Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

It’s quite... Well... Ordinary. The plot is fine, although if I had seen WandaVision I would have found my way to it faster and wouldn't have had to wait for the film to explain what it was all about. But that doesn't hide the biggest problem. Most of the new Doctor Strange felt “meh”. The new young character wasn't properly introduced, she was just there and everything started to revolve around her. Strange and Wong have abilities more like Green Lanterns than the mystics from the first movie, that semi-camp atmosphere that Sam Raimi had in his Spiderman movies doesn't suit Strange either in my opinion, every now and then something happens just because someone thought it was a good idea to make it happen, but it doesn't make much sense... And the horror, which sometimes really reigns supreme, is again – unfortunately – balanced by not very good jokes. And then there's the multiverse, which I had so many hopes for, but which is hardly used at all! The characters can theoretically jump from one world to another, but they spend most of the film in two, and the one in which the expected cameos take place (which are also no big deal) is quite boring and differs mainly because it switches to red. For example, Avengers: Endgame used time travel a hundred times more imaginatively. It’s a shame. I watched Strange's first film a few days before going to the cinema and liked it much better. PS: Danny Elfman didn't really pull it off either, because he uses Giacchino's great motif, but his own music is not very interesting. PPS: I don't think Strange has much to envy Black Widow's solo outing, and it's certainly no worse than the recent Morbius, so I'm quite curious to see how the critics will handle it :) (04/05/2022)

A playful, but rather oversimplified sequel to the story about an arrogant surgeon who turned his hand to magic takes us to other worlds, but also into his subversive inner self. During the opening of the movie, Raimi came up with a surprise parallel on the west Russian conflict, and also with an ending involving a demonic resurrection and all-in-all inconsistent storytelling. The second Strange would have benefitted from about a half hour extra to give Raimi the chance to give the multiverse a good long cuddle and also give the sub-stories the chance to take off a bit. I don’t believe that Waldron’s screenplay was to blame; this is more like studio intervention to bring the running time down to a more sensible length. The guest appearances are fine as a whole, but I’m not at all thrilled about one choice by casting department, so that means minus one point. The horror make-up is awesome (eyeballs dropping out of sockets!), but rotting cadavers, impressive deaths and pieces of body dropping off indicate that Disney is willing to turn a blind eye occasionally and please orthodox fans with a bit of gore. But will it be enough? Are you happy? (04/05/2022)

Somewhere in the multiverse, there's a better movie version of Doctor Strange. Marvel is fading and you can feel it. Spiderman was still a cool coda for the Avengers), but Black Widow and The Eternals are just mediocre concoctions in my opinion, and so far it doesn't look like it's going to get better in the future. In contrast hand DC with Suicide Squad 2 and The Batman are on a better path. Personally I wasn't too happy with the first Doctor Strange either and was hoping the second would grab me more due to the horror feel and multiverse madness. It's a hair better, but as a whole still not entirely satisfying. The performances are fine, Benedict Cumberbatch does his thing, Elizabeth Olsen is probably the best thing about the film, and the new character of America Chavez unfortunately didn't impress me much. Visually the film is without a doubt solid (although some of the CGI craziness was a bit not- so eye candy for me), the action again is not much but it is shot decently (the duel with the music was very original and imaginative, the Illuminati, the opening fight with the demon and the jump through different worlds was visually great). The humor is completely absent and the cameos seemed a bit unnecessary. In a few scenes you could even tell that Sam Raimi was directing the film (references to Evil Dead, the demon scene, a couple of jump-scares and one badass action sequence). Story-wise, the film doesn't have much to surprise, it lacks proper fatality and the MCU is not really moving anywhere unfortunately. Personally, I was hoping for more insanity in the multiverse, it's surprisingly not used that often and when it is it only gets interesting towards the end. I have nothing downright bad against the film, I enjoyed it, it goes by quickly, but I have no desire to watch it again. The trailer for Avatar 2, however, is amazing Story 3/5. Action 4/5, Humor 1/5, Violence 2/5, Fun 4/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 3/5, Emotion 2/5, Actors 4/5. 6/10. (05/05/2022)

I'd say the new Doctor Strange film is extremely big-headed, in every way. Ever since the announcement, they've been trying to promote how groundbreaking it will be by making it the first "Marvel horror movie", but holy crap, I have no idea why they would even want to say that. Overall, I have mixed feelings because the bad wasn't outright bad, but the negatives probably outweigh the positives, and I simply can't be fully satisfied. A lot of things don't make sense, and they break the rules as they see fit (one minute the main villain has a problem with several apprentices, and then the next minute she's crushing the most powerful five heroes // nonsensical use of abilities // in one scene she's flying and in another she's limping slowly, but she just won't use flying - and these are just a few of the many glaring things). There's no time for dialogue, and no time for emotion, so there's a rushed jumping from scene to scene with only terse sentences that just come across as awful, and in a field of only two hours, the film is just insanely rushed and would have been better suited to a slower series. Motivations and character development are leaps and bounds transformations that don't feel consistent and the multiverse itself is also without rules, allowing the filmmakers to do and make up whatever they want, from all sorts of new variations on old characters to bizarre worlds to comically laugh-inducing scenes in the cinema. In the end, it's just a terribly weird-looking affair that still has its quality, but when I ask myself "Where have we come since The Avengers?", I find that I've grown very uncomfortable with the MCU's development, and it looks like it's heading into a very big mess that's going to be very hard to climb out of. (07/05/2022)

“The most horror Marvel movie” tag is about as meaningful as “the hottest ice-cream”. Sure, the second Doctor Strange isn't as funny as, say, the latest Thor or Guardians of the Galaxy, but it won’t make your stomach churn, so to speak. While there is a Sam Raimi feel to it at times, I personally was hoping for a wilder, bolder, and well, crazier ride with a film subtitled "in the multiverse of madness", but it sticks within the safe confines of harmless fun and classic Marvel template. And it's a shame, because the potential was immeasurable and for the first time in a while Marvel could have operated with a non-generic "new" villain (clearly the film's strongest point). On a scene-by-scene level, it's occasionally great (Raimi's directorial input), too bad it's not supported by a more polished script. (05/05/2022)