As someone boarding the hype train, you run the risk of raising people's expectations too much. It's a reason I don't often like to give out perfect ratings straight away... but with Dune: Part Two, I can't think of any way it misstepped or let me down. This could be the best epic movie since The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, or at least the most epic to successfully tell a story on this scale in a flawless way. For as good as 2021's Dune was, it just feels like a warm-up compared to Dune: Part Two, which is where things get bolder, more expansive, and much more morally complex. Dune is to Star Wars what Dune: Part Two is to The Empire Strikes Back; a basically perfect sequel to something that was already great, but is taken to new heights with a second installment.

Dune: Part Two is also much better paced than the first movie, which has a lot of set-up to lay out early on, peaks at the end of its second act with a big battle sequence, and then has a slightly strange final act that now feels more like it functions as a prologue to Part Two. Dune: Part Two manages to pick up where the first left off and kind of hits the ground running, but then wisely doesn't try to maintain a sprint all the way. It slows down where it needs to, and then continues to build to a final act that is mind-blowing in scale. I felt like I got goosebumps on my cheeks; I didn't even know you could get that feeling there. I also felt almost light-headed and overwhelmed, but in a good way. Seeing something on this scale pulled off this well comes just a handful of times a decade, if you're lucky.

Timothee Chalamet is given much more to do, returning characters are taken to darker places that feel inevitable and surprising, the special effects are perfectly done, the new characters are great (Austin Butler comes amazingly close to overdoing it, but I feel like he's just the right level of unhinged), and the score/use of sound is incredible; as good or better than the first. Overall, it really does feel like an improvement across the board, wrapping up the first two movies well while giving some indication as to where things could go. It was a film that was worth the wait. Sorry in advance for adding to the hype, but I think it really was that good.