Denis Villeneuve’s Dune (2021) is a film I admired more than loved. I could never get through the book, to some a definitive text and the work Frank Herbert is most remembered for. The first film feels like a lot of table setting for the great stuff that would eventually happen. But how many times have we seen a movie make promises it can’t keep, or been promised a sequel that never gets made? I’m relieved to report Dune: Part Two (D2NE? DEUXNE?) is bigger, bolder, more thrilling, more lavishly designed, and makes good on just about every promise Villeneuve made in his first entry in this franchise. 

We pick up right where the last Dune left off, and Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother (Rebecca Ferguson) have been taken in by the Fremen, who live on the planet Arrakis, after they are the last remaining survivors of the massacre of house Atreides. There is an ongoing conversation about whether or not Paul is some kind of savior or messiah to the people of this desert planet, where the all important spice is produced. Paul is on a mission of revenge, and we see more of Paul’s relationship with Chani (Zendaya), who is never sure at any given time what to believe, as alliances continue to change and moves on this chess board keep happening. We also meet the emperor of house Corrino (Christopher Walken) and his daughter (Florence Pugh), and Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler), the heir to house Harkonnen, among others, all of whom have their own motivations and proposed end games in this ongoing saga.

I would suggest, if you have not engaged with anything Dune-related since 2021, as I have, maybe go back and rewatch the first film, or at the very least, go read the first film’s Wikipedia synopsis before heading to the cinema for Dune: Part Two. There is a bit of exposition, but we are largely just thrown back into the action, as this one picks up right at the same point where the previous film ended. And to my surprise and delight, Dune: Part Two is more exciting, more thematically interesting, more just about everything than the film we saw in 2021, which, even though this was a film I very much enjoyed, had that kind of chilly cerebral thing happening that is a trademark of Denis Villeneuve’s films. But the pacing is dialed up to a breathless, gripping level we haven’t seen before in this series. It ultimately feels like the best kind of blockbuster filmmaking, spectacularly realized.

The themes of the Frank Herbert novel that I’ve heard many people talk about, but never really experienced on my own, feel spectacularly realized here. Aspects of this story feel like a very thinly veiled critique of religion, politics, and where the two intersect. The concept of the hero, the savior, who might have less to offer than his subjects gave him credit for. And the overall fight for power, moves and countermoves, unlikely alliances and betrayals, also the gender roles, the place of women in a world like this, and the secret power they hold, some of this feels very reminiscent of actual world events we’ve experienced historically and even since the original Dune novels have been written. There is so much here intellectually to explore, it almost requires multiple viewings to get everything, because the first time you’re bound to just be so swept up in the ride of it all.

Timothée Chalamet is an actor who has yet to let me down. He’s spectacular here, as expected, more so than in the first film, because he’s given so much more to do, and by the end you really do buy him as this hardened version of the young man we met at the start of the first film, and I absolutely want to see what he does with this character moving forward. However, this is kind of Zendaya’s showcase, as she’s called upon to do so much more as well. In the first film, she was kind of just an idea – a dream Paul kept having. We spend so much more time with her this time around, and she’s exceptional. You also leave this film needing to see what this character does next.

Our returning supporting players continue to impress. Rebecca Ferguson’s Lady Jessica is finding her place among the Bene Gesserit, and her character evolution remains fascinating. Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgaard, Charlotte Rampling, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem and others return and all turn in great work, and to get into these performances individually would just take up too much space in this review, so I’ll move on to the new players.

Austin Butler is absolutely menacing and impossible to take your eyes off of as Feyd-Rautha, and the character is introduced in a striking, shocking and deeply memorable black and white sequence. This is the first many will be seeing of the actor since his Oscar-nominated turn in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, and I think he’s got so much to offer audiences. Florence Pugh is also doing fine work here, but you suspect she’ll have more to do later. Same goes for the Christopher Walken and Léa Seydoux characters.

The technical aspects here are all incredible. Hans Zimmer is going full Hans Zimmer with this score, and it’s big and booming and demands to be heard in the best audio situation available. Combined with Jacqueline West’s costume design (Florence Pugh and Rebecca Ferguson get some truly stunning costumes), and the production design by Patrice Vermette – it all culminates in the best kind of big-budgeted blockbuster extravagance. The look of this film, down to the monochromatic color scheme and inventive cinematography by the returning Greig Fraser gives the viewer something spectacular to look at at all times.

If the first Dune film is too cerebral and perhaps a bit too icy and clinical to really resonate with me, this one takes everything that worked in that first movie and finds a version of it that works emotionally as powerfully as it does technically. Dune: Part Two throws out the languid pacing in exchange for something electric, full of edge of your seat action sequences and intense drama and political intrigue. I feel like what must have been intended by the original novels is shining through here like no cinematic version of this story has before. Because I finally get why the legacy of Dune has endured the way it has. This is a big budget sci fi extravaganza but it also feels like important filmmaking. Oscar season 2025 starts right now. Also I need DUN3 right this very second, please.