Dune

- As far as I know this was originally planned to be 2 parts.
I feel like if WB would have/could have committed to this movie fully, they could've done a more fleshed out first part and make it a trilogy. Some depth was missing from characters, showing the overall situation and strength and wealth of the houses along with a small part of their history, the motivations and character of their leaders, the past and present of these characters and so on, more world building in general, more context... I know who is who and what is what because I read the books/seen the previous film, played the games, and so on. The most needed basics were shown or mentioned in VO yes, but without prior knowledge it might feel confusing or weird. I'm sure I'll have to explain some of the context to the missus when we watch it together cos she doesn't know much about Dune apart from that she got bored and slept through the previous movie.For example, remember how it's like the last 5 minutes that we are told, not shown, that House Atreides is the strongest mofo in the club? Yet they just got their ass handed to them by supposedly smaller weaker forces? Yeah, that line should've been in the first 5 minutes and backed up with some sort of imagery. Show life in the palace on Dune, Paul's day in a short montage kinda thing to show him training, learning, getting a background to support his increasing balls so when it gets to it, we understand why he is not a weekling anymore and can beat the shit out of his opponent confidently, because last time we saw him he got beaten instantly by Gurney...
Things like this could have added more depth and interest to it and would have explained some things that might seem inconsistent otherwise I think. Yeah, dumb it down in a sense, just a bit to make it more palatable to the majority so it can gather a larger following. The importance of Dune and spice itself was made clear in only a single sentence. Yeah okay I get it, but it doesn't let it sink in how infinitely important it is to the workings of the whole civilization! It's important, bam, next important scene with important thing happening. Yeah, they had to cut it down short, but that's why I think there would have been room for a trilogy maybe?
- Cutting the whole shebang after the tent scene when they are found. Make it 2 hours ish long, slightly over if neccesary, and make it 3 parts. But for that to happen, WB would've had to commit to it... Is there enough to make this 3 parts, (edit: without Messiah)? I imagine next part would be loosing Duncan, a little bit deeper dive into what is happening with the fremen, water under the planet and their weeding operation, awekening (where this one ends), training and whatever, becoming muad dib, fremen life and shit with "meanwhile in Russia Harkonnen Land/imps/witches" parts breaking up the monotone of the desert. Last part would be "return of the king" and finishing the main quest, and whatever else happens in the books, I can't really remember, you guys can figure this out way better then I do
- on the other hand, my fear is now we might end up with another two parts instead of the originally imagined one part, cos WB can smell the money. But just making the originally planned content of part2 drag out longer. I just hope we don't end up with another Hobbit...

Just read what @Aramsolari above wrote about Messiah being the third part, so ignore my above speculation about trilogy.

- the closeup on the landing-leg on the envoy's ship looked like the worst CGI I've seen in years. Plain default black metal texture stargiht from textures.com on an almost featureless bog standard boxy claw shape. WTF... (sorry, it's just my job talking lol) Also there was a shot of the desert in certain light that looked fake as hell. I know from experience that it's way more tricky to render photoreal dunes than it sounds like, but damn that sucked for such an awesome looking movie. Otherwise it was all beautifull!

- The Ending: a lot of ppl criticize it that there was no big 15 minute CGI explosion orgasm at the end, but I feel like it was perfectly good there. This isn't a marvel movie, appreciate it for what it is. I felt like even the sandworm rider was a bit out of place, just chucked in there cos it looked cool and cost a lot of money to make.
This was a nice full arc, now on to the next questchain. BUT

- the last fight was choregraphed well, fast, brutal, as it should be! No dancing around for ages and fancy twirling swords for minutes like in SW. But I couldn't enjoy it at all, because the cinematography was utter shite! Too short cuts, and very disorienting, ya can't see shit most of the time. Just by wildly flailing the camera and cutting every 10 frames, you won't make it feel more dramatic! (recently just look at John Wick for reference, the slow moving camera and longer shots, yet utter brutality and speed conveyed, a dance of death which you can follow and feel and appreciate. Or maybe even more fitting here, the bus scene from Nobody! )
The most basic rules of good fight scenes were skipped and stepped over. Like the line between the two fighters, which you DO NOT EVER cut over in a close-up shot! This means both the line connecting them and perpendicular of it! If your character A is on the right in the first shot facing away from the camera, he HAS to be on the right in the next shot as well facing away from the camera, especially if you are cutting so fast and so zoomed in. Do Not Cross The FUCKING Line without a transition and do not do a 180 when you show it for less than a full second! You can ofc transition sides, but not by jump cutting to an entirely different close up shot! You can't place them, you as the viewer have no context as to who is where, what position they are in, and when it's so poorly lit and they are dressed so similarly (two grey-brown blobs on screen), it just doesn't follow! If you do a 180 at least keep it consistent and stay behind the same shoulder and give us a second to comprehend that we have skipped sides! Put something consistent in the background if you have to so we have a referrnce point! Many many ways in which this could have been way more dramatic if only we could see anything!
Then there's the framing. You see Pauls hair filling one frame (supposed to be his face but it's just a black blur), the back of their identical colored suits blurred, their faces coming blurred towards the camera for 5 frames, and that's it. The hands!!! It's a knife fight!!! Where the fuck were their hands??! Out of the frame that's where!! WTF??? You cannot convey the physicality of the fight without seeing the hits! It's like all the hits and their reactions were cut, and we are left with the inbetween movement. Which again, could be great, if only it would last more than half a second so we could see some bloody emotions!

TLDR: I get it, the director wanted this to be dramatic fight not a physical fight, a fight of characters not weapons, with their faces conveying lots of emotions, not your standard full body framed shots of just two guys beating each other. But it doesn't work if all you can see is half a seconds of fucking motion blur!
I wouldn't care if this was just a meaningless rando vs hero fight. But it's the only important fight in the whole movie really apart from Duncan's fight, which was done waaaay better just like 15 minutes before that. This is the protagonist's most important moment in the whole film, his awakening! What a waste...

- not a critique really, but the 'thopters design still makes no practical sense, especially when you even have personal scale levitation devices lol. Otherwise it's friggin sweet, and I NEEEED one on my desk STAT!

- DUNCAN's BEARD!! NOOOOOOOOO!