Jarrel Montes’s review published on Letterboxd:
Arrakis has awakened.
An spectacular sequel that follows on the great set up from the first movie, with a heavy the beefy runtime might look dreadful but with a solid pacing like the shifting sands the screening becomes quite an adventure. The world building is amplified by zooming out from just the main houses, showcasing the bigger picture at hand and really diving into some galactic politics. The cultures are more apparent and the contrast in levels of humanity between the houses are more than clear, The set designs and costumes are top notch, I enjoyed seeing all the practical details ensuring the audience that the world of Arrakis is very much real- further implementing the element of immersion even more.
The sound design gets praise for also waltzing the audience with a layer of atmosphere by always making sure the scenes are ed in sound. The score is incredible, highly distinct according to what is being shown and let's just say I always had the disgusted (in a good way) face every time the Harkonnen theme played. I'm not an absolute expert on the source material, but I do believe there were some off book things that happened - it makes the overall narrative a bit more unpredictable especially since there's going to be another sequel? I'm low key hoping this is it because I want Denis to direct other things but it's not I'm opposing to seeing Paul ascend even further lol.
Overall a damn great watch, maybe I'm too biased with Denis? lol idc I'm giving this a 9/10 lol recommended to people who love spice!
