I liked the first DOCTOR STRANGE film. It did suffer a little from first movie/origin film syndrome, but overall I thought it was a solid entry and prior to INFINITY WAR, the film had the best use of an infinity stone at that time with the time stone.
So going into this film, it was definitely in my most anticipated list when Marvel Studios revealed their Phase 4 line-up. I was initially disappointed when Scott Derrickson left the project as I was really excited to hear that this would be the MCU's "horror" film. Obviously I knew it wasn't going to be full on horror, but still I was sadden to see he left, but when Sam Raimi took over, my worries left as Raimi is famous for his horror roots. I imagined we would get scenes like Doc Ock's arms terrorizing the surgeons in SPIDER-MAN 2 or some menacing performances akin to Dafoe's Goblin in the first SPIDER-MAN so I was pretty jazzed.
After seeing it I can say that the film definitely tries to push the PG-13 boundaries with the scares and the blood. A lot of body horror and some mildly creepy imagery. I did appreciate all of this. Even though I wasn't scared or frightened I liked Raimi's visual flare with his camera angles and his trademark usage of horror elements.
I cannot review this film without talking about those cameos. It is quite the treat to see the Illuminati in the form of Patrick Stewart returning as Charles Xavier, Hayley Atwell as Captain Carter, Anson Mount as Black Bolt, Lashana Lynch as that universe's Captain Marvel, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo, and John Krasinski as Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic 4. On a side note, being that I'm also a huge F4 fan I literally got off my seat and cheered. I think the chances of landing Emily Blunt as Sue Storm has increased. They all get their comeuppance through Wanda and the violent deaths are quite bloody for PG-13 and I loved it. I will probably sound like a broken record as I mention this in all of my MCU related reviews, but I love it when things get serious and there is some PG-13 compromise with violence and tone. I think that helps older fans like myself also stay invested for the long run. I think as fans we also know even in their demise, this isn't the last time we'll see them. We also get a nice Charlize Theron as Clea surprise in the mid-credits.
Speaking of Wanda, Elizabeth Olsen absolutely kills it. She does come off as intimidating and crazy. All for the purpose of her boys Billy and Tommy, who are once again portrayed by Julian Hilliard and Jett Klyne from WANDAVISION. I did however feel it was a missed opportunity to not include some variant of Vision.
Elizabeth's performance holds her own against Benedict Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch's Strange this time around is a bit more endearing. Lessons learned from his first film are still kept in tact and I liked how he was fleshed out. I very much appreciated the film explored what effect the events Strange has gone through in his previous MCU appearances would have on him. In doing so his relationship with Christine Palmer is further explored too. Rachel McAdams has so much more to do in this film and she even has a meaty role as her multiverse counterpart helping Strange along the way.
Xochitl Gomez's America Chavez to my surprise was also very well depicted. I haven't particularly read any of her stories in truth, so I think having that clean slate helped me go on with her journey of the story. Benedict Wong is also solid and is also in the film a lot more than I expected. A great juggling act of characters in the film by writer Michael Waldron and Sam Raimi.
Humor in this film worked very well, and there wasn't too much of it which again I appreciated very much so. VFX is also good.
Couple criticisms is when Strange faces off against Evil Strange they have this weird musical note duel. It did take me off the film a tad. Dialog was a bit inconsistent and very exposition heavy. Does a lot explaining than it does showing.
In closing, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. It's got some flaws that prevent it from being top tier MCU. Lots of comic logic that goes over your head, at this point with the universe ever expanding it just gets harder to explain who's here and who's where and why aren't other Avengers involved in a huge threat like this, etc., but I would probably put it a hair above the first film and in the higher middle tier of the MCU. I know especially if you're a fanboy/girl that if you dabbled into some rumor/speculation prior to the release that you might be disappointed as it was said this film was going to have way more crazier cameos than what we got. But I would implore you all that those were just rumors and if you sit back and just take it for what it is then it's a lot of fun. I do think though we might get even more crazier cameos down the line. Perhaps Marvel didn't want to overreach and just dialed it back.
7/10.
So going into this film, it was definitely in my most anticipated list when Marvel Studios revealed their Phase 4 line-up. I was initially disappointed when Scott Derrickson left the project as I was really excited to hear that this would be the MCU's "horror" film. Obviously I knew it wasn't going to be full on horror, but still I was sadden to see he left, but when Sam Raimi took over, my worries left as Raimi is famous for his horror roots. I imagined we would get scenes like Doc Ock's arms terrorizing the surgeons in SPIDER-MAN 2 or some menacing performances akin to Dafoe's Goblin in the first SPIDER-MAN so I was pretty jazzed.
After seeing it I can say that the film definitely tries to push the PG-13 boundaries with the scares and the blood. A lot of body horror and some mildly creepy imagery. I did appreciate all of this. Even though I wasn't scared or frightened I liked Raimi's visual flare with his camera angles and his trademark usage of horror elements.
I cannot review this film without talking about those cameos. It is quite the treat to see the Illuminati in the form of Patrick Stewart returning as Charles Xavier, Hayley Atwell as Captain Carter, Anson Mount as Black Bolt, Lashana Lynch as that universe's Captain Marvel, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo, and John Krasinski as Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic 4. On a side note, being that I'm also a huge F4 fan I literally got off my seat and cheered. I think the chances of landing Emily Blunt as Sue Storm has increased. They all get their comeuppance through Wanda and the violent deaths are quite bloody for PG-13 and I loved it. I will probably sound like a broken record as I mention this in all of my MCU related reviews, but I love it when things get serious and there is some PG-13 compromise with violence and tone. I think that helps older fans like myself also stay invested for the long run. I think as fans we also know even in their demise, this isn't the last time we'll see them. We also get a nice Charlize Theron as Clea surprise in the mid-credits.
Speaking of Wanda, Elizabeth Olsen absolutely kills it. She does come off as intimidating and crazy. All for the purpose of her boys Billy and Tommy, who are once again portrayed by Julian Hilliard and Jett Klyne from WANDAVISION. I did however feel it was a missed opportunity to not include some variant of Vision.
Elizabeth's performance holds her own against Benedict Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch's Strange this time around is a bit more endearing. Lessons learned from his first film are still kept in tact and I liked how he was fleshed out. I very much appreciated the film explored what effect the events Strange has gone through in his previous MCU appearances would have on him. In doing so his relationship with Christine Palmer is further explored too. Rachel McAdams has so much more to do in this film and she even has a meaty role as her multiverse counterpart helping Strange along the way.
Xochitl Gomez's America Chavez to my surprise was also very well depicted. I haven't particularly read any of her stories in truth, so I think having that clean slate helped me go on with her journey of the story. Benedict Wong is also solid and is also in the film a lot more than I expected. A great juggling act of characters in the film by writer Michael Waldron and Sam Raimi.
Humor in this film worked very well, and there wasn't too much of it which again I appreciated very much so. VFX is also good.
Couple criticisms is when Strange faces off against Evil Strange they have this weird musical note duel. It did take me off the film a tad. Dialog was a bit inconsistent and very exposition heavy. Does a lot explaining than it does showing.
In closing, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. It's got some flaws that prevent it from being top tier MCU. Lots of comic logic that goes over your head, at this point with the universe ever expanding it just gets harder to explain who's here and who's where and why aren't other Avengers involved in a huge threat like this, etc., but I would probably put it a hair above the first film and in the higher middle tier of the MCU. I know especially if you're a fanboy/girl that if you dabbled into some rumor/speculation prior to the release that you might be disappointed as it was said this film was going to have way more crazier cameos than what we got. But I would implore you all that those were just rumors and if you sit back and just take it for what it is then it's a lot of fun. I do think though we might get even more crazier cameos down the line. Perhaps Marvel didn't want to overreach and just dialed it back.
7/10.