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MCU: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of SPOILERS


ithanos

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Was going to post in the main MCU thread about the film then read calls for a separate thread.

Saw it last night and have had a night's sleep to let it soak in. My thought's this morning are all positive, it was a good movie with Raimi bringing something different to the tried and true MCU formula. It also occurs to me, with respect to the villain, hero and love interest arcs, that the film is basically a copy of Spider Man 2. Not a bad thing as I still rate SM2 as my favourite SM film in large part because of Dr Octopus' story throughout, along with several other things. Here, Olsen excels as Scarlet Witch and the various Wandas. This is pretty much the conclusion to WandaVision. I do like Strange 616 more now, as the flawed version and not Sorcerer Supreme.

The crowd I watched it with were all fairly young and though they were up with the lore with all things MCU no one seemed to bat an eyelid when Bruce f8%king Ash/Army of Darkness Campbell appeared.

Some cool things happened. Scarlet Witch taking out the Illuminati was good, but probably my favourite thing, completely unexpected, was how bassass possessed Zombie Strange was at the end.     

 

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Visually speaking it's probably the most technically proficient film in the MCU so far, which isn't surprising both in terms of Raimi's experience and him having the pull to get more control than some of the less established directors they pulled in would have. Really got to lean into his Raimi-isms too, made Scarlet Witch into a very creepy and effective villain. 

 

I guess some people will be sad or angry about committing to making her a full villain after the tragic arc in WandaVision, but honestly she was always going there, that's who Wanda is. It's meant to be sad. I hope we see her again some day though.

 Overall, a solid horror-vibed fantasy adventure, up near the top of the MCU- I'd put Ragnarok above it, partly coz of personal preference but I would say partly because the resolution was a bit eh- solving the problem by just having Strange go 'America you're actually really cool you can do it' and blam she can was... not great storytelling. Especially since America was barely a character in this (also seen criticism that she's not really similar to America Chavez in the comics, but I can't comment on that, I have no idea). 

 

I did enjoy that they basically didn't solve Strange's ultimate problems at all - yeah, he didn't sacrifice America, but that was never his character, that was other Stranges- and the ending still shows him to be very cavalier about the effects of using the Darkhold. No real resolution with Christine either. 

 

3 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

I couldn't care any less about strange 2, but did you get to see the avatar 2 trailer? 

 

I did and immediately forgot about it entirely until you just mentioned it now, which I suppose tells you how bland I think it looks. 

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I enjoyed it a lot. Definitely something to rewatch in cinema. A visual masterwork just like the previous Strange heavy movies. There is an OV 3D IMAX showing next week and I will watch that if possible.

I really enjoyed the music battle I must say which was something unexpected and different.

Wanda killing all the "mooks" of the heroes was great to watch. In general it felt like she held back against Strange and Wong while crushing everybody else.

It did not hit the nostalgia button es effectively as No Way Home but Patrick Stewart was an awesome surprise.

I agree that America was a bit bland. Wong taking her powers might have been a better ending I must say. Would not have changed the ending that much for the character of Strange and making such a great character even more pivotal for the MCU would have worked well I feel. But I'm sure the character will grow.

I actually expected Christine to fill America's cell with toxic gas or so instead of rescuing her to be honest. :D

Too bad that main universe Mordo did not show up though. Kaecilius and the Ancient One would have been nice too.

It was a fun ride and Marvel has honed the art of slightly misleading trailers well I must say.

@ithanos

Bruce Campbell shows up in all Raimi movies. It is a completely expected thing.

@BigFatCoward

The Avatar trailer looked great and completely uninteresting at the same time.

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5 hours ago, Luzifer's right hand said:

Too bad that main universe Mordo did not show up though.

Supposedly back when the movie was forty minutes longer he was in it.

Spoiler

He confronted Wanda before Strange did and was decapitated. So at least this way he lives to maybe show up elsewhere.

 

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Really enjoyed the film. Especially Pizza Poppa. I like how the Multiverse is depicted. Kind of like the dimension hopping in the Myth Adventures books.

 

Pretty disappointed though that there was nothing about the business at the end of Loki. Still glad I saw the movie, but that was the main reason I went opening night.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Martell Spy said:

Pretty disappointed though that there was nothing about the business at the end of Loki. Still glad I saw the movie, but that was the main reason I went opening night.


Given that Kang is the villain in Ant-Man: Quantumania, that's what you'll wanna see opening night I'd imagine.

Unfortunately, they're still giving those movies to Peyton Reed to direct.

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On 5/5/2022 at 7:55 AM, Luzifer's right hand said:

I agree that America was a bit bland. Wong taking her powers might have been a better ending I must say. Would not have changed the ending that much for the character of Strange and making such a great character even more pivotal for the MCU would have worked well I feel. But I'm sure the character will grow.

I think the point was Strange was handing her the metaphorical scalpel.

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54 minutes ago, SpaceChampion said:

I think the point was Strange was handing her the metaphorical scalpel.

Would have worked better if it had some "let's train you" scenes before that though. But it is no biggie for me just felt like it could have been handled better.

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So Raimi brought his Evil Dead game to this. 

OK, I just came from it and my opinion is a bit raw but I must say I have mixed feelings. I don't think it was as great as others here say, but it would still fall in the upper half of the MCU movies. 

I am disappointed that they resolved to turn Wanda into a full blown villain for the entire movie and only have a small redemption at the end. Now the writing was pretty strong for the character and Elizabeth Olsen once again delivered a great performance, I just wish that after all the time we spent with the character that it didn't end like this. Mind you, she may be back, but there was no hint of it in the movie that I could tell. (getting another Wanda from an alternate universe doesn't count)

Both Strange and the new character, America Chavez, had barely any character development. Strange got to have some self owning near the end and America got a quick pep talk which was enough to turn her into a little more than a human McGuffin. Even after all this, Strange is still the same nonchalant guy who lets his arrogance guide him, as evidenced by the mid-credit scene. On top of this, Strange was basically the "guide" to the final potentially chapter in Wanda's story. All his attempts failed, his reasoning with her, fighting her, it was America who found the right solution at the end, and Wanda basically defeated the villain in herself. I think the movie may have subtly pointed out that Strange wasn't the right guy for the job in the beginning, when Strange made fun other superheroes, singling out Hawkeye, one of the few who had truly befriended Wanda. Or perhaps White Vision could have helped, but no time for an additional character I guess. If that's the case, I will give them points, I just don't know that it is.

I think the movie did suffer from the Covid schedule reshuffling. There should have been more connecting threads to other multiversal storylines, like Loki's, but if this was supposed to come out earlier than others, it can leave one scratching their heads as to why this feels so self-contained despite the plot. That line about Spiderman was thrown late, I think, and unfortunately that's all we got. Strange was aware he had to do a big spell, but probably doesn't remember why exactly, and learned nothing from it. Supposedly this was going to have the largest amount of characters out of any MCU movie. Surely it didn't. The last two Avengers had way more.

Most people certainly expected a slew of hoped for characters and cool cameos and the movie did deliver that decently well. I have no idea who Charlize Theron is supposed to play but the other cameos were great. Of course the MCU was going to listen to the fandom and cast John Krasinski as Reed Richards. I look forward to hopefully a great Fantastic 4 movie this time. It was great to see Captain Carter (yes, I watched What If) and Patrick Stewart as Xavier in his classic yellow chair. I even liked that they brought back Anson Mount as Black Bolt; Inhumans is at the bottom of the garbage pile, so this was a small redemption for the character. Finally, the prodigal that is the initial MCU TV verse, before Disney+, is coming into the fold. I think the only disappointment here was Mordo. It seems they could find no room for the main Mordo, despite the hint from the 1st movie that he was going to be Strange's nemesis. Strange just seems to shrug off that his Mordo has been mad at him and tried to kill him. Kinda funny to be honest as the character wasn't anything impressive in the first movie either.

As to Sam Raimi's direction, the visuals, and the music - they were all really good. I am not a fan of Raimi's quick zoom-ins on people's faces, but it can work in some movies, and this was one of them. The rest of his style certainly worked for this movie, especially all the horror elements he brought in. That being said I don't wish for Raimi to direct a more "down to earth" MCU movie like another Captain America, for example. The expected Bruce Campbell cameo did not disappoint, but wow, has the MCU entered in a new phase? Which movie can deliver the worst, most useless post-credit scene. :laugh: This was the first time I heard boos in a movie theater for a MCU movie.

I think I'll give a 7/10. I will definitely want to watch it again.

Oh, and I actually liked the Avatar trailer. Not much there, but if we're praising directors with good techniques, it's James Cameron, it will look good.

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loved the evil dead joke of campbell fighting his own hand. none of rhe kids in the theater seemed to appreciate it.

 

otherwise, multiverse stories simply suck. the way the illuminati shook out, however, they threw the old inhumans show under the bus, presumably for a reboot, and at least 616 is not stuck with an octogenerian professor x and a reed richards from the office.

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On 5/5/2022 at 6:45 AM, BigFatCoward said:

I couldn't care any less about strange 2, but did you get to see the avatar 2 trailer? 

It’s literally a bunch of shots of Avatar world that could just as easily have been from the first movie for all anyone remembers of it, then a single line about family sticking together or something. It was pants.

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2 hours ago, sologdin said:

otherwise, multiverse stories simply suck. the way the illuminati shook out, however, they threw the old inhumans show under the bus, presumably for a reboot, and at least 616 is not stuck with an octogenerian professor x and a reed richards from the office.

Eh? The whole illuminati thing took place on a different world, so I don’t see how it threw Inhumans under the bus (just acknowledging its existence was pretty shocking). I’m not sure whether it’s more or less likely that Krasinski plays Reed Richards going forward, possibly he was happy doing this cameo to please the fans but won’t be 616 Richards. Or maybe he will?

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Watched it yesterday and I enjoyed it quite a bit, but not to the extent of placing it anywhere near MCU top three or something.

And of course, one nagging question came to my mind. If Strange, Mordo, Wanda etc. all looked pretty much the same in all universes, why didn't Peter Parker? ;)

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38 minutes ago, 3CityApache said:

Watched it yesterday and I enjoyed it quite a bit, but not to the extent of placing it anywhere near MCU top three or something.

And of course, one nagging question came to my mind. If Strange, Mordo, Wanda etc. all looked pretty much the same in all universes, why didn't Peter Parker? ;)

fan service. 

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While I liked the fan service of seeing Patrick Stewart in the big yellow chair, in live action it looks really dumb.

I'm also assuming that the 838-Ultrons were built by Reed Richards, which is why they didn't turn evil like Stark's 616-Ultrons.

And I'm impressed (but also creeped out) that Sam Raimi got to do as much as he did with the Illuminati fight scene - some of those deaths wouldn't be out of place in Invincible or The Boys.

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4 hours ago, 3CityApache said:

Watched it yesterday and I enjoyed it quite a bit, but not to the extent of placing it anywhere near MCU top three or something.

And of course, one nagging question came to my mind. If Strange, Mordo, Wanda etc. all looked pretty much the same in all universes, why didn't Peter Parker? ;)

Strange claimed that America's powers brought her where she needed to be IIRC. Things would not have worked if people in the Illuminati universe did not care a bit about someone who looked exactly like the Strange she brought with her. ;)

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