If Denis Villeneuve’s first foray into the high space fantasy world of Arrakis was enough to convince us that Frank Herbert’s “unfilmable” Dune series could be successfully translated for the screen, Dune: Part Two is a follow-up that proves he has once again upped the bar on what sci-fi cinema can be.

Dune: Part Two is more breathless and bold than its predecessor, but also more assured. Where Part One lingered over details of diplomacy, identity and environment to deliver a Herculean amount of world building within an involved narrative, Dune: Part Two launches into deeper lore, propulsive action and sweeping implications. It also finds space for unexpected humor, and even a few moments of genuine horror as its characters become more lived in.

We rejoin Paul Atreides in the vast deserts of Arrakis, fresh off the death of his father and his life as he knew it, on the precipice of a journey that will put him on a collision course with fate. Or is it destiny? Or is it prophecy? One of the things Villeneuve’s adaptation does best is capture the wildly different perspectives of the prophecy and rumors that follow Paul. Is he the promised Lisan al-Gaib? His father’s son? A leader? A false prophet? The questions around the nature of not only his abilities but his belonging give a profoundly human edge to the Chosen One trope. It instills in the film a real measure of international and culture conflict — a breathtaking narrative achievement that is only enhanced by the ramp up of the Harkonnen arc.

Growling and flexing in stark opposition to Paul’s whispery and tentative rise among the Fremen (even with his mother’s ascension to Reverend Mother among their ranks bolstering his legend) is the sadistic Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler), heir apparent to House Harkonnen and their increasingly not subtle schemes. Where Villeneuve is content to let us stew in the nuances of Paul’s journey, he leaves no room for doubt where the Harkonnens are concerned. Shot and presented in stark black and white with visuals that cannot help but draw comparison to Nazi Germany, the Harkonnens grow bigger, badder and more sinister the more we know them. Much thanks here is down to the physicality of Butler’s performance. His gutteral tonal delivery gives him the sound of a Skarsgaard to compound the sharp look of his physique. He plays Feyd-Rautha as the weapon the Bene Gesserit intended him to be, and it works beautifully.

And speaking of the Bene Gesserit, Rebecca Ferguson’s Lady Jessica has a transformation to match her son’s in this film, and not in a subplot, “that happened” kind of way, but in an uncomfortable march that mirrors Paul’s own fraught journey to power. It is this, perhaps, that makes the film so effective. In this push to conclude the events in Herbert’s hefty novel, Villeneuve places us at the point of intersection for the film’s many players in a way that feels not forced, but inevitable. Of course, the Bene Gesserit meddling will force some kind of resolve between the last hope of House Atredies and the dark future of House Harkonnen. Of course, the Emperor’s own machinations to stay in power will prompt others to consider how they can wrest it from him — and that’s to say nothing of his own’s daughter’s doubts about his choices. Of course, the promise of a legendary messiah has the Fremen seeking answers and absolution. Of course.

Villeneuve’s carefully woven tapesty is absorbing, epic in scale and masterfully executed. That this review has scarcely acknowledge that he assembles a who’s who of young Hollywood mainstays and gives every one of them a whole box of toys to play with speaks volumes. In this Dune, everything, everywhere, all at once is an absolute cinematic feast. What Zendaya communicates with a look, the way Villeneuve renders stunning visual after stunning visual, the fact that Florence Pugh’s Princess Irulan has a presence of character the moment we see her on screen, the way the narrative manages to tell Herbert’s story and ground it in the most troubling developments in our world — all of it is craft of the highest order. The only shame will be if Villeneuve isn’t given the chance to finish the trilogy he’s imagined since the beginning of this journey.