Timothée Chalamet in Dune Part 2 [Warner Bros]

DUNE: PART 2
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
Certificate: 12a
☆☆☆☆

SPECTACULAR-LOOKING and epic in the telling, this is a biblical piece of sci-fi escapism.

The second instalment of Denis Villeneuve’s masterful adaptation of Frank Herbert’s book creates a giant canvas, so vast that it squeezes the viewer so vigorously you just have to buy into the idea of this space world. That Dune relies on recognisable tropes – the baddies look like Nazis and hold Nuremberg-style rallies, the goodies a ragtag bunch of luck-riding rebels with love in their eyes – does not detract from the splendid leaps of imagination this film provides.

We meet Paul (Timothée Chamalet) hiding out with the Fremen tribes in the deserts of Arrakis, where the universe’s key natural product, Spice, is mined.

A royal by birth, his family have been usurped and destroyed.

Arrakis is under the yolk of the evil Harkonnens led by Baron (Stellan Skarsgård) and his odd nephews Beast Rabban (Dave Bautista) and Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler).

Paul is the chosen one, the returning Messiah – so many of the Fremen think. He has come to fulfil a prophecy and half of the Freman – the religious types – welcome him. Believer Stilgar (Javier Bardem) is Paul’s champion, reading every action as a sign.

Paul’s mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) has come with him and been inducted into a mysterious women-only religious order, further suggesting Paul is the chosen one.

He falls in love with Chani (Zendaya Coleman) and learns the ways of the desert, with clashes against the empire sucking the Spice out of the ground increasing until reaching its violent climax.

While Dune is a blemish-free watch, and a triumph of set design and special effects, there is an issue of engagement.

Gazing at the art of Villeneuve’s imagination is like going to a truly great contemporary art gallery, moving works influenced by the greatest proponent of modern sci-fi vibes, the great American painter John Berkey.

But signing up to watch a film isn’t the same as enjoying a great exhibition, and unless you are sold on the intergalactic politics that form Dune’s plot, you might find your mind wandering, and conjuring up questions such as if these future humans are so technologically advanced – and they have laser guns that cut massive spaceships in half – why do they still have sword fights?

Ignoring such minor quibbles, Dune: Part 2 is thoroughly good looking, its heroes are clearly defined and worth rooting for.