First Take: Dune: Part 2 - he who controls the spice, controls the box office

SYNOPSIS: Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.

Well, the impossible has happened. The book many thought was unadaptable for cinema, has been conquered for modern audiences - three years ago Denis Villenueve helped restart the industry with a star-studded telling of the first half of Frank Herbert’s 1965 book, and now, after another lengthy delay like its predecessor, Part 2 is here. And having now seen it, I can understand why they held it back until March, because this cast on its own is enough to do it justice.

Villenueve once again commands a true big screen epic, and on every film he’s made he just gets better and better - sure, this is a long film at 2 hour 45 minutes, but it is a length that is justified with just how complex the plot gets. This certainly isn’t cookie cutter storytelling, this is proper arthouse cinema that just happens to have a $190million budget, and a key part of that is a script he has co-written with Jon Spaihts, one that is more action heavy by design following the journey that was central to the first part - and it works so well, especially as most of the major setpieces are predominantly practical and in-camera. Pretty much all the technical crew from part 1 are back, with Greig Fraser once again returning as DOP, and Hans Zimmer following up his Oscar-winning score (with Loire Cotler, Guthrie Govan and the musicians who made it such a unique experience) in very similar fashion.

Where this adaptation comes alive is in the cast, and, well, I just need to say their names really - Timothee Chalamet continues evolving his craft, Zendaya once again proves herself as an incredible talent, Rebecca Ferguson drives the film’s emotional elements and Javier Bardem also helping to set up what will hopefully play out in the third film, with Charlotte Rampling, Dave Bautista, Josh Brolin and Stellan Skarsgard all coming back too. Of course there are also new additions Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Christopher Walken and Lea Seydoux - if there’s one cast list which screams ‘nominate this, Academy’, this is it, and it probably will get that attention this time next year. It’s big, bold, and a film best experienced loud.

THE VERDICT

If Denis gets his way, the final part of this trilogy will be Dune Messiah. I hope to god this comes to fruition because that will be the film that seals his legacy as a Hollywood legend- but only if he does what he’s done here: stay true to source material, and make it on HIS terms.

RATING: 5/5