So glad I held out to see this at the IMAX in London's Leicester Square as few films benefit from the extraordinary screen and sound system it offers like this one. Hard to the last cinema experience that was so transecendent. Actually, it's not that hard - it was Dune Part One - but Denis Villeneuve has eclipsed his previous masterpiece with a sci-fi of such visceral impact and monumental scale, it almost defies belief. From the satisfying thunk of the thumper summoning Shai-Halud for Paul's first death-defying ride to the din of giant machinery like the spice harvesters, the sound design is immaculate, shuddering and shimmering, with sub bass reigning down at frequencies you feel as much as hear. Hans Zimmer's score is every bit as imperious as his work on the first part. Visually, the film is operating at a planetary scale and instils a sense of the sublime in the viewer that's literally eye-watering and succeeds in making you feel infinitesimly small; willingly consumed by the world of Arrakis. It also sets a new benchmark in what can be achieved in of CG, especially in the realization of the sandworms of course, with their gaping maws, outsizing the diameter of asteroid craters, but nowhere are you left with that uncanny valley feeling that what you're witnessing isn't quite real.

If Villeneuve has presided over a technical tour de force - and he has - he doesn't lose sight of the story he's telling. Paul's vision quest takes centre stage, charting his ascension to Kwisatz Haderach and his reluctant acceptance of the prophecy of the Lisan al Gaib, divining what is referred to in the book as 'The Golden Path'; a narrow route between a myriad of calamitous possible futures culminating in Jihad and the death of millions under the banner of House Atreides. Taking the Water of Life, as his mother bade him do, reveals to him the truth of his bloodline and steels his resolve to end the Harkonnens' reign to set his adopted people free. It loses none of the ambiguity and complexity of Herbert's novel though, its interrogation of faith and colonialism, as Paul's rise to power comes at a great cost, both personal, in of losing Chani, and political, as he runs the risk of inheriting his grandfather's tendency towards tyranny, only with no-one to oppose him. The Water of Life, which brings its imbiber so close to death (revival in Paul's case coming through the tears of Chani, whose Fremen name is not coincidentally 'Sihaya', desert spring, for non-believer though she is, she is part of the prophecy), has as much of a corrupting influence on both him and his mother as it is a thaumaturgic catalyst to change. Herbert's nuanced take on the duality of fundamentalist belief survives intact and the with the focus being so much more on the arab-esque Fremen, seeds that were planted in Part One come into full bloom here.

Paul's gladiatorial showdown with his cousin, Feyd Rautha, echoes his training match with Gurney Halleck in Part One, misdirecting his opponent's attention and striking low to inflict the fatal blow. It's been a while now since I read the book, but I seem to recall that he dispatches Feyd with much greater ease there, so Lynch's adaptation was actually the more faithful on that point, but it makes for a more climactic scene where the stakes are higher so a logical change to make to my mind, as was making Chani a sceptic, thus providing a counterpoint. It also deviates from the source material in that it contracts the book's time-frame by a couple of years, since Paul's sister Alia was already born by the time he faces the Harokonnens, so again, Lynch's film was truer to Herbert's original vision in that sense. However, script co-writer Jon Spaiths has spoken about the reasoning behind this creative decision (in an interview with Inverse): "We were a little leery of that talking toddler, as a distraction in the middle of the film. That’s a difficult thing to execute on film. To allow such a long time lapse inevitably would sort of cool the ions of Part One. If Duke Leto’s death were years and years ago, then it would lessen the lingering trauma that all the characters were feeling. We wanted the heat of their ion to be fresh and their wounds to be fresh." It also has the added benefit of casting doubt on how much agency Jessica has by this point - how much are her actions and speech being dictated by the unborn progeny in her womb?

For as good as she was in Part One, Rebecca Ferguson absolutely kills it in the sequel - as Jessica grows in stature amongst the Fremen, Ferguson captures her internal struggle, maternal instincts vying with her Bene Gesserit training and her growing will to power via Paul, which is touched with darkness and perhaps even a shade of malevolence. The casting and the acting is near perfect across the board again - newcomer Austin Butler does a great job as Feyd Rautha, just as ambitious and vicious as I imagined him in the book, and Florence Pugh impresses as Irulan - but Ferguson is an undoubted highlight, along with Javier Bardem's almost ludicrously zealous Stilgar. I might reserve the highest praise for Timothée Chalamet though. There were some who doubted his ability to carry a film of this magnitude but he embraces his character's arc and by the time he uses the Voice on Gaius Helen Mohiam, a spine-chilling sequence in which he puts her in her place with effortless mastery (a reversal of the Gom Jabbar scene). The boy has emerged from the shadows of uncertainty forever to become a man, growing in stature and gravitas over the course of the film to the point where even his late father Leto seems meek by comparison. He's everything I imagined Paul Atreides to be when I read the book.

I think any true fan of Dune will be delighted with this film; the epic cinematography and sound design, the greater emphasis on action beats running simultaneously with character development, thematic density and world-building. Even before the film ended on what is obviously an open invitation to make the next chapter of Herbert's saga, I was thinking of Chani's final words from Part One, "This is just the beginning", and musing about the distinct possibility of a Part Three. Paul's vision of Alia as a grown woman has a lot to do with this. How would Villeneuve get an actor of Anya Taylor-Joy's calibre to appear in such a small role unless there was the promise of a potentially meatier role in the follow-up, as he did with Zendaya previously? The same is true of Florence Pugh's Princess Irulan to a lesser extent. Reading up on it subsequently, I was stoked to see Velleneuve talking about his vision for a trilogy where the third part covers Herbert's Dune Messiah - unlike before, I don't think the box office will prove any obstacle to greenlighting it (Part Two has already eclipsed Part One in its first month apparently), it's just whether Villeneuve thinks he can top this film; the main condition for his involvement.

With no shortage of source material - Herbert wrote six books in total - it seems likely that Legendary will seek to extend the franchise with or without Villeneuve. If so, let's hope they've learnt something from Disney's failure, in the most part, to correctly handle the Star Wars franchise. That said, I'm not sure there are any many capable of filling Villeneuve's boots if and when he does vacate the Dune throne - Alex Garland maybe? - DV having established himself over a number of films as not just the pre-eminent architect of sci-fi worlds but one of the most talented directors working today. His love of the source material and joy in being handed the reins to what he sees as a dream project is evident in every frame; the intricate texture, the meticulous attention to detail. Both Dune Part One and this latest instalment are twin suns, beacons blazing in the void of Hollywood's dim star field.