'It's pure cinema': James Cameron praises Dune: Part Two

James Cameron has hailed 'Dune: Part Two' as "pure cinema".

The 'Titanic' filmmaker was very impressed by Denis Villeneuve's sequel - the highest-grossing film of 2024 so far - and he believes that the 'Sicario' director has been far more faithful to Frank Herbert's 1965 novel with his movies than David Lynch was in his "disappointing" 1984 picture.

Speaking to the French publication Le Figaro, James said: "David Lynch's adaptation was disappointing. It was missing the power of Herbert's novel.

"Villeneuve's films are much more convincing. The characters are sketched out, they are very identifiable. It's pure cinema. I speak regularly to Denis, filmmaker to filmmaker. We record our conversations, like (Francois) Truffaut and (Alfred) Hitchcock."

Cameron, 69, is the latest esteemed director to laud 'Dune: Part Two' after Steven Spielberg recently described the epic as one of the best sci-fi films he has ever seen.

The iconic moviemaker - who has helmed classics including 'E.T. The Extra Terrestrial' - told Villeneuve on DGA's 'Director's Cut' podcast: "It's an honour for me to sit here and talk to you.

"This is truly a visual epic, and it’s also filled with deeply, deeply drawn characters.

"Yet the dialogue is very sparse when you look at it proportionately to the running time of the film. It’s such cinema. The shots are so painterly, yet there’s not an angle or single setup that’s pretentious … you have made one of the most brilliant science fiction films I have ever seen."

Spielberg even went as far as describing his contemporary as one of the greatest directors in the history of Hollywood.

The 'Jaws' helmer explained: "Let me start by saying there are filmmakers who are the builders of worlds. It’s not a long list and we know who a lot of them are. Starting with [Georges] Melies and [Walt] Disney and [Stanley] Kubrick, George Lucas. Ray Harryhausen I include in that list.

"[Federico] Fellini built his own worlds. Tim Burton. Obviously Wes Anderson, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Guillermo del Toro. The list goes on but it’s not that long of a list, and I deeply, fervently believe that you are one of its newest members."