Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

I found myself in a multiverse of madness as I watched Sam Raimi struggle to project his distinctive style, directorial and cinematographic flourishes, and slightly horrific and morbid touch on the big screen. At that point, it all disappeared into the abyss of screenwriting cluelessness and a largely meaningless and uninteresting story. Once again, Marvel is just playing it safe, with nothing to surprise the viewer. It has its tried-and-tested gimmicks in the form of a dozen useless cameo roles that deadlock the plot just to tease further spin-offs, which are already a total slap in the face. Plus, this year's Everything Everywhere All at Once definitely kicked this overpriced corporate product's ass when it comes to playing with multiverse. Sam, I hope you cashed a decent check for this, and now please go and make a low-budget horror movie that makes you and the audience happy. Please. (03/06/2022)

A playful, but rather oversimplified sequel to the story about an arrogant surgeon who turned his hand to magic takes us to other worlds, but also into his subversive inner self. During the opening of the movie, Raimi came up with a surprise parallel on the west Russian conflict, and also with an ending involving a demonic resurrection and all-in-all inconsistent storytelling. The second Strange would have benefitted from about a half hour extra to give Raimi the chance to give the multiverse a good long cuddle and also give the sub-stories the chance to take off a bit. I don’t believe that Waldron’s screenplay was to blame; this is more like studio intervention to bring the running time down to a more sensible length. The guest appearances are fine as a whole, but I’m not at all thrilled about one choice by casting department, so that means minus one point. The horror make-up is awesome (eyeballs dropping out of sockets!), but rotting cadavers, impressive deaths and pieces of body dropping off indicate that Disney is willing to turn a blind eye occasionally and please orthodox fans with a bit of gore. But will it be enough? Are you happy? (04/05/2022)

With great power comes great responsibility and with almost unlimited power comes ... MADNESS! The new Doctor Strange could have been made in pretty much any way given the storylines in the recent MCU films and the central character's abilities, and I was curious to see how Sam Raimi, creator of Spider-Man as well as cult horror films, would handle it. The film is not lacking in some decent scares, imaginative scenes (a "musical fight" like in Scott Pilgrim) and creepy characters, yet Raimi could have easily pushed the envelope further, as some of the characters were dispatched out of frame in a grimly manner. The multiverse also certainly had more potential, on the other hand, the film fortunately didn't become an outright mess. The newcomer America was more rather bland, but I enjoyed more than one cameo, which the film was brimming with. The first end-credit scene brought another Oscar-winning actress into the MCU, though I wonder if it wasn’t a "one-off". It's not a pure four stars, but I was entertained in the cinema for the full two hours, and that's what counts. (08/05/2022)

A blatant attempt to wring out the last vestiges of a graspable comic book universe of famous heroes. Doctor Strange is not a bad character and has a lot to offer, but once the creators embark on yet another scripted whirlwind full of parallel universes, magical books and runes, time jumping, etc., it's more than likely to be just another generic comic book action flick full of colours and digital effects. Sam Raimi's arrival will be appreciated by horror fans, as the second Strange has a lot to offer in this aspect and some moments are quite solidly dark. As a whole, however, the second film does not surpass the compactness and interestingness of the first. (24/12/2022)

The cup of patience has run over. In fact, I actually hesitate even to call this a film. I don't understand why no one else complains about how horribly the characters are keyed to those fake backgrounds, that no one minds that the framerate makes, say, the lab scene look like something out of Code Blue. I haven't seen something where everyone cares so much about everything in a long time. It has no beginning, no end, the actors aren't entertaining, the fictional worlds have no stakes of their own, and it's bathed in cliché. And the script's a real doozy, too. Sam Raimi is in a great position in Hollywood where whatever crap he makes, all he has to do is put a skeleton in it and a zoom shot to get people to cheer at how he references himself. I think The Last Children of Aporver would have been a better movie as a result. (03/08/2022)