For a bonus treat - check out the LAMBCast on this movie, where opinions were mixed! https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/lambcast/episodes/2022-05-09T15_54_46-07_00
Those who live inside the MCU continue to deal with the
fallout from Thanos’s snap, the resulting blip, and the reappearance of all
those who were blipped. In addition,
they now have to deal with the sudden and brief exposure to the multiverse in
Spider-Man: No Way Home. It feels like
we have had multiple Doctor Strange movie, but in reality, this is just his
second stand-alone movie.
This story picks up after Dr. Stephen Strange has helped the world (including himself) forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. He wakes up from what he assumes is a nightmare where a different version of himself was helping a young girl evade a monster by trying to reach a fancy book. As he heads off to attend the wedding of Dr. Christine Palmer, his ex, the reception is interrupted by a big one-eyed tentacle monster (with great facial expressions despite having only one eye) chasing that same young girl. After he and the Sorcerer Supreme, Wong, defeat said monster and rescue the girl, she informs him that was no nightmare, but a glimpse into one of his variants in the multiverse. She is America Chavez and has the unique power of being able to travel the multiverse, but without the ability to control that power. The monster was sent by some sort of demon who wants that power for itself. Wong takes the girl to protect her, and Strange heads off to speak with Wanda Maximoff to get her opinion on the runes used on the monster.
From this point on – spoiler alert!
Wanda is at first shocked by this turn of events and offers
some opinions on the runes, the multiverse, and her life at the moment. She
then slips up and requests that Stephen bring America to her, so that she can
protect her. Of course, since he has not
told her America’s name, he realizes she is the demon that has been sending the
monsters. She’s still obsessed with finding her ‘children’ that she manifested
and then lost in WandaVision. Stephen
must then try to protect America while falling through the multiverse.
I was not sure what to expect with this one, I enjoyed the
first Doctor Strange stand-alone, and knowing Sam Raimi was stepping in, this
one had the potential to go a little dark. And it certainly does. It has the expected
Raimi touches from the Danny Elfman score to the Bruce Campbell cameo. It has some genuinely terrifying moments and truly scary scenes. It seems to me that
bringing Raimi back into these movies with this particular story was a great
choice. With any huge franchise,
especially one like this, the actors can suffer some fatigue from playing the
same character over and over in multiple movies. The way to avoid that is to
keep the characters fresh, growing, and evolving. I felt like everyone involved in this movie
was having a great time.
Benedict Cumberbatch continues to have tons of fun as Doctor
Strange. Despite this being his second Doctor Strange movie, he was also in
Thor 3, Infinity War, Endgame, and No Way Home, so it can feel like this is his
sixth movie. Strange is still crazy
arrogant and confident, but that is tempered a bit here by realizing that
Christine is moving on and he never really has, despite having amazing
adventures. I really appreciated how this movie seems to end with him putting
his past away (literally and figuratively) so that he can finally move forward
with his life. Being able to play multiple Strange variants seems to have made
him very happy and he looks like he is having an absolute blast – especially as
the zombie Strange.
It was fun to see Chiwetel Ejiofor back as Baron Karl Mordo. I could not get enough of the scene between he and Cumberbatch where they attempt to out-thespian each other at the highest level and then have to have a hand to hand combat sequence. Fantastic.
Xochitl Gomez brings a freshness of spunky confusion to America with an amazing power that she is confused by and struggles to control. She is going to be great in additional MCU projects. And, while it might be a little cheesy – I love her star-shaped power – very fun!
Rachel McAdams as various Christine Palmers all get to keep
Stephen grounded, focused, and reminded that he is not the be-all-end-all of
existence. It’s a tempered and layered performance that I enjoyed.
I feel like Elizabeth Olsen steals the movie. Continuing her excellent work from WandaVision, where her grief was the big bad – here she is corrupted by dark magic using that grief to manipulate her into becoming a true villain and a fully realized Scarlet Witch. She dives headlong into very Raimi-esque horror sequences and thrashes her way through anything and anyone that tries to stand against her as she struggles to reach her kids.
Overall, the movie was scary, yes, twisted, sure, but so much more fun than I expected and mainly because the cast seemed to be having such a good time. In a franchise this deep, creating new flavors and layers is a great way to keep new entries fresh while still feeling familiar. Side note – I did get to see this in 3D and I loved it.
9 out of 10
Super spoiler-y statement here, but I loved the Illuminati
as they appeared. Who knew this would be the movie that justified my watching
the Inhumans TV show, or that that Professor X version we would get would be
the one from the 90s show, or that watching the animated What If show pays off
in a brilliant Captain Carter turn by Haley Atwell, or that Lashana Lynch is an
exceptional Captain Marvel variant, or that the fan-casting a lot of us have
been hoping for would be fully realized in John Krasinski. Now I cannot wait for that Fantastic Four
movie.
