Dune 2 Isn't Denis Villeneuve's Best Sci-Fi Movie According To Rotten Tomatoes

"Dune: Part Two" hit theaters at the beginning of March, and it was immediately apparent that acclaimed director Denis Villeneuve had yet another hit on his hands. Still, it's not his highest-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes, despite overwhelmingly positive reviews for "Dune: Part Two" from critics — and it's not even his highest-rated science fiction film. That honor goes to Villeneuve's 2016 film "Arrival."

"Blade Runner 2049," another sci-fi flick from Villeneuve, didn't fare too badly on the aggregator, earning a healthy 88% critical rating. (For contrast, Villeneuve's first "Dune" movie only scored an 83% rating.) "Dune: Part Two" is definitely sitting pretty with 93%, but "Arrival," released almost a decade before the "Dune" sequel, takes the edge with 94%. 

It remains to be seen whether or not "Dune: Part Two" will be a major part of the next awards circuit — though it's expected to be a major competitor thanks to its astounding design, effects, and central performances — but until there's any movement on that front, "Arrival" also has the distinction of being nominated for Best Picture. (It lost twice, sort of — first mistakenly to "La La Land" and then correctly to "Moonlight.") So why is "Arrival" still Villeneuve's most critically beloved film, and could a future "Dune" film oust it from the top spot?

What makes "Arrival" — which, like the "Dune" films, is an adaptation and is based on a short story by Ted Chiang titled "Story Of Your Life" — so special that it ousted "Dune: Part Two" for the top Rotten Tomatoes spot? "Arrival" might be a massive Best Picture nominee and a science-fiction movie about aliens communicating with planet Earth, but it's also a deeply felt, moving story about a mother grieving the loss of her daughter.

After linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams, who was, astonishly, not nominated for Best Actress that year) loses her daughter Hannah to a terminal illness, she's asked for her help by the US Army after alien airships start trying to communicate with humans. Alongside a physicist named Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), Louise is able to decipher the alien language, using whiteboards to communicate with them, but she starts having intense, overwhelming visions of Hannah any time she speaks with the aliens. Meanwhile, the Army grows suspicious of the aliens when Louise reports that they used a word that could mean "weapon," though Louise insists that the aliens don't mean harm.

The way that VDenis illeneuve intertwines Louise's larger mission and her grief for her child is brilliant, and if you haven't seen "Arrival," we wouldn't dare to spoil it here. Still, it's not a huge surprise that it's Villeneuve's biggest sci-fi critical darling to date.

If Denis Villeneuve decides to try and out-do himself with "Dune: Messiah" — the expected third installment in the "Dune" series — it's quite possible that it could surge ahead of "Arrival" and become the director's best-rated science fiction film. Based on where "Dune: Part Two" left off, a third film will be pretty action-packed. After Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) accepts his dubious role as Lisan al Gaib, the long-rumored messiah to the Fremen people of Arrakis, he becomes fully drunk with power, declaring a holy war and demanding the hand of Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) in marriage. His speech at the end of "Dune: Part Two" is frightening in its intensity, and a third film could make it abundantly clear that Paul might be the protagonist of "Dune," but he's certainly not the hero.

We may be waiting a while, though. Not only did Villeneuve say he's planning to take plenty of time between "Dune: Part Two" and a potential third film, but he also said he had a huge condition for making the film in the first place. "If we go back, it needs to be real, it needs to be relevant, if ever I do 'Dune Messiah,' [it will be] because it's going to be better than 'Part Two,'" Villeneuve told Empire. "Otherwise, I don't do it." If "Dune: Messiah" does ever get going, it definitely could prove to be Villeneuve's biggest critical hit yet.

"Dune: Part Two" is in theaters now.