In hindsight, it may have actually been better for this film to not have been shot back-to-back with the original, because it probably gave Villeneuve enough time to recalibrate the direction of his trilogy. Not only to address criticisms about the first film's visuals feeling perhaps a little too monotone, but perhaps to better align itself with the psychedelic vibe of the source novel.

And you can tell right from the very first action scene where Paul's band of Fremen rebels ambushes a Harkonnen battalion that this is a much different beast than the film that first graced cinema screens (and HBO Max) less than three years prior. It probably shouldn't come as much of a surprise since most of the politicking by this point had already happened in the first half of the story. And that this film is far more focused on Paul's insurgency against not only the Harkonnens, but against the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. Though, that isn't to say that no one does any scheming or that these centuries-old schemes don't play a significant role. After all it's through Lady Jessica's efforts that the Bene Gesserit plan to have the Fremen believe her son is the Lisan Al-Gaib (as well as her own gamble that he will become the Kwisatz Haderach) that Paul is eventually put on the path to challenge the Emperor himself. Even if he is initially reluctant to do so on of the billions of lives that his premonitions tell him will be lost if he does embark on this holy war, fate has a way of forcing people's hands. Whether that be in the form of religious fanatics eager for a messiah or of a psychopathic fief like Feyd-Rautha. It's telling then, that Paul its that the only way that the Atreides bloodline manages to endure this struggle, that he and Jessica must 'become Harkonnens.'

All this is to say nothing about how much more visually striking this film is compared to it's predecessor! I bring up the first action scene before since it felt like the closest approximation that this film has gotten to feeling like a direct translation of the book covers from original printings. Even if it does eventually snap back to the more grounded aesthetic established in the first film, this sporadic visual experimentation undertaken by Villeneuve feels like a good sign of things to come. Provided of course, that he does eventually take on an adaptation of Dune: Messiah as his final bout in this universe.