Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

[DougGraves]

We saw it last night.  I liked it.  In spite of it having my least favorite Marvel cliches.

 

Spoiler

Heroes fighting an evil version of themself - literally this time.  Plus heroes fighting heroes, which is all this was.

 

My only real compliant is that America Chavez felt nothing like her comic character.  I have no interest in seeing any more of the character from the movie.

[Mr. Vee]

I thought it was just horrible, but not for the reason I expected. I was expecting a long series of easter eggs loosely held together with a thin plot, not the disastrous cast-wide acting and dialogue throughout and the complete gutting of a great character (they ruin Chavez even worse than Birds of Prey ruined Cassandra Cain). Some of the effects were cool but I'm well past being snowed by effects into liking shiny turds. And as much as this was supposed to be the centerpiece kicking off the next phase it really seemed like a standalone. 

Spoiler

They did set up the idea of an incursion which i guess could lead to some version of Secret Wars and left the possibility of FF/Xmen/Inhumans already being in 616 but did so in pretty much the lamest possible way. Essentially this was Labyrinth or Willow with a thin veneer of Marvel multiverse.

 

[Shred Monkey]

I went into this with low expectations but came out feeling satisfied. 

 

I'm not a fan of any kind of multiverse in general because it feels like cheating with story telling.  Similar to time travel, you can undo or redo anything you want, which essentially lowers the stakes of everything that happens or has happened.  In that respect, I felt like they did ok with Doctor Strange.  They only went to a few Universes, and never really used them in a way that unraveled previous plots.  Instead, they used it to give our universe's characters insight about their own feelings and/or their own "madness."

 

My big takeaway from the movie though was that it was visually stunning.  I was also stuck by the fact that Doctor Strange's defining quality is that he really is more willing to go further then anybody else is willing to go and then accept the consequences.  A trait he's had since before he lost use of his hands, actually.  It's what made him into a wizard to begin with.  It's why he used the eye/time stone on multiple occasions.  It's why he was able to beat Thanos by first giving him the stone and losing to Thanos.   You also see this character trait it in the What If...? series when he loses his "heart" instead of his hands.  And finally the last act of desperation he employs in this movie was absolutely stupefying.     

 

I know nothing about the comics, so I wasn't bothered by any departure from them.  I was pleased to see a young Spanish speaking girl as an up-and-coming hero.  I presume she'll get her story filled in with a future stand alone movie.

 

 

 

[battlewraith]

Not a fan of the MCU Doctor Strange. They take this trippy, Steve Ditko fueled iconic character and turn him into a lame, mid-grade superhero who pew pews things. Despite that low expectation, this was horrible. Especially early on, the editing and pacing was really bad and some of the special effects were surprisingly bad. It picks up later when Strange encounters the alternate versions of iconic characters--all of whom are wasted appearances.  Based on the previews I thought Strange might face off against a classic villain like Nightmare, but no--the actual situation is really lame and unimaginative and is based on an interpretation of dreams that is utterly stupid.