My non-spoilery review of the new Dr Strange film.
I got out last night to watch the premier of the latest Phase 4 MCU film, "Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness". The first thing you should know is that this story pulls heavily from the Disney+ series, "WandaVision" and, to a lesser extend, "Loki". Truth be told, if they had called this movie, "WandaVision - The Motion Picture", it would have been equally apt. I found this a little surprising as it was my understanding Disney was going to try and keep the Disney+ series and the films somewhat insulated from one another so moviegoers who don't subscribe to Disney+ won't be lost while watching the films, but that's clearly not the case. Sure, they throw is a few lines of dialogue here and there to briefly explain the concepts and motivations that arise from the series storylines, but I could definitely see how someone unfamiliar with the MCU series would find the film a tad more confusing than someone who's up-to-date on ALL the MCU products. So keep that in mind if you're deciding to go see this film.
This film also continues the current Phase 4 theme of exposing the audience to more and more obscure Marvel characters, locations, items and storylines (see "Shang Chi" and "The Eternals"). There were a number of references made in this film that, as a long time Marvel comic book reader, I caught, but would likely be missed by someone who's only familiar with the MCU products. So again, keep that in mind when evaluating my review. YMMV.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie more than "Shang Chi" or the "Eternals", but significantly less than "Spider-Man - No Way Home" (which shouldn't be considered an insult as I rank it as one of the best MCU films of all time). As much as I enjoyed seeing the characters back in action, I was also pleased to see Sam Raimi back behind the camera. If you're familiar with his work, you will see his fingerprints all over this film. Lots of camera motion and strange angles and innovative visuals. He does not disappoint. The only thing perhaps more impressive was the Danny Elfman score which is given it's own action scene. While not as remarkable as the "backwards through time fight" that occurred in the first "Dr. Strange" film, still stands out as a pretty unique action scene (unless you've ever seen "Kung-Fu Hustle" which did something very similar almost 20 years ago). The MCU continues to show that they know what they're doing when casting these roles. All the performers are excellent and very believable as these unbelievable characters. Fiege and his casting directors deserve more credit for securing the talent they have for these films.
I was somewhat disappointed in the writers dialogue. There's not much in this film that is very quotable or even all that humorous. It moves the story along and does enough to give the characters a little flavor, but overall fell short of what I've come to expect from an MCU film. I'm also not convinced they did the right thing by trying to blend the standard MCU "superhero" theme with a bit of a "horror" theme. It made the film feel a bit uneven to me. I think it would have served the film better had they picked one lane and stuck to it. But it's Raimi. He always tries to be a little light-hearted while he's scaring you or grossing you out. I know it's his style but I felt it undercut some of the more serious/weighty scenes. This film also suffers from another issue I've noticed that is becoming common in the MCU, incongruent power levels. You have characters that can supposedly destroy a mountain with a snap of their fingers, yet it'll take them 5 minutes to fight their way down a corridor against nameless henchmen just so the heroes have enough time to provide some dialogue or secure some McGuffin to move the story along. It's not yet gotten too egregious, but it's starting to happen enough where I want to quote Deadpool and call it "Lazy writing". My other concern is action sequences between characters with these powers is largely CGI light and noise. Flying characters shooting energy beams or eldritch bolts or cosmic rays starts to become redundant after a while, especially in light of my previous criticism about power levels. There are a lot of people getting launched or thrown back by the effects of these attacks instead of being obliterated like they should be. I think there's only one hand-to-hand fight in this film and it was adequate. Nothing remarkable. As an action fan, I was mildly disappointed.
So overall I'd still recommend catching this at the theater. Sam knows how to fill a screen with something that'll hold your attention. It's not the best multiverse movie of the year (I'd still recommend seeing "Everything, Everywhere, All at Once" first), but it was a good sign that the MCU isn't failing and actually feels like it's starting to gain momentum again (Can't wait for "Thor - Love & Thunder!).
It's a talking hippo, crocodile and some bird skull. They are essentially cartoon characters.
