That’s how it’s done. After joining the nomadic Fremen and taking his place as their reluctant messiah to tap into new powers drawn from the planet Arrakis itself, Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) takes the fight to the murderous Harkonnens and the paranoid Emperor (Christopher Walken) who engineered his family’s downfall. Book purists might decry the omission of some characters and scenes but Denis Villeneuve delivers on all the moments that matter and then some. He also packs his spice-rich world with satisfying little details like the lengths to which the Fremen will go to preserve water and the cultural differences between the Great Houses of the Imperium. It’s all impeccably performed, meticulously crafted and, credit to masterful cinematographer Greig Fraser, even more visually stunning than the first film, with Paul’s sandworm-riding trial and the introduction to the depraved Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler) in the Harkonnen arena shot entirely with infrared cameras being particular highlights. SSP