Dune Part Two is the best SF film in 20 years and people are being weirdly cagey about it

I've been reading responses to Dune Part Two and there's a strange reluctance among film critics to fully commit to how good it is. You get 'impressive' and 'visually stunning' but rarely 'this is a masterpiece.' My take: Villeneuve has done something genuinely difficult — adapted a novel whose central theme is the danger of charismatic leadership and messianic myth, without softening that critique, in a blockbuster format. The film actively asks you to resist the hero arc that Hollywood and the novel's surface mechanics are selling you. Chani's arc, largely invented for the film, is the key. Her refusal is the thesis statement. The fact that Paul wins and we're supposed to feel uncomfortable about it is the whole point. The cinematography is obviously extraordinary but that's been noted. The less-discussed element is the sound design — the Fremen scenes in silence before the battle drum enters is some of the best audio storytelling since Arrival.