Dr Strange Multiverse of Madness - A Review
(wikipedia)
The weekend started early for me this week, and I spent some quality time last night in the movie theatre watching Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
I enjoy comic books, and I enjoy the movies that Marvel has been producing. I do not go to them looking to be enlightened, or for thoughtful dialogue or a cultural study of the human condition; instead, I go simply to be entertained.
The odd thing for me is that though I enjoy the movies, I do not particularly enjoy superhero comic books themselves. I find them, dare I say it, rather boring, anymore. When a particular hero, or group of heroes, has gone through a run of 500, 600, or more issues, what left is there to do? The enemies keep getting bigger and badder, and the heroes keep getting bigger and badder in turn. The love for me lies in non-Marvel and non-DC comics, particularly those that are of a limited run, and have a definite end to them, like any good story should.
Now, that said, this is about the Multiverse of Madness. I'm not so good at reviews, so I'll just summarise:
The beginning of the movie opened with <spoilers>. This led into <spoilers> at which point <spoilers> happened.
That was big, but the big surprise was <spoilers>! I'm glad I made a point of not looking up rumours, because when <spoilers> were shown it was a really nice surprise.
Of course the action was about non-stop, which is typical for a Marvel movie. What was different, however, was the horror aspect. When <spoilers> <spoiled> the <spoilers> I knew this was no normal superhero movie.
The movie ended with <spoiled> <spoilers>. It was a high point. The <spoilers> right at the end was a nice twist, which I did not see coming.
The final after credits scene had Bruce Campbell from Army of Darkness and cannot be missed.
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(c) Victor Wiebe
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I see the reviews are so so..I did expect more from Raimi. I haven't seen it yet, but if Ash makes a cameo, well...I'm sold!
Two cameos in fact! The first when he <spoilered> and the second in the post credits. It really was pretty cool.
It was a fun movie, at least. On the MCU scale it ranks above Iron Man 2 at any rate. I'm beginning to think that the MCU movies are now buckling under their own weight. The first ones were great because they were, literally, down to earth, and their was room for the characters - the people-behind-the-mask - to grow as people. Now it's seemingly all-cgi-action-all-the-time with little room for character arcs.
I wonder how much of that is coming from the interconnection with the Disney+ TV series now. Those 6 hours allow a lot more breathing room and character development and then the cinema entries are kind of the more shallow all action cgi fests you describe. Wanda certainly has a major arc she's gone through, and I think they did a good job giving Strange an arc by showcasing a very classic “tragic flaw” and his struggle against it. (Being vague of course for spoiler avoidance! 😆)
Agreed, wholeheartedly and completely. I have been loving the Disney+ series, in large part because they can be more personal and personable. I also think that Marvel set the bar with Iron Man 1 and Avengers 1, neither of which, for me, have been surpassed yet.
They have a very difficult job to make these movies to begin with, particularly with the different expectations of hundreds of millions of fans. I tip my hat to them for being able to continually entertain us.
I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised. I feel like some of the complaints are coming from people who either aren't familiar with or don't like Raimi's horror work. One repeated criticism is moviegoers saying parts were "cheesy," which may be true... but to me it was delightful, perfectly aged Raimi cheese!