Fully bought into the hype now. Thought Part 1 was good on first watch, better on second and now seeing Part 2 in cinema I have definitely found the love for this world and story that so many people have. From the thuds of bodies dropping in the opening scene, I was completely locked in and enjoyed every second - the first two thirds especially were constantly breathtaking in spectacle, scene after scene. 

The ambiguity, the sense of impending catastrophe and/or revelation, the blurred and changeable lines of who’s “good” - it’s so gripping  and unsettling. The Bene Gesserit voice, especially from Rebecca Ferguson is so intense - if she’d told me through the screen to get up and leave I think I would have. Seeing the changing of Lady Jessica and Paul, in their nature, their actions and their relationship with each other from the start of Part 1 to the end of Part 2 is quite harrowing. This is only possible due to their performances too - it’s easy in hindsight but I can’t imagine anyone else giving these performances as well as Rebecca Ferguson and Timothee Chalamet. Casting Paul as someone else in my head weakens the film so much - his performance in this film especially is perfect. 

I read some criticisms of this film, and namely Denis Villeneuve before watching and I kind of wish I hadn’t because the things they noted, I did recognise and agree (to less of a detriment to my experience than they felt though). The use of a shallow depth of field does feel excessive when you are looking for it. It’s great at points but then at others (for example when Paul is stood high above his followers near the end), I want more of the frame in focus. It feels like it’s being used out of habit or to create a more artsy image than to enhance the telling of the story - like I absolutely want the crowd below Paul in focus, why would you not in this specific example? The other issue was with cutting away from a shot too early, which I did also acknowledge a couple of times - sometimes the shot would look so nice but I couldn’t sit with it for even a second because the angle would change (what felt like) too soon. Having said all this, it can firstly be put down to preference, and secondly, for me, barely impacts my view of the film as a whole, but is still a fair minor critique I think. 

I’ve never been as much of a sci-fi fan as many but things like this make me think that now I am. The fact that this starts with the book as source material and an idea to translate it to a film is so crazy - like that entire world has started from nothing. I know this is obvious and true of everything but I can’t respect enough how hard it must be to start from scratch and create something so rich and detailed and immersive and to know people are going to want you to do it again and again and again, it just is a ridiculous achievement. You are so immersed in the world that after only about 20 minutes of being on Arrakis, the cut to the greens of the emperor’s home is so stark and shocking despite the fact that we have this in our own real life world. To be able to lose yourself in the world like this is the perfect building block for a film of this nature, and every aspect builds perfectly on this, as you find yourself gripped by the narrative and the characters too. May have to try and see this again before it’s out of cinemas and this time I’ll bring my earplugs.