Is it too much to ask, in the year of our Lord 2024, for a movie to actually have an ending? Maybe I should have expected another cliffhanger; I've never read the books. But this Marvelized serialization of movies is getting under my skin. An open ending is one thing. But let me feel like I've gotten a complete story. I'm taking off half a star for roping me into another sentence fragment.

Which is frustrating because up until it stopped cold I liked this movie a lot more than the first one. Despite being longer it feels more streamlined, more straightforward, (most of) the character motivations are clearer. Some important stuff is still confusing, like I don't fully understand what the evil space nuns even actually want, and I expected more from the Austin Butler character and his confrontation with Timmy Chalamet, but the tedious exposition and world building from the first film were starting to pay off. Denis Villeneuve crafts such a marvelous visual and auditory experience. And who knows, maybe I'll feel satisfied by the time Palpatine somehow returns in Dune: Part 9. Until then, though, this feels like a fraction of an experience.