Fear might be the mind-killer, but nobody involved in “Dune: Part Two” has reason to be afraid of poor reviews. It’s safe to say that the reaction to Denis Villeneuve’s latest epic has been almost universally rapturous. /Film’s own Chris Evangelista published one of the many positive reviews, even if he was a bit more reserved in his praise than most others. Cautioning viewers to prepare themselves for “one of the bleakest blockbusters ever made” and noting that the script feels “aimless” at times, he went on to herald the sequel as:
“[…] a grand, overwhelming sensory experience. Villeneuve has a great grasp on scale, and everything here feels appropriately huge. A shot of those giant sandworms bursting forth through a sandstorm is genuinely frightening because we can sense how massive these things are. The costumes pop, the scenery stuns, and Hans Zimmer’s score booms and drones until you can feel it rattling your ribcage. If nothing else, ‘Dune: Part Two’ is a triumph of production design.”
Others, however, were blown away to even greater heights. Former /Film editor and current Inverse critic Hoai-Tran Bui dropped a pull quote that will surely reverberate among fans in her review, describing the plot of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his grappling with his own destiny as:
“A sci-fi epic for the ages: a sweeping tragedy of mythic proportions, a cautionary tale of the perils of zealotry. It’s a towering feat of sci-fi cinema that will put ‘Dune: Part Two’ in contention for the pantheon of greatest sequels ever.”
io9’s Germain Lussier (another /Film alum!) echoed those thoughts, calling the film:
“[…] more than a mere sequel. It’s a continuation, culmination, and ultimately a fantastic elevation of everything you already loved about director Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 film ‘Dune: Part One.'”