Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness 

This film has me very conflicted! Now I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe and all the films they have put out now the 2016 Doctor Strange film I absolutely love. That being said this film is 50/50 for me and for a couple reasons now the performances are great the visuals are a treat for the eyes and the depth that Cumberbatch brings to Stephen Strange in this sequel is terrific. It did a great job at expanding the world that his character takes place in but it’s a bit messy in terms of plot and I’ll explain that more in depth in a moment because if the script was written a bit better I definitely would of rated this a lot higher. Now trust me I like the film but I feel it had the potential to be truly spectacular instead of just good. 

Firstly, let’s talk about the positives first. So the depth and arcs that Wanda Maximoff goes on in this film is amazingly well done. As Wanda was fleshed out in such complexity and moral greyness in Wandavision in this sequel to Doctor Strange they build upon the depth they showed us from that  series she got and really went into the darkest part of her heart. Not only is it Elizabeth Olsons best outing of the character she is also truly terrifying as the character as she brings a intimidating and chilling quality to her that was touched upon in Wandavision but here that has cemented in such a bone chilling way. The way Sam Rami really gives her so much to do in this film in terms of her character was truly amazing and I loved every single thing she got to do in this film. Now with the 2016 film Benedict Cumberbatch really got to go on a journey emotionally as we saw him in the beginning as this arrogant and cocky scientist that is brought down a peg when he gets in a car accident and rediscovers  himself and about life really and it was such a complex performance that I loved so much. Now the first Doctor Strange came out 6 years ago and since then he’s been in two avenger films one Thor film and one Spider-Man film now that being said he is fleshed out in this sequel for the first time since his first film as those films i mentioned he’s mostly in a smaller role here he gets more time to expand upon his arc which I enjoyed. As we see Stephen strange grapple with the reality of not getting to live out the life he wanted as he chose to be a hero and with that he had to sacrifice parts of his personal life and we see how happy he is that he made that choice but in his heart he wished his personal life was better. Now Benedict Cumberbatch gives a fantastic outing as Doctor Strange here but it’s Elizabeth Olson who steals the show though with her incredibly emotionally captivating performance of Scarlett Witch. Everyone else in the film is solid but it’s those two lead performances that truly shine in every frame of the film. 

Secondly, the issues I have with this film is the script and let me expand upon that. So the film has a fantastic style as Sam Rami injects the frame with such colour and fantastic depth. He is able to present a horror like theme to this Doctor Strange sequel which is a tone a Marvel film aside from the new mutants has had. And he has deep rooted themes of trauma, finding happiness in one’s life and their greatly tackled but it’s the way the screenplay was written that just could of been so much better. The film is around 2h and 7 minutes now before the film came out it was speculated to be almost 3 hours long now after seeing this film I personally think it would of befitted from that longer runtime for the reason that I felt the film was very rushed. The films Michael Waldron the writer from The Loki series penned this script and I felt he could of fleshed out so much more. As theirs a ton of content in this film that could of been expanded upon and or left out entirely as the narrative suffers from that and on top of the mediocre dialogue written for the actors now they do the best with their lines but it’s so bland in terms of how their characters talk. That was a big glaring flaw of the film for me the poorly written screenplay as I would rather they have hired Christopher Markus &  Stephen Mcfeely who did a bunch of the marvel films all the way back since the first Captain America as they know how to structure story well and they also write explosively good dialogue. That’s the big issue I had with this sequel was the uneven structure of its screenplay and it’s messy dialogue. 

Lastly, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness is a great film that is amazingly well brought to life by Sam Rami he brings that signature style of his horror and jump scare elements to a marvel film that genuinely makes it scary at times. Now the only glaring flaw is the poorly done screenplay that holds it back from being a truly spectacular film but they work best with what they have and delivers a entertaining sequel from Doctor Strange that is visually striking and very well acted especially by the central performance given by Elizabeth Olson. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness is a good  film that could of been great but still is a damn good time. 

This film centres around Doctor Strange figuring out how to get his grip on the new concept of what the Multiverse is and trying not to mess up the concept of space and time all while doing it. 

Rated PG - 13 : Frightening Images|Action|Intense Sequences of Violence|Some Language

Elizabeth Olson : Olson’s performance in this Doctor Strange Sequel was the best outing of the character she’s ever done. She first dazzled us with her performance of the Scarlett witch back in 2015 in the second Avengers film and since then her character has gone on quite the arc. As in Age Of Ultron we saw how she had been very much a villain that had by the end of that film evolved into a good person that was embraced by the Avengers family. Then in Civil War we saw the romance between Vision and her really blossom and then in the two avenger films she wasn’t playing a big part in those films but in infinity war she had one of the most heartbreaking moments in the entire MCU. And that moment shattered her heart and really presented the tone for what Wandavision would be the heartbeat of when that show came on Disney Plus. As Wandavision not only expanded upon what she had been up to after the events of Endgame but it showed how traumatized she was by what she has to do and they even touched upon her rough upbringing as a child for why she is the emotionally closed off person she is. That show ended on a hell of a cliffhanger and that’s where this film helps continue is the arc she had in that show and flesh out  what she’s been up to since we last saw her. Now without spoiling anything you can see from the heartache and emotional hardship she’s been through stemming from her childhood to the tragedy of her family and the loss of her loved one and then her kids the toll it’s taken on her mentally. They label her as a villain early on in the film and to be fair I felt when seeing Wandavision if she was a morally good Person as she was emotionally hurt yes but she used her pain and trauma to do very morally grey things in order to feel better or numb that pain and she does that as well here so she’s not a straight up villain it would say but I could see why they would look at her as that from the actions she’s done. Now when we see her here she’s definitely gone well over the edge and her heart is ripped into pieces  more then it ever has. Elizabeth Olson channels such a range of emotions that will have you feeling for her throughout the entire course of the film. As Olson brings such a raw and authentic wave of sadness and heartache to her performance now she’s given amazing portrayals of this character before but here she goes places emotionally she has not gone before. As you see all of the trauma and hurt just collapse in on itself and she owns this film and I say that because she is honestly the best part of this entire film. As she’s almost as well in every frame of this Doctor Strange sequel. Elizabeth Olson could of easily just phoned in her performance but no she gave a damn good performance that stole the show and overall she crackles in every frame of this film giving a truly electric performance. 

Sam Rami : Rami gave such a interesting style of direction with this sequel. Now this man is responsible for paving the way for Marvel films as back in the early 2000’s he gave us the incredible live action Spider-Man films that have influenced the comic book genre for film to this very day. Now he gave such a realistic and comic book accurate representation of the wall crawler and He’s given great films even before the MCU with his horror roots as he is very well known for his Evil Dead films and the horror styles he has in his films. Now here he takes that exact style of horror and paints it into the MCU in a very intriguing way. As the MCU Besides New Mutants never have actually delved into horror territory or even jump scares really and Rami was able to pop the frame in such a red and diverse amount of colours that made the scenes just really rich. On top of that he was able to bring in a lot of darker elements like trauma, jump scares and genuinely scary moments that had quite high amounts of violence that went in directions I’ve never seen the MCU go before. They really let Sam Rami have creative control over this film you can tell and he had a blast doing it he also was able to bring in such a interesting story now the execution of it was not as good as I had hoped as the story is pretty messy but he works with what he’s given and it’s good. He gets great performances from his cast especially Elizabeth Olson and all around gives a great directed film that has one of the best stylistic tones that the MCU has had since Thor 3 and Guardians Of The Galaxy.