‘Dune: Part Two’ praised for its “epic” scale and ambition in glowing first reviews

The first reviews are in for Dune: Part Two, and critics are full of praise for Denis Villeneuve’s “epic” sci-fi sequel.

Part Two concludes the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 896-page, 1965 novel, following Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) as he unites with Chani (Zendaya) and the Fremen to learn the ways of the desert, wage war on the forces that destroyed his family, and fulfil his destiny as the supposed chosen one.

At present, the film holds a score of 97% from 115 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with only three negative write-ups to be found.

Many have praised the sequel for its gigantic scope and ambition, including Rolling Stone‘s David Fear, who wrote: “Villeneuve has outdone himself. More importantly, he’s done justice to the scope and scale and sheer weirdness of a stoner-lit touchstone’s back half without, pun intended, sanding away its edges.”

The Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw said Dune: Part Two is “superb at showing us an entire created world, a distinct and now unmistakable universe, which will probably be much imitated: a triumph for cinematographer Greig Fraser and production designer Patrice Vermette. Hans Zimmer’s score provides exactly the right tone, at once plangent and grandiose.”

Variety, meanwhile, admitted that splitting the film into two halves was “massive gamble” that somehow paid off. “Whatever you do, don’t mistake this follow-up for a sequel. It’s the second half of a saga,” they wrote.

Empire also gave the film a glowing review, writing: “There are plenty of plates spinning — and for the most part, Villeneuve displays remarkable control over them all. Beyond that, he marshals staggering sequences to blow you to the back of your seat,” adding that many of its sequences are “overwhelming feats of sound and vision, with thunderous bass that’ll turn any regular cinema into a seat-shaking 4DX experience.”

One of the few negative reviews came from IndieWire‘s David Ehrlich, who said the film was, “staggering to look at but agonising to watch.”

“Not only does this new movie pick up exactly where the last one left off, it also carries over the strengths and weaknesses that made the previous chapter so astonishing to look at but stultifying to watch,’ Ehrlich wrote.

Another negative review came from The Hollywood Reporter‘s Lovia Gyarkye, who praised the two-hour-and-46-minute-film for being an even bigger “cinematic event” than the first movie, but criticised its shallowness.

“Part Two is plagued by a nagging shallowness when it comes to portraying the Fremen, an indigenous people fighting for self-determination within the empire; the film has difficulty fully embracing the nuance of Herbert’s anti-imperial and ecologically dystopian text,” wrote Gyarkye.

Still, the consensus among critics was overwhelmingly positive, with The Independent describing it as “total sensory and imaginative immersion,” adding that it’s “unlike any other blockbuster in existence”.

Dune: Part Two arrives in cinemas on March 1.

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