Dragon’s Review: Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness

The 28th Film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness is A-LOT!  Alot of action, alot of new characters, and alot of visual effects, both good and bad.

My general rules of thumb for NON-spoiler reviews — anything in the trailers, or in the first 20ish minutes is fair game.  HOWEVER, this film is so bazaar, so spoiler-filled from the get-go, there will be much more of a qualitative review than a quantitative one.

The Plot – Multiverse Of Madness

A new character runs for their life.  The character runs so hard and so fast, the boundaries between universal realities break.

The only defender the newcomer has against our unseen enemy is Doctor Strange…  And Doctor Strange…  And, Doctor Strange!

The Good – Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness

Wong

Benedict Wong returns to Doctor Strange, still the second highest billed ‘Benedict’, and the only actor playing a character sharing his own last name.

The character of Wong received a promotion to Sorcerer Supreme between Avengers movies, and revealed the promotion in Spider-Man: No Way Home.  Now, we finally see Wong in his element in charge of his fellow sorcerers, and in one of the most kickass fight scenes of Phase 4.

Visual Effects

The Action scenes in Multiverse Of Madness were particularly strong, using moves and skills specific to each character, and how the skills are used.  As I mentioned above, Wong had a great first action scene/character introduction. We see just the developed of his fighting skills, and why he became the Sorcerer Supreme.

In previous movies when we’ve seen Wong fight, the scene are not as well thought out, and more generic fighting skills.  During End Game, Wong’s fighting skills blended into the background and weren’t much different than the other sorcerers in the final battle versus Thanos.

In Multiverse Of Madness, Wong is spinning all over the place and using new spells/skills never seen in previous movies.  The same can be said about Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange in their fighting skills reaching new levels of creativity as well as power.

The Bad – Multiverse Of Madness

Visual Effects

I don’t know the precise number of Visual Effects shot in Doctor Strange 2, but it feels like virtually every shot in this film has a Visual Effects element to it.   And, that resulting huge number of shots made quality control/consistency difficult to maintain throughout the film.

Like all MCU movies, if you stay until the end of the credits, you can easily see how many different Visual Effects/CGI companies work on Marvel movies.  It is a testament to Marvel Studios and these contractors working so closely together that we generally don’t see a change in quality and consistency between these disparate companies’ work product.

HOWEVER, in Doctor Strange 2, I believe there were so many shots being farmed out to so many different companies, that I could see marked differences in shot quality and style throughout this film.  When watching the film for the first time, one can easily see the changes in style of shots, as well as color grading from scene to scene.

I chalk it up to this film being so much more colorful than the rest of the film, with Doctor Strange himself having several different costume changes/looks, that maintaining a consistent look between all the different companies was hard to maintain.

Director Sam Raimi

While I love Director Sam Raimi as a whole, especially his work on Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 (purposefully omitting Spider-Man 3 here); I expected more from an experienced Director of his clout, and his expertise in the horror genre.

The style and feel of this film vary wildly throughout, and the pacing rushes throughout. We get very little time to absorb a scene, before the next one starts.

In order to fit three different Earths from across the multiverse into a film just a shade over two hours in length, it feels like so much of the character development I wanted to see in this film was left out.  Without the time to focus on the characters motivations and emotions, the ‘Why’ for much of this film feels lost.

Christine Palmer/Rachel McAdams

I love Rachel McAdams, and I have ZERO issues with how she portrays the role of Dr. Christine Palmer.  I do, however, have major issues with the character utilization in both the first Doctor Strange movie, and this sequel six years later.

I realize Marvel movies have a certain formula to them. And, that the vast majority of Marvel movies have male superheroes as the main character.  Plus, the most effective way to introduce more female characters has been to reduce the female lead to love interest.

Ostensibly, Christine Palmer’s purpose as the love interest of Doctor Strange in the first film failed.  Anyone who’s seen the movie can clearly tell the romantic angle of that relationship receives little more than lip service.

To revisit the idea of romantic feelings in this film, is a major error in this film.  Yes, the HOW of how romantic feelings between the two can theoretically be explained away, but it feels so forced/shoehorned into the story, the believability of the entire film’s story itself is called into question.

Without giving away spoilers, I’ll just say that revisiting this relationship is dishonest to the characters’ portrayal in the original. And, it feels uncomfortable to the actors themselves.  Stephen Strange and Christine Palmer in the MCU is not a romantic coupling. And, forcing a re-visit of that element feels just wrong.

This is not a critique of Benedict Cumberbatch and Rachel McAdams acting skills or performances, this is totally on the Director and Producers of this film.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The Review – Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness

Doctor Strange 2 is a fun and fast paced action movie, worthy of inclusion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — even if I rank it in the lower third of MCU movies.

The ‘Horror’ elements advertised and rumored to be in this film are surprisingly not at the heart of this film.  Yes, there are horror elements, but the multiverse and action elements are much more at the center of this film.

The closest analogue in terms of doing a ‘different’ or specific genre style film in the MCU is Thor: Ragnarok — NOT in a ‘horror’ style of filmmaking, but in highly stylized Directorial vision.  However, Multiverse Of Madness falls flat in ‘going for it’.

By dialing back on the horror elements and opting for a straight ahead film style, something was lost.  If Thor: Ragnarok had been less stylized, less weird, less Jeff Goldblum-y; it would not have been as well received.

Doctor Strange 2 represents what Thor 3 COULD have been — good, but not great.  And, kind of forgettable, despite being visually stunning.

Speaking of visuals, there are so many visual effects/CGI shots being created by different companies in this film, the consistency of quality suffers.  Different styles of animation and color grading can clearly be seen throughout. This is unlike any other Marvel movie I can think of — in a bad way.

Also, the pressure to reduce the runtime of the film is so forced, you can feel where the character moments of the film should have been.  Instead, we get 126 minutes of filmmaking so tightly packed, the action never stops. And it doesn’t give you time to absorb what just happened.  Think Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet’.

Absolutely worth watching in the theater, but not particularly memorable or emotionally satisfying.

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