One thing you can say for both these films, and maybe especially the second one - they have a vibe. They work as spectacle, which is to say that the visuals are spectacular and coherent with the tone and substance of the film as a whole (emotionally, narratively, thematically), so these movies unquestionably work on that level. Despite that though, and for all of the hefty thematic throughlines - colonialism and empire, religion and cultism, white saviourism, and their intersections - I can't shake a faint feeling of dissatisfaction. I'm not sure whether that's because these films partially (and deliberately) deny us the pleasures of conventional closure, there's a thinness in their story and characterisation, or both.
