Denis Villeneuve’s second entry in the Dune saga begins preposterously with Timothee Chalamet whispering dreams to the psychic fetus that is his unborn sister. But it ends with a look of steely determination in the eyes of Zendaya in rebellion against that very type of preposterousness, which still might be more the result of years of political maneuvering fueled by spice-induced hallucinations than it is a religious prophecy come to life. In between is one of the greatest sci-fi films ever made.

If there was any fault in the first entry, it would be the sluggish pace of the exposition to set the stage for the series. Dune: Part Two suffers from none of that, thrusting us directly in medias res and rollicking along for an emotional and action-packed two hours and forty-six minutes to end at a rousingly brooding narrative climax. The movie is moody, propulsive and explosive, and the epic run-time races by, while still making time for wondrously weird interludes of worm riding and worm blood extraction as well as quieter moments of connection like Chalamet and Zendaya sand-walking together in the dark.

Chalamet’s Paul, of course, represents a messiah for Arrakis, while Zendaya’s Chani grounds her personal mission to bring freedom to herself and her people in realism. She fears this ridiculous messianic prophecy will be used to enslave her people. There’s a tension built from these warring views – blind faith vs. impassioned realism – and it weaves inextricably into the political tension from the empirical chess game being played out for control of that all-important spice. There’s also all that grey space in between those extremes – the moral conundrum that Villeneuve has reveled in his entire career where cyncial ploys play both sides to their advantage as a means to an end. Paul allegedly can see the future (after drinking worm blood) and he claims to have found a narrow path…to the least worst outcome. It all comes to a head in the film’s roaring final third, which follows the thrilling two-thirds before it.

Further tension is built from the increasing depravity of the horrible Harkonnen, epitomized in Austin Butler’s truly terrifying portrait of their rising leader set in place as a foil to Paul’s messiah. Meanwhile, the shockingly dark evolution of Paul’s pregnant mother, Lady Jessica (played once again by the miraculous Rebecca Ferguson) is enough to send shivers down your spine. “You chose the wrong side,” she telepathically tells her former mentor Charlotte Rampling in the chilling denoument. “There are no sides,” Rampling’s character retorts.

Is it possible for a movie to have everything? It certainly is when an auteur at the height of their game is at the helm, as is the case here with Denis Villeneuve. Apart from the emotion he elicits from his game cast, his vision and his technical team achieve new heights in sound design, set design, costumer design, and special effects. The action sequences, especially depicting the various guerilla tactics used by the Fremen to take down Harkonnen spice extractors, are masterpieces in tension and execution. Meanwhile, epic colosseum and war scenes are jaw-dropping in their scale. And still, Villeneuve and his team find ways to deliver images and sounds that look and feel like they’ve never been experienced before while making it all seem so real.

Wholly immersive, thrillingly tense, action-packed and hypnotic, Villeneuve’s second entry in the Dune saga is one for the ages.

Review by D. H. Schleicher