Hrmm… good question. It’s been a minute since I’ve seen it so my specific feelings are getting a little hazy at this point. I do agree the first was a better film but this one still lives large in my mind. I think it comes down to combination of elements that made it a fulfilling theater experience. The incredible sandworm riding, particularly the first time Paul is attempting to do it, beautiful imagery of the solders running up a hill side and just start levitating up the mountain, the incredible soundtrack and overall soundscape for that matter, the stark black and white world where we meet Feyd-Rautha in the gladiator ring.

I think the movie would’ve benefitted from being split in two but as a couple hours in the theater I got the spectacle I went in for.