I’m starting to believe that Sci-Fi stories should only be consumed on a screen. Not that I think that anyone should read the books anymore, but, considering that I have an ever-growing TBR list, this will be my choice from now on.

This is an adaptation from the novel written by Frank Herbert in the 1960s. We can all agree that this last movie is light years ahead in terms of visual effects from the first production directed by David Lynch in 1984.

It has already been said that Dune 2 is a masterpiece. The movie photography is breathtaking, especially the scenes with the sandworms. But is not only that. The carefully constructed world of the Dune universe – a feudal interstellar empire as people put it – is capable of taking you to another dimension.

I found the scenes with the Harkonnen especially impressive. Villeneuve and his team were able to make absolutely everything about that group despicable and disgusting, in a way I’ve never seen before. And yet, it’s also aesthetically pleasing in a weird way.

Another highlight of the plot for me is the Bene Gesserits. It’s invigorating to see a group of women on the screen with so much power. Especially in Sci-Fi, where well-rounded female characters tend to be rare. The downside is that one of the main goals of the sisterhood is to birth a man. But in the end, this is Sci-Fi written in the 60s, a genre that’s usually written by men, about men, to other men, so you can’t expect much in that department.

Doing a little bit of digging I found out that the Dune universe is way bigger than the Dune trilogy, at least in terms of timeline, encompassing books written after Frank Herbert died in 1986. His son, Brian Herbert, is responsible for the most recent titles, the latest ones being The Caladan Trilogy.

Here’s a list of all the titles, from Wikipedia:

This is a fascinating universe and as per usual, we’re all dying to see the next movie in the series. It has been confirmed that the script for Dune Part 3 (featuring the story in Dune Messiah) is almost finalized, but there’s no release date in sight. Some speculate that 2027 is the most likely year of release.

Meanwhile, we can extend a bit of the magic of this mega production by watching some YouTube-related content:

• A comparison between the movies of 2023 and 1984
• The Dark Truth Dune Part 2 Tells Us About Paul (& Maybe Ourselves)
• Top 10 Things Dune Parts One and Two Change From the Book
• The Dune Universe Timeline EXPLAINED