune Part 2’s various set-pieces, the oppressive authoritarian glimpses into House Harkanan in particular, dive deep into a new realm of oddness and mysticism that its predecessor only teased. It’s big and ballsy, but anchored by a finely acted romantic tragedy at its core. Timothee Chalamet is a FORCE here. On this go around he doesn’t just bring angst, but also a tangible fury and charisma. He conducts himself with the confidence of a leader with nothing to lose but everything to gain. If you weren’t on his wavelength before, Chalamet absolutely stakes his claim here as THAT GUY. Ditto Zendaya. A Disney channel pop star turned leading lady? It’s been hard for her to earn respect as a genuine actress, but her multifaceted turn as Chani is the kick in the head I needed to see she’s got the actor DNA for sure. This romance between a royal  interloper afraid of his own power and a young woman fighting for herself and her people, is what makes Dune Part 2 stick in the brain when all the face-melting machinations visuals can be sorted out.

There’s honestly too many great performances to mention. Javier Bardem is excellent as the zealot Stilgar and delivers a lot of the film’s well-timed moments of humor while Christopher Walken threatens to steal the few scenes he’s in with his quiet venom. Austin Butler is the standout, however. With a depraved, sociopathic character like Feyd, Butler successfully shows a different side to his skills as a performer. His outwardly unhinged bloodlust is very entertaining and acts as a compelling foil to Paul who hides his in a veil of divine justice. The knife fight between both characters is a visceral highlight, Villeneuve has gotten much better at shooting action and it shows in their intimate battle to the death captured with tight cuts and wide angles. 

Dune Part 2 is spellbinding. Denis and DP Greig Fraiser continue to be a match made in heaven, crafting images that make you overwhelmed with the power of cinema and the on-screen dreams it can invoke. The encroaching fatalism of Paul’s anti-heroes journey coats the film in an uncommon darkness. Blockbuster cinema hardly gets bigger, or more depressing than this.