Let's face it; the main reason any of us wanted to see this movie was for the introduction of Professor X, Reed Richards and Blackbolt into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We do get about 20 minutes of them along with a Maria Rambeau Captain Marvel and the Peggy Carter Captain America. It's about 15 minutes more than I expected based on other big multiverse team-ups. (I'm looking at you Arrowverse!) But that big 'reveal' just wasn't enough to make this Doctor Strange sequel all that watchable.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness does introduce viewers to modern superhero America Chavez. Her ability to transverse alternate worlds is the catalyst of the majority of this film's plot. Someone with unspeakable power wants America so that they can travel freely throughout the multiverse. But in able to harness that power, America Chavez must die. That's something Stephen Strange and Sorcerer Supreme Wong will risk their lives to prevent. And with Wanda Maximoff on their side, they just might very well stop this force of evil. That is unless there's a traitor in their midst.
With a title like 'Multiverse of Madness', I was expecting quite a few multiverses. I was hoping to maybe visit the Marvel 2099 reality and maybe see some Agents of SHIELD. Yet, with exception of one scene that is rapid fire, there's very few multiverses being traveled too.
The first Doctor Strange film really ignited my passion to read through the earliest comics to star the Sorcerer Supreme. That means I've read a lot of Doctor Strange over the past 6 years. This movie just didn't feel like a Doctor Strange movie to me. But it is very much a Marvel movie and it's got the director's fingerprints all over it!
Sam Raimi was behind the camera for this movie. Raimi is no stranger to Marvel films, having directed the first three Spider-Man features. But those are Sony pictures and this is Disney. Yet, there's a lot of blood, gore and demons spilling over into almost every scene of this motion picture. Such stuff is what Raimi cut his teeth on with his Evil Dead series of horror comedies. That army of damned souls look like they were borrowed from Army of Darkness and there's another Raimi staple in the mix with a cameo by the Man himself, Bruce Campbell. Though can anybody tell me where brother Ted Raimi (Xena: Warrior Princess) is hiding in the multiverse? Cause I didn't see him!
I don't think having Sam Raimi as the director is what put me off major parts of this movie. Though seeing a bunch of characters with their heads explode was a little off-putting. I don't think Uncle Walt would approve of that. Not having seen WandaVision isn't an excuse that I buy either cause I followed things quite well. I just felt that this movie really dragged along at a snail's pace and this whole thing could've been resolved in about 30 minutes. Not the 2 plus hours of run time!
Another issue I had was with the character America Chavez. I thought the actress playing America was really good. I had no issues with the character's LGBTQ background. My whole thing was her appearance. I've only encountered the character in a handful of books. But she's always seemed to be a more body positive character like Valiant's Faith. Yet, actress Xochitl Gomez (The Baby-Sitters Club) is rail thin. Shame on Disney for passing up a chance to portray a superhero who also battles the scale.
If you are looking for an adequate Doctor Strange sequel, check out Spider-Man: No Way Home. It reveals more about what happened after the first film that this picture does. Too long. Not enough multiverse. Missed opportunities in a film that doesn't feel like a Doctor Strange movie. It's very Marvel but just too dog gone long.
Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.
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