Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

[noxiousdog]

Spoiler:

Feige has said Wanda isn't done in the MCU.

[Brian]

Benedict Cumberbatch is awesome as Dr. Strange though. I kind of feel the could give him an awful script and he could carry it himself.

Star Trek: Into Darkness would beg to differ.

[rittchard]

I watched it twice over the weekend. I enjoyed a lot of elements, most mentioned already by AWS. My biggest disappointment on first viewing was that there wasn’t as much of an impact on the Marvel Universe as I’d hoped, but that was likely always more of a wishful thinking sort of scenario ever. It’s not like they were gonna just have the X-Men jump out of nowhere and join the MCU lol. I don’t think that’s a spoiler is it? And in spite of some fantastic guest appearances, I think in the back of my mind I had hyped myself up for even more.

A bit surprisingly, my nephew and his friends all hated it for some reason, saying things like it was the worst of all the Marvel movies. He’s not usually that picky but he really didn’t like it, so I’m not entirely sure what went awry. I suspect the Sam Raimi-ization of the movie was not as attractive to some younger audiences not familiar with his work. On my second viewing I noticed so many more Raimi things which personally I just loved, being a big fan of the Evil Dead franchise.

I guess I’d disagree somewhat on AWS’s negative aspect though…

Spoiler:

While Wanda’s character portrayal wasn’t as nuanced as in the TV series, I thought she gave enough of a good performance, particularly in the few (limited) scenes with the two kids, particularly the last one where they turn on her. It was way shorter than I think fans of Wanda felt she deserved, but also had to keep in mind this was not technically her movie (even though in reality it was her story). I thought she gave a great performance in her last scenes with the kids, and I liked a lot of her lines like how all mothers made their kids with magic. The killings were a bit over the top, but I think they had to up the ante over what she already did in WV, to show that the Darkhold had actually corrupted her. If she only knocked people out, I think it would have cheapened that factor, and not really shown just how powerful she was, even when she was ostensibly still holding back.

[Hamlet3145]

Just saw it. Really liked it! I was a bit surprised by some of the violence.

One of the aspects of the movie that perked up my ears was the mention of

Spoiler:

multiversal incursions

and, of course, the first after credits scene. That's going to have major MCU ramifications and likely take us into the modern version of

Spoiler:

Secret Wars

which will probably be this arc's "Infinity War."

[Victoria Raverna]

Just got back. This movie was awesome, but if you have young kids you won’t want them to see this movie. It’s being called a horror movie with superheroes. While I wouldn’t exactly call it a horror movie, it definitely has some gruesome moments.

I’m very excited to see this over and over again once it hits Disney+.

Took my daughter to watch it. According to my daughter, it is not scary at all.

[Blackhawk]

Looking for spoiler free yes/no answers here:

I have broken my MCU 'always in order' rule - I haven't seen The Eternals yet. Are there any meaningful references or plot points that I will miss?

Is it worth trying to 'cram' and see Eternals tonight before seeing this tomorrow?

[msteelers]

Looking for spoiler free yes/no answers here:

I have broken my MCU 'always in order' rule - I haven't seen The Eternals yet. Are there any meaningful references or plot points that I will miss?

Is it worth trying to 'cram' and see Eternals tonight before seeing this tomorrow?

No. There’s no need to see Eternals before seeing MoM. The only thing you would want to watch is WandaVision.

[Blackhawk]

Yeah, I am current on everything else.

Thank you.

[stessier]

Just saw it and really enjoyed it. I purposely avoided all spoiler including trailers and so got a lot of joy out of the surprises. Looking forward to Love and Thunder!!

[stimpy]

Saw it. Like it. Glad to see Raimi's little touches throughout.
Thought they would do something else with Bruce, but what they did had a great ending.
For a rather convoluted story, they managed to keep it pretty understandable about what was going on.
Nice cameos.
All in all, well worth it

[wonderpug]

Looking for spoiler free yes/no answers here:

I have broken my MCU 'always in order' rule - I haven't seen The Eternals yet. Are there any meaningful references or plot points that I will miss?

Is it worth trying to 'cram' and see Eternals tonight before seeing this tomorrow?

No. There’s no need to see Eternals before seeing MoM. The only thing you would want to watch is WandaVision.

Watching What If beforehand also adds to the enjoyment.

[Jaymann]

Saw this yesterday and enjoyed it. Stayed for the callback after the credits. Someone said there was a second one. Anybody know about that?

[stimpy]

Saw this yesterday and enjoyed it. Stayed for the callback after the credits. Someone said there was a second one. Anybody know about that?

There were 2.

First one:

Spoiler:

Strange runs into Charlize Theron as Clea, his third eye opens as does a portal and they both enter it

Second one:

Spoiler:

Pizza Poppa returns!!! He is still punching himself. He finally stops, turns to the camera and exclaims "It's Over!!

[Jaymann]

Would have much preferred to see #2!

[stimpy]

Would have much preferred to see #2!

It was short, but pretty awesome.

[Pyperkub]

Saw this yesterday and enjoyed it. Stayed for the callback after the credits. Someone said there was a second one. Anybody know about that?

There were 2.

First one:

Spoiler:

Strange runs into Charlize Theron as Clea, his third eye opens as does a portal and they both enter it

Second one:

Spoiler:

Pizza Poppa returns!!! He is still punching himself. He finally stops, turns to the camera and exclaims "It's Over!!

Yeah, I wasn't sure if there would be two or not when I saw it last night. I did have time to watch the first, got the bathroom and then come back for the second!

As to the movie, I really liked it. On first impressions, I liked it more than the recent spider man. I liked the way they did the multiverses better and I liked Wanda and how this followed WandaVision so well.

I'm probably even happy that I didn't see What If? Either. All the cameos were really fun, especially Hayley Atwell.

I'm very glad I stayed away from all trailers, spoilers, reviews and was able to go in cold.

It was also great to see in a theater, but..

One thing which REALLY sucked is that the showtime I went to was 920.

After the previews, er, let's call them what they are, commercials, the movie finally started at 950.

30 minutes of commercials for a two hour (and change). Movie - what a waste of time.

For those leery of going to a theater, if they have reserved seating, take a look at what's available. For my showing, there were only four other people there and I felt fine going maskless and chowing popcornin a large theater.

[rittchard]

Avengers Infinity War was on TV yesterday and I had forgotten so many of the details from that movie. It really sets some nice things up such as Dr Strange’s initial meeting with Spider-Man and somewhat contentious relationship with Iron Man. And then a lot of small Wanda/Vision stuff that sets up WandaVision and ultimately this movie. It’s so cool to go back to one of these movies from 3 or 4 years ago and see how the storylines follow and develop over time. Like when the guy asks Strange if the solution to Thanos was absolutely the only one, when I re-watched Infinity War I kind of felt like maybe he should have ran another 14 million scenarios to see if there was a better one lmao. One that didn’t sacrifice Black Widow and turn Wanda into (dark) Scarlet Witch.

[gilraen]

Any time an Avengers movie is on TV, I just realize how little of it I remember (I guess with the Avengers overload the last decade or so, they just all blur together to the point where my mind only preserves the most basic highlights of each one).

[Smoove_B]

Allegedly coming to Disney+ streaming on 6/22.

[JCC]

Allegedly coming to Disney+ streaming on 6/22.

Confirmed. I was going to see this Sunday with (at least) 2 friends, but after I read the news, we all decided to just wait and watch it at my house on June 22nd.

[Max Peck]

Cool, I was expecting a longer delay before it landed on Disney+.

I saw the weirdest take on this movie yesterday. Someone told a friend of mine that they wouldn't like it "as a Catholic" because the movie "doesn't reflect reality." I'm not sure that this person fully grasps the concepts of "fantasy" or "fiction." I'm looking forward to watching it on D+ because I'm really interested to see if I can pick up on what elements might have set them off.

[Isgrimnur]

Wife and I watched it last night and enjoyed it a good deal.

Would have much preferred to see #2!

Spoiler:

[Jaymann]

Well done.

[Isgrimnur]

Glad to help.

[Max Peck]

I started watching the movie a few days ago without realizing that it follows on from Wandavision, which I had not gotten around to watching. Once I got to the first scene with Wanda and clued in, I stopped the movie and proceeded to binge Wandavision before resuming the rest of the film. Time well spent all around.

[Isgrimnur]

Excellent work

[Carpet_pissr]

Yeah, I imagine those who had not watched (or were aware of the premise of) Wandavision got a bit of a shock when and how she showed up in this.

I don’t think it’s necessary to watch the whole series (I did, thought it was pretty good but not amazing), but watching even a minute or two video recap/ summary would be sufficient (if one didn’t want to invest the time to watch the entire series).

[Jaymann]

A trailer of Wanda suffices, though I didn't feel it was required.

[Unagi]

Don’t know how it wouldn’t be required viewing.

How would one understand the entire thing of her ‘created’ family, which this basically hinges on. I mean, you’d catch on, but it would be clear your are totally missing the foundation of the story.

[msteelers]

Yeah, in order to understand everyone’s motivations you need to see the show and how it ended. The movie starts right where the show left off.

[Max Peck]

If nothing else, Wandavision lets you appreciate that Wanda is a broken, tragic figure rather than simply the Big Bad.

[Blackhawk]

Yeah, I’m order to understand everyone’s motivations you need to see the show and how it ended. The movie starts right where the show left off.

+1. You can read a synopsis of Infinity War before seeing Endgame, and you'll be able to enjoy the movie - but you won't really get what you would had you watched both films.

[JCC]

People should watch WandaVision because it's totally fantastic.

[Sudy]

I'm usually pretty indifferent to MCU films, but I enjoyed this one a lot. While I guess it was uneven and certain parts were undeveloped (I wouldn't have minded an expanded runtime but I know most are weary of that), it's just so weird and wonderful and lives up to the strangeness ( ) I hoped this character would deliver. I felt like the first movie was a missed opportunity for the most part. Strange's role in Infinity War would have been more meaningful if it followed a story like this.

I'm not really a Raimi fan, but I loved what were obviously his touches on the film. It was kind of odd; his style was an incursion itself into Marvel's cynical and sanitized machine. The latter ultimately wins out, but it sure was an interesting ride. Its implications are huge, but aren't as clear as I would have expected. I'm not sure if that's an unusual level of restraint in a later-stage MCU production or a failure of the movie to be truly memorable (likely the latter, unfortunately). Despite the many tie-ins (how many future characters were introduced here?), it also kind of feels like it could be one of the entries that will eventually feel like it was swept under the rug.

Oh, some of the CGI seemed... poor for this era. I don't mean the Raimi touches. The stuff that was supposed to be indistinguishable from reality. I see there were other complaints about this. It seemed less noticeable as the movie went on though.

[hepcat]

This one ultimately disappointed me. I am a Raimi fan and was hoping we'd see more Raimi-esque filmmaking. But ultimately it felt like a film made by a committee that included too many people from marketing.

See Spiderman 2 for a prime example of what Raimi can do. The scene in the hospital after Dr. Octavius first gets his arms? That's pure Raimi and plays like a horror film. In Multiverse of Madness Raimi comes close to that...then backs away and lets a bunch of CGI take over. It's still fun at times, and it was better than the first film, but it felt like a lost opportunity for Raimi to just do things his way.

I would have liked more horror, but I can see where it might appeal to those who aren't Raimi fans/didn't want that much horror in their Dr. Strange.

[Carpet_pissr]

Interesting. What is Raimi style filmmaking for the ignorant?

[LordMortis]

Interesting. What is Raimi style filmmaking for the ignorant?

Coming out of Evil Dead, before the action movie adopted similar patterns, Raimi was becoming known for Raimivision.



His work with with the camera has been disorienting in longs shots in action/horror before others and he has continued to grow on that tradition.

[hepcat]

Interesting. What is Raimi style filmmaking for the ignorant?

Practical effects, the intermittent use of hand cams for both people AND inanimate objects, over the top violence (to the point of almost comedy...something that Bruce Campbell said was inspired by Three Stooges comedies in his first biography) at times (but not always, he can also do subdued horror quite well), an indie (read low budget) approach to filmmaking.

Sometimes a director is best when he doesn't have a big budget, IMHO. Guillermo del Toro is another like that. They truly shine when they have to think outside the box. Giving them a ton of money just keeps them in the box.

I had hoped he would return to those roots, but I'm guessing he was told to keep to a big budget script that called for a lot of CGI and crowd pleasing big bangs.

[Max Peck]

This one ultimately disappointed me. I am a Raimi fan and was hoping we'd see more Raimi-esque filmmaking. But ultimately it felt like a film made by a committee that included too many people from marketing.

They may have landed on a middle ground that doesn't really please anyone. I know several people who generally like the MCU but who didn't like this film because they felt it was "too weird" in some way. I suspect the more Raimi/horror it went, the less they'd like it.

I thought it was fine, myself, but I'm not all that discerning when it comes to movies.

[hepcat]

I suspect you’re right about trying to please two sides but not going enough in either direction.