I felt a kind of hollowness when I finished Dune. Oddly enough, I’m speaking about my experience with both the novel by Frank Herbert and Dune Part 2 from director Denis Villeneuve. Perhaps that means that it was a faithful adaptation of the beloved science-fiction classic.

I have mixed feelings. Spoilers follow. Let’s start with . . .

The Good

The film is absolutely gorgeous. It’s one that you really must see on the biggest, best screen you can find, preferably in a theater with really great sound. The seats were shaking at some points. There is so much spectacle here, it’s a little overwhelming at times. And it’s all so well-crafted. Other than the lack of sweat—still odd for such a hot planet—Arrakis feels real and we see much more of it this time around.

The brief, horrific scenes of the Harkonnen home planet of Giedi Prime are some of the best in the film. The arena fight with Feyd-Rautha (played by an albino-ized version of Austin Butler doing his level best to imitate Stellan Skarsgard’s gravelly Baron Harkonnen) was almost entirely devoid of color, creating the most uncanny sense of dread. Apparently this was shot with infrared cameras. Cinematographer Greig Fraser does some truly incredible work here. It’s quite striking.

The film’s aesthetic is superb and distinct and feels more fleshed out than the first film—from the Bene Gesserit in their veils to the masked bodyguards in the arena with Feyd-Rautha. Costume and set design goes above and beyond, giving us a fully realized, wholly unique and immersive sense of place throughout the film, whether in the deserts of Arrakis or the green gardens of the Padishah Emperor.