Variety Critic's Pick: 'Dune: Part Two' Review Praises Chalamet, Zendaya and Villeneuve's Scale
- Peter Debruge of Variety gives 'Dune: Part Two' a Critic's Pick review, calling it a graduation from the 2021 original's world-building into a fuller narrative
- The film picks up after a genocide of House Atreides, opening with Princess Irulan (new character, played by Florence Pugh), daughter of Emperor Christopher Walken
- The story centers on whether Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides is the true messiah (Kwisatz Haderach) or a manufactured prophecy engineered by the Bene Gesserit
- Denis Villeneuve works with composer Hans Zimmer again and treats the film as a theatrical-only event, unlike the first film's day-and-date HBO Max release
- Villeneuve has hinted he wants to make a third installment if 'Part Two' earns enough at the box office