Cinema in 2024 has been off to a rocky start. “Argyle” and “The Beekeeper” were mindless action flicks with inane plots. “Madame Web” did not inspire confidence in the new age of superhero movies, and streaming films like “Ricky Stanicky” and “Lift” made people even more wary of spending their already limited time watching something new. “Dune: Part Two,” very thankfully, broke that trend. 

Frank Herbert’s genre-bending space opera “Dune” was a book once called “impossible to adapt,” according to Aaron Bady at Slate. David Fincher was unable to condense the story properly in 1984. George Harrison was held back by a TV budget in 2000. Denis Villeneuve, however, had the brilliant idea to split the book into two films. This meant that there would be a lot of time for the background information to be laid out and for the proper moments to shine. Shine they indeed have.

“Dune: Part One” had the important job of building up the story of both Paul Atreides, played by Timothee Chalamet, a young boy who is pushed into exile and the role of being a messiah, and the planet Arrakis, which harbors the coveted spice, melange, an item crucial for space travel throughout the cosmos. The richness and depth of the plot meant the first film had to slow down often enough to explain the mechanics of a world unlike our own such as space travel and inventive weaponry, along with the main protagonists of both films, House Atreides, and the antagonists, House Harkonnen. 

“Part Two” managed to trim all of the fat holding “Part One” down, throwing the viewer straight into an intense war of wills and faith. Paul works with the people of Arrakis, the Fremen, to gain back control of the planet in the hopes of exacting revenge on the Harkonnens for the murder of his father. At the same time, he tries to understand his strange visions and the different horrible paths they lead him down, all while grappling with his role as the prophesied leader of the Fremen people. We see Paul and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), use the people around them to take control and make the audience question whether or not they truly are the heroes of this story. 

“Dune: Part Two” is a film that every movie-goer can appreciate. Fans of Star Wars or Game of Thrones can enjoy the complex story that literally inspired these billion-dollar franchises and their own complex stories. Fans of romance and forbidden love can watch Dune for the story of Paul and Chani (Zendaya), where a would-be space messiah and one of his disciples fall in love. People who enjoy expansive action set pieces and tight fight choreography can be assured that “Part Two” uses some of the best visual effects to pull the audience into the tense battles between two drastically different opponents. And fans of a simply good-looking and sounding movie can experience Oscar-winning cinematography from Greig Fraser and a soundtrack from all-time music legend Hans Zimmer. 

This movie brings the viewer into its world from the very first scene, keeping audiences on their toes and excited to watch and see how this epic war culminates, even leaving some viewers so excited they gasped for air. Villeneuve has mastered his use of concurrent storylines to keep the story fast-paced while making sure the audience doesn’t get lost in the sauce. It is clear he is a director with a passion for his project, ensuring that every change from the source material serves a greater purpose, even if viewers don’t know what that purpose is yet.

Chalamet shows his range in this mature science fiction, but he is not carrying this movie alone. An incredible ensemble cast backs up the 28-year-old star, with stunning performances by Zendaya as a Fremen woman who must balance her distrust for prophecies and her love for Paul, and Rebecca Ferguson as Paul’s mother and key string-puller in their plot to defeat the Harkonnens. One of the best performances in this movie was Austin Butler as Feyd Rautha, a psychotic Harkonnen royal who is given the difficult task of defeating Paul and his Fremen army. Butler beautifully plays the madman who acts as the opposing voice of chaos to Paul’s initial voice of control. 

“Dune: Part Two is bigger, better, and more beautiful than its predecessors and previous adaptations in every single way. If you’re only going to watch a single movie this year, let it be Dune: Part Two, and hopefully, you will keep coming back for more.