An epic onslaught of furiously produced sound and vision, Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic expands upon its predecessor by furthering itself into the complex areas that marked Frank Herbert's novel in a way that makes for an all-too-appropriate piece of genre filmmaking in 2024.

It's almost remarkable that something this dense and entrenched in hard sci-fi has managed to procure a large budget from a mainstream Hollywood studio, seemingly enrapturing a blockbuster-sized audience in the process.

Yes, this has a cast of attractive A-listers and great character actors and immense scale to its action and set pieces but there's a fearlessness in how it plunges itself head-first into a world mired in a heady mix of politics and religion, with Shakespearean levels of double-cross, betrayal and power corrupting absolutely.

Chalamet puts in career-best work as Paul Atreides, twisting those good looks that are incredibly apt for a movie hero into something more disturbing and complex. Scene stealing work is also to be found from an enjoyably vindictive and menacing Austin Butler, while Rebecca Ferguson vividly portrays the increasingly dark machinations of Lady Jessica, but the heart and soul of the entire thing is to be found coming from Zendaya who brings a genuine humanity that plays perfectly against the overwhelming bombast of the scale.