It’s a bit wild to me that this is the first film I’ve seen in theaters in 2024, but blame a lack of must-see movies and some really bad weather here at inopportune times.

To say that this is the greatest spectacle I’ve seen since Godzilla Minus One is not doing Dune: Part Two justice. Minus One was one of the best experiences I had at the movies all of last year (tied with Stop Making Sense in IMAX); Dune: Part Two is one of my top moviegoing experiences ever.

And that’s all there really is to say. You can read a lot better writers than me for in-depth criticism. But as a huge fan of the original novel* — a lot less so the sequels — I want to mention a few SPOILER points:

1) So we didn’t get talking baby Alia (and yet, we kinda did, lol). I think Taylor-Joy’s appearance was spoiled for me months ago, but I’d forgotten about it, so it came as a nice surprise.

2) And so, yeah, we’re obviously getting a Part Three. How slavish Villeneuve is to Dune Messiah remains to be seen, but based on some of the choices he made here to stray from the source material (and I can imagine a considerable amount of the hardcore fans — fanatics, if you will — are livid), I think he might radically change the story. And I wouldn’t really blame him. Messiah is a very flawed story — while also being pretty dope: we get zombies and shapeshifters and other weirdness — and general audiences will hate it if it isn’t altered considerably. And the books only get worse from there.

3) I’m stunned by how big of a hit this has proven to be. It’s very hard science fiction, and people are lapping it up. It’s heartening that, as cynical as I tend to be about general moviegoers, they can still surprise me in 2024.

4) I don’t think Lady Jessica starts acting like a flat-out villain until Children of Dune, but her heel turn comes really quick here. And it works. She’s scary as shit. There are a lot of frightening things going on here, and I sort of hope Villeneuve would make a horror movie.

Or any movie outside of this franchise for his next. People often call him the new Chris Nolan, and Nolan made Inception in between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.

* I have a nifty hardcover that was published by ACE back in I think 2019. It’s got excellent illustrations all over the inside and outside of the dust jacket and cover, is debossed with FEAR IS THE MIND KILLER on the front cover, a shai-hulud ring on the back, and the outer edge of the pages are limned with blue. I love it.