Following incredible first reactions calling Dune: Part Two one of the greatest films of all time, the reviews for the sci-fi epic are finally out.
As it stands Dune 2, the adaptation of the second half of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi masterpiece, has a very impressive 97 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Joining Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård and Javier Bardem in the all-star cast this time around are Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux and Anya Taylor-Joy.
Critics below largely applauded the film, but some felt it had some flaws despite its impressive achievements.
Daily Express
Dune: Part Two is the powerful continuation of Denis Villeneuve’s first movie, but bigger, better, and – in some places – a completely jaw-dropping cinematic experience.
The Telegraph
The technology here is magic: something to be felt in your soul, not puzzled out in your head.
The Guardian
This is a real epic and it is exhilarating to find a film-maker thinking as big as this.
New York Post
Our blockbuster drought is over, thanks to a brilliant sequel set on a sweltering desert planet.
The Independent
Another epic helping of sci-fi wildness from Denis Villeneuve that’ll take true believers to paradise — even if it’s a bit too much Spice to digest in one sitting.
Rolling Stone
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.
Vanity Fair
Heavy with spectacle and theme as it is, Part Two is often surprisingly nimble. As a filmmaker, Villeneuve has long had trouble balancing plot with picture, but here he almost gets the calibration exactly right.
Variety
Whatever you do, don’t mistake this follow-up for a sequel. It’s the second half of a saga…
Empire
Another epic helping of sci-fi wildness from Denis Villeneuve that’ll take true believers to paradise — even if it’s a bit too much Spice to digest in one sitting.
Financial Times
It may take five and a half hours for his character to truly come to life, but two films in, Chalamet’s evolution as Paul gives everything a centre.
Movie Web
Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two shatters already sky-high expectations by immersing the viewer in a deeply layered, complex narrative. The film takes a Game of Thrones approach to the brutality, politics, and spiritual machinations of fiery revenge.
But not all the critics were impressed with Dune 2.
Observer
Though visually a knock-out, Denis Villeneuve’s second instalment repeatedly sheds momentum, something no 166-minute epic can afford to lose.
BBC
You might expect a big-budget space opera to exhilarate you and move you, and on those terms Villeneuve’s sprawling, pretentious folly has to count as an abject failure. But if you want to feel awestruck, that’s another matter.
Hollywood Reporter
Plagued by a nagging shallowness when it comes to portraying the Fremen… the film has difficulty fully embracing the nuance of Herbert’s anti-imperial and ecologically dystopian text.
Dune: Part Two hits cinemas on March 1, including in IMAX which screens the movie as it was shot; with 40 per cent more picture.