Fuck this is incredible. Going a second time gives you the opportunity to see things missed on a first watch. It’s not recency bias, it’s just that good.

Paul’s Prophecy and eventually fulfilled agenda is tragic for both him and the fremin people. The prophecy they believe was moulded by the bene Gesserit to maintain order and provide hope, in turn it has allowed the Fremin to be ruled by a Foreign Dictator masked as a Messiah due to prophecy and belief. The religious iconography and political propaganda in Dune 2 reflects the previous Wars in our past, fought in the name of religion and belief. If the faith is strong enough, people will fight whether that faith be in the right or wrong thing.

Lady Jessica along with Feyd-Rautha and the emperor are the villains of this story, however on second watch it is clear to me that Lady Jessica pulls the strings. Her politics and manipulation of the religious Fremin ultimate leads her Son to rise to power and triggers the Holy war. 

One major detail I didn’t pick up on was Chani’s significance to the prophecy. She tells Paul her Fremin name means “Dessert spring”. The prophecy states that the Lisan el Gaib will be brought back from dessert spring tears AKA Chani. 

Paul’s speech to the Fremin at the War council sends shivers down my spine every time, which is a testament to Timothée Chalamet and his acting prowess. One small, slight criticism is that of Dave Bautista, who I felt had a lot less to do in the previous installment. But that only left space to be filled by Austin Butler and his magnificent performance. It takes a second time to see truely how gripping and menacing he is every time he enters frame.

I could wax poetically for ages about how good this movie is, but it’s pretty close to perfection, leave it at that.