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Dune: Part 2 gets huge 97% Rotten Tomatoes score - what the critics are saying

Brace yourself, the first Dune reviews have landed

Dune: Part 2 gets huge 97% Rotten Tomatoes score - what the critics are saying

By Danielle de Wolfe

22 February 2024

The first reviews for Dune: Part 2 have landed with a bang and things are looking bright for the killer sequel.

Following the success of the first Dune instalment which landed in 2021, the Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya follow-up is poised for release - and now the critics have had their say.

Initial reactions to the release first surfaced online last week, with non-critics hailing it “a masterpiece,” a “cinematic epic,” a “blast” and “the definitive sci-fi epic of a generation.” Impressive.

Now, the critics have had their say, with reviewers able to add more to the melting pot than Time Out's Phil de Semlyen saying he “didn’t love *everything* about it,” before hailing the release "thunderously spectacular".

One glance at Rotten Tomatoes reveals the film has nailed it, setting this film up to be a triumph with a whopping 97% approval rating.

That one-ups Part One, which claimed an impressive 83% approval rating where critics were concerned.

Not to mention the fact that according to Collider, this latest instalment is projected to gross at least $65 million domestically at the US box office.

#DunePartTwo is one of the greatest war films of all time

Both high art and an absolute blockbuster,

it might grant Denis Villeneuve the same massive following as Christopher Nolan.

Review embargo lifts next week. pic.twitter.com/04kP5e6L2F
— Grace Randolph (@GraceRandolph) February 16, 2024

And, as you might expect, the critics haven't held back where both criticism and acclaim are concerned.

With the LA Times already hailing the release "a triumph" (you can see where this is heading), Vanity Fair's Richard Laweson was quick to add that Dune 2 is "heavy with spectacle".

Not to mention The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw, who labels the latest franchise instalment a "real epic". High praise indeed.

He continues: "Part Two is often surprisingly nimble. As a filmmaker, Villeneuve has long had trouble balancing plot with picture, but here he almost gets the calibration exactly right."

Meanwhile, AP writes: "Villeneuve’s great talent lies, I think, in invocation. He may be less perfect when it comes to conclusions but he’s brilliant at summoning -- a sense of doom, a suddenly appeared spacecraft, a sandworm."

Observer's Dylan Roth, however, scores it a mere 2.5 out of 5: "Though visually a knock-out, Denis Villeneuve's second instalment repeatedly sheds momentum, something no 166-minute epic can afford to lose."

The FT writes: "It may take five and a half hours for his character to truly come to life, but two films in, Chalamet’s evolution as Paul gives everything a center."

The NY Post writes: "Our blockbuster drought is over, thanks to a brilliant sequel set on a sweltering desert planet."

While The Telegraph adds; "The technology here is magic: something to be felt in your soul, not puzzled out in your head."

For those not clued up on the second instalment, the forthcoming release is based on the 1965 novel Dune by Frank Herbert.

The sequel follows Paul Atreides (Chalamet) and the Fremen as they fight to reclaim their land.

Catch Dune: Part 2 when it lands in cinemas on March 1, 2024.