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HuMan's thoughts on: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

 


Doctor Strange back in 2016 was arguably one of the most visually bizarre cinematic experiences. That was until 2018's infinity war and afterward every MCU movie aimed only to one-up one another in terms of graphical spectacles. The focus, however, of that movie was very well balanced. It didn't linger on the scene with the butterfly in space. There was the whole arc of Dr. Stephen Strange going from arrogant surgeon to one who attains enlightenment as destiny to protect our universe as we know it. 

The threat he faced was Dormammu, a multi-dimensional entity that devoured and enslaved civilizations (rang some bells very similar to Galactus from F4 back then). The doctor now faces a unique problem. A fellow avenger hell-bent on acquiring a power I will not describe to avoid spoilers. But, keep in mind, that watching WandaVision helps experience this movie from Wanda's point of view. Otherwise, it ends up looking like Dr. Strange stopping someone from doing wrong. The strongest aspect of this movie was the depth of Wanda. Dr. Strange may be the hero but his context lives as a basis of juxtaposition between Dr. Strange losing the person he loves with Wanda's loss and how the both of them handled it in their own ways. 

Apart from the story this movie also houses its own set of cameo appearances. SO MANY of them! Some that are obvious and were teased in the trailer and other less obvious ones which I am not sure anyone saw coming but at this point with all the money and power that Disney has, no one was surprised either. But the appearances were still fun regardless. This is where things start to somewhat fall apart for Doctor Strange 2. 

When you saturate your movie with cameos and interesting things to see and explore you can only cover so much ground. And in the end, if you end on a note of being a typical superhero movie it can come off as a really long introductory sequence for just a few setups for future movies and shows. I understand that this is the intent right now as the new phase of the MCU begins but I can't help but feel like this was a pretty forgettable movie experience. The cameos don't hit as shockingly as they should and the story is the Doctor being a real goody, even though we have readily seen his dark side in the "What If..." series. The Doctor has no internal conflict whatsoever and is so positive and stubborn throughout in his righteous way of being the guardian of the mystic arts. All I want to say I guess is it could be quite a bit better, it just stopped at being satisfying.

When my cousin called me about this one of the questions she asked was, "So was this better, or was Spiderman: No Way Home better?". I honestly said I thought Spiderman was a lot better executed in terms of hype, excitement, and content delivery. She agreed in alacrity and cut the phone. This really wasn't the breakthrough everyone expected it to be. Loki and WandaVision seemed to be building to this one moment but none of them really impact it in a way that would gratify any viewer who has seen those shows and hence, maybe that's what makes it so unsatisfying. The standalone value of this movie doesn't pay off the excitement brought about by those web series. Eventually, one can be afraid of only one thing. Even if the MCU cranks out quality content will it ever be able to keep topping itself before it becomes redundant and boring? Or will it rise and beautifully connect the dots before it's too late?  

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