UHD Review Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness UHD Review (1 Viewer)

[Todd Erwin]

Director Sam Raimi takes the reins of Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, taking the MCU down a darker path than ever before.



Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)



Released: 06 May 2022
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 126 min




Director: Sam Raimi
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy



Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Writer(s): Michael Waldron, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko



Plot: Doctor Strange teams up with a mysterious teenage girl from his dreams who can travel across multiverses, to battle multiple threats, including other-universe versions of himself, which threaten to wipe out millions across the mul...



IMDB rating: 7.0
MetaScore: 60





Disc Information



Studio: Disney...

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[Noel Aguirre]

Convoluted is the key word here. Thanks for the review. Was really looking forward to this but was majorly disappointed when I saw it in the theater.

 

[ScottHM]

How important is it to have seen WandaVision prior to watching this film? I'm not subscribing to Disney+, and don't want to waste my money on this if it won't make sense.
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[Todd Erwin]

How important is it to have seen WandaVision prior to watching this film? I'm not subscribing to Disney+, and don't want to waste my money on this if it won't make sense.
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It helps but not necessary.

 

[Josh Dial]

Thanks for the review, Todd.

I'm one of those crazy MCU fans that really liked this movie, and actually disliked Spider-Man: No Way Home (which I rank in my bottom five or thereabouts), except for Andrew Garfield who was amazing as always.

I'm looking forward to watching this on physical media as soon as my steelbook CE arrives (Best Buy Canada, in its infinte wisdom, seems to have stopped releasing Disney steelbooks here in the great white north, so I had to import my copy). Looks like I'll have to give the Atmos track the "Disney boost"...

 

[Noel Aguirre]

How important is it to have seen WandaVision prior to watching this film? I'm not subscribing to Disney+, and don't want to waste my money on this if it won't make sense.
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IMHO I had not see Wandavisuon and I was totally lost. It’s ridiculous to have to do a refresher course or homework to watch ANY movie. It should stand alone, on its own, like the new Thor for example which I totally enjoyed and had not one but two quick recaps albeit campy re the last time Jane Foster appeared in 2013’s The Dark World and Thor’s origin/background. The MCU is really losing it if it expects film goers to subscribe to Disney+ to follow its films.

 

[TravisR]

How important is it to have seen WandaVision prior to watching this film? I'm not subscribing to Disney+, and don't want to waste my money on this if it won't make sense.
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I haven't seen any of the Marvel TV shows and I had no problem following this movie. To keep it spoiler free, I didn't know the root of why a character was acting a certain way but it was easy to assume that it was something established in Wandavision and just keep going along with the movie's story.

 

[MarkA]

I have been buying the Doctor Strange movies and have really liked them. I'm glad I streamed this on Disney+ first because I found this to be a convoluted mess. Glad I didn't blindly buy this.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

How important is it to have seen WandaVision prior to watching this film? I'm not subscribing to Disney+, and don't want to waste my money on this if it won't make sense.
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It probably depends a good deal on you.

Some might feel WandaVision is at least important, if not absolutely necessary, while others might be just fine not having the extra context going in.

Probably depends on how much you feel Wanda's motive(s) (and character shift from what you may or may not recall from previous MCU movies) need explaining.

Personally, I'm glad I (finally) finished watching WandaVision just before watching this sequel -- I probably would've been more bothered than some otherwise... although some might still find her motive(s) should've been more clearly explained/emphasized. Still, I actually didn't like the rather contrived, twist-y way (that was problematic regarding another character's integrity) they essentially used to segue/extend into the 3rd Act -- just seemed very unnecessary and made little sense other than to provide a (less brief) plot twist for very little payoff. I felt something somewhat similar happened w/ the way they used Dr Strange in No Way Home as well... although that latter case was more egregious as it made Strange, a major MCU character, seem like a buffoon...

_Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Doh! Shouldn't there be a spoiler alert in/for this review???

_Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

It probably depends a good deal on you.

Some might feel WandaVision is at least important, if not absolutely necessary, while others might be just fine not having the extra context going in.

Probably depends on how much you feel Wanda's motive(s) (and character shift from what you may or may not recall from previous MCU movies) need explaining.

Personally, I'm glad I (finally) finished watching WandaVision just before watching this sequel -- I probably would've been more bothered than some otherwise... although some might still find her motive(s) should've been more clearly explained/emphasized. Still, I actually didn't like the rather contrived, twist-y way (that was problematic regarding another character's integrity) they essentially used to segue/extend into the 3rd Act -- just seemed very unnecessary and made little sense other than to provide a (less brief) plot twist for very little payoff. I felt something somewhat similar happened w/ the way they used Dr Strange in No Way Home as well... although that latter case was more egregious as it made Strange, a major MCU character, seem like a buffoon...

_Man_

On 2nd thought, there might even be a chance WandaVision might make you hate the premise of this movie more than otherwise, if you already aren't that convinced/satisfied w/ it as is, given what you'd know about her kids (NVM some of the zaney-ness of the series/ending, which worked fine enough in the series itself, but maybe a bit problematic as part of the context for this story)...

_Man_

 

[Jake Lipson]

I loved WandaVision. My biggest problem with this movie is the absolute assassination of Wanda's character arc in that show. Elizabeth Olsen is great as Wanda, but the writing here let her down. There are some interesting ideas and cool sequences in this movie, but I can't get over what they did with her. The movie wants us to know the show happened but also walks back all of her character growth from it.

But of course I still bought the Blu-ray because it's an MCU film and I have all of them. They haven't made something bad enough yet that I've refused it admission into my collection (knock on wood.)

I went to the extras tonight, except for the commentary which I will get to later. What is on here seems particularly thin. This isn't terribly surprising because Marvel is now producing making-of documentaries for Disney+.

 

[Museum Pieces]

I'm still surprised and a bit depressed in how disappointed I was by this movie. I was considering the Blue for the same reason as you, but after hearing about how thin the extras are, I'm even more depressed. There's no way Scott Dickerson would have made a sequel as messy and frankly ridiculous as this. They never should have used Wanda as the heavy. They ruined it for me. I never believed it. I know it's just a movie but Dr. Strange was my favorite comic growing up and the first movie blew me away. I just can't believe anyone would green light this script. There was a time when Sam Raimi would have balked at a script this bad.

It just hurts to think about the missed opportunity.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I just can't believe anyone would green light this script. There was a time when Sam Raimi would have balked at a script this bad.

I don't think the script existed when Raimi was hired. Michael Waldron wrote a new script after Sam Raimi came onto the project. My understanding is that they did not use whatever Scott Derrickson was going to do.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I loved WandaVision. My biggest problem with this movie is the absolute assassination of Wanda's character arc in that show.

I don’t think the movie does any such thing. The show ends with Wanda reading the Darkhold. Once you read the Darkhold, the person you were is gone, and what’s left remains a force for evil. That’s how the Darkhold works. Wanda corrupted herself at the end of the show. The film simply picks up with the consequences of those actions which have already occurred.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I don’t think the movie does any such thing. The show ends with Wanda reading the Darkhold. Once you read the Darkhold, the person you were is gone, and what’s left remains a force for evil. That’s how the Darkhold works. Wanda corrupted herself at the end of the show. The film simply picks up with the consequences of those actions which have already occurred.

That can be a problematic view/understanding though since Strange also ends up using the Darkhold -- and not just the prime universe Strange... although it's arguable that Strange might be more capable of resisting its corruption than Wanda.

And in any case, they didn't necessarily need to go to the extremes they did. That was not something set in stone or anything in WandaVision (or any other MCU stories up to that point AFAIK), but really mostly a choice they made for this movie.

OTOH, Wanda being/remaining a potential villain or oft-misunderstood anti-heroine of some sort would be consistent w/ her comics origin... although this movie takes it to an extreme...

_Man_

 

[Kent K H]

That can be a problematic view/understanding though since Strange also ends up using the Darkhold -- and not just the prime universe Strange... although it's arguable that Strange might be more capable of resisting its corruption than Wanda.

You're not wrong, but it feels less like a problematic viewing to me and more like a set-up for the third film where he'll probably be wrestling with the consequences of using the Darkhold and trying not to go down the evil route, to the point of perhaps battling himself without the multiversal construct involved.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

You're not wrong, but it feels less like a problematic viewing to me and more like a set-up for the third film where he'll probably be wrestling with the consequences of using the Darkhold and trying not to go down the evil route, to the point of perhaps battling himself without the multiversal construct involved.

Bingo!

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

You're not wrong, but it feels less like a problematic viewing to me and more like a set-up for the third film where he'll probably be wrestling with the consequences of using the Darkhold and trying not to go down the evil route, to the point of perhaps battling himself without the multiversal construct involved.

No doubt it sets up for the next sequel, etc... but they may be painting themselves somewhat into a corner if the understanding is that the Darkhold is that corrupting... Of course, again, they'll probably end up drawing some sort of exception for Strange just because it's Strange... or maybe he retrieves another(?) version of the Book of Vishanti that could maybe help him overcome the corruption... or maybe this Strange could simply become irredeemable and replaced by another version from the multiverse instead... perhaps even as a result of the Secret Wars -- yeah, I'm wary of what they'll do w/ Secret Wars... not that I ever liked the original comics take on that.

_Man_

 

[Jake Lipson]

I don’t think the movie does any such thing.

For me, it absolutely did. At the end of the show, Wanda made an active, specific choice to sacrifice her own happiness because setting Westview free was the right thing to do. Then you've got Wanda coming into this movie as a completely one-dimensional force of evil because the evil object corrupted her. They essentially reset Wanda so that she could make another sacrifice at the end of this movie, even though she had already done that in WandaVision, and this one did it with much less nuance and depth.

If you're willing to accept the book corrupting her, that's great for you. I don't mean that to sound condescending at all. I really wish that I could get on board with it. To me, "the evil book corrupted her" is cheap, lazy writing which did a complete disservice to her arc throughout WandaVision. It did not work for me at all, and that is due primarily to the writing choices. But I'm glad you were able to get more out of it than I was.