If you weren't a full-blown spice head following the first immersion into Denis Villeneuve's Arrakis, then Dune Part 2 will leave you as devout as the southern Fremen. Suddenly, I want to ride a sandworm, sip on some blue Powerade, start wearing Paolo Carzana AW24 and practice my best sandwalk.
After years of anticipation, the second piece of Villeneuve's Dune trilogy has arrived. This time around Zendaya actually gets to speak, Austin Butler gives what is probably his best performance to date, Hans Zimmer offers a booming score, and we realise everyone in Frank Herbert's universe is a nasty little freak.
There's sandworm juice, a telepathic fetus, Christopher Walken doing his usual Queens accent, some guerilla-style warfare, multiple prophecies, colonial and religious undertones, and incredible Rabanne FW20 chainmail. Best of all, it's nice to see a cast stacked with Hollywood heavies where they're actually put to good use.
In case you need a reminder, Dune Part 2 stars Timothée Chalament, Zendaya, Javier Bardem, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Sarah Ferguson, Charlotte Rampling, Christopher Walken, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Léa Seydoux, among others.
This time around, we see Paul Atreides seek revenge against the Harkonnens for murdering his father, and to do so, begins to learn the ways of the Fremen as their equal. He also becomes entangled in a romance with Fremen warrior Chani. Wary of power given recurrent apocalyptic visions of the future, Paul shirks off signs that he is the promised messiah, while his mother whips up favour for him among the fundamentalists in south Arrakis. It all comes to a head in a great action scene in the film's final third.
Unsurprisingly, the blockbuster racked up a total of $178.5 million dollars at the box office during its opening weekend. With audiences finally getting to the theatres to see Dune Part 2 for the first time, they're sharing their thoughts and reviews on X and Letterboxd. Here are some of our favourite reactions so far. Warning, spoilers ahead.
