2024 Ranking

I didn't dislike the first film, as per usual with Villeneuve I am always on board with him in of his visual scope and ambition, but as a storyteller I wasn't all that crazy about Part I where too many elements felt shortchanged and rushed for my liking and the general approach felt too honed in on a straightforward hero's story, with the meat of the narrative lacking the breadth of the visual execution. And furthermore in of the source material I'd always found Herbert's first half kind of more compelling than the second half, so I came into this one not quite sure what to make of it.

Well, a doubter must accept when they are proven wrong and proven wrong I was, because I really loved this one, where that same excellence in epic craft is just as prevalent as before, and even more improved (score made much more of an impact for me here, and the nitpicks I had with some of the cinematography in the darker scenes in the first are all gone), but more importantly the story and central arc was just so much more captivating. It feels driven and perfectly suited to Villeneuve's style in its ascent through descent, so to speak, of Paul into becoming the messiah and 'saviour', and the darker growing edges to the exhilarating action and set pieces (the first worm ride is amazing and that third act is filled with amazing standout moments) made for such a compelling ride, one that is very fun and exciting but also rather unsettling at points. And it never loses any momentum, and though there are a few stretches which feel a bit rushed or oddly edited (maybe due to reconfiguring the plot beats around a bit), I found the overall pacing to be quite excellent.

Bar Christopher Walken and Florence Pugh who felt a bit miscast and whose scenes aren't the most interesting in the overall tapestry, thought the entire ensemble was very on point even if some are a bit more limited in screen time this time around. Timothée Chalamet is a fantastic lead of course and genuinely surprised me with his work in the third act, but also found Zendaya to be an excellent screen partner, and Austin Butler to be a particularly depraved but in parts strangely noble Feyd-Rautha. I missed seeing my man Thufir Hawat, and I still do think his presence would've added a little something more to that finale, but the third act is great anyway and it would've been hard to fit him in here without having him feel shortchanged (blame the first film for not properly setting him up), so maybe it was for the best.