nicolas’s review published on Letterboxd:
"You died like an animal."
A second viewing reaffirmed my belief that Paul and Chani's first romantic scene and Feyd's seduction are my favourite scenes of this, the first hour that has Paul learn about Fremen culture and the Harkonnen stuff that follows are easily my favourite bits of the duology in general. In my main review yesterday I of course forgot to mention the one thing I desperately wanted to mention lmao, which is my wholehearted adoration for the (two?) David Lynch reference(s) Villeneuve has put in here. A shot near the end of this is almost taken identically from Blue Velvet, the other one would be Feyd saying "we've met, haven't we?" with the same tone and expression as the Mystery Man in Lost Highway. Feyd's facial expressions remind me so much of another actor playing a bad guy but I can't quite place it.
Gets only better the second time, a masterpiece in every sense of the word. Unfortunately my IMAX viewing will have to wait another week though, I'm not seeing that until the 9th. This has also got to be the first time I've witnessed the letterboxd rating of a film increase after the release, it's at 4.6 now which means we have never ever been more back. The third act is the weakest bit of this for sure imo but even then only as rushed as the book is, in a way I might like this adaptation more than the source material actually. It also feels like it only has half the runtime of the first film, it's unbelievable. Paul Muad'Dib and Sihaya the Desert Spring forever <3
