I really liked the first movie, but I'm conflicted about this one. I really liked the first half, how Paul was defiant of the whole Messiah thing and seemed to genuinely want to help the Fremen in their struggle against the empire for freedom. I was genuinely surprised because I didn't expect that from the story.
Then he takes the baby worm juice, and now he's fully embracing the whole religious figure thing, is taking center stage in the Fremen struggle and is even using his family/house colonialist crest as a flag.
I thought it was gonna deconstruct the whole white savior trope, but then it ends reinforcing it? That's weird.
To be fair tho, he's being pragmatic since he can now see whole timelines of possible futures and is doing what he needs to assure it reaches the timeline where they are successful.
Well, at least I'm interested to see where it goes. Showing them resisting against the Harkonnen colonizer fucks was great tho lol.
I don't think it's the white saviour trope, Frank Herbert was very clear about it. Paul is to be seen as a villain who exploited the Fremen's religious beliefs for personal gain. It will make more sense in Part 3 but in general, Paul himself is not fond of the religious fervor he awoke in the Fremen and led them into the Jihad. The next 3 books are amazing because they emphasize on how Paul and his son were a curse on the Fremen rather than Messiahs.
Plus Paul taking the Worm Juice makes him millions of people at once. He can see the future as well. The loss of empathy is understandable.
Also just remembered that according to Paul, the Jihad was inevitable from the moment he and Jessica met the Fremen after escaping from Arrakeen. Also in the book, the Saudukar were committing genocide against the Fremen which gave them no choice but to fight back.
I don't think the movie emphasized on a lot of these details.
yeah theres just way too many forces making the jihad happen, maybe, Paul could avoid the conflict if he was the kwisatz earlier and could see more of the future, but by the time everything happens its just going to result in the deaths of billions.