Another month, another Marvel movie. To be fair it's actually been like four and half months since the last one, but time goes by so fast it felt like it was only a month. This time we have the first Marvel movie of the year Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness directed by the legend Sam Raimi. The movie picks up not too long after the events of Spider-Man No Way Home after Strange was able to undo the mess Spider-Man and himself made. Strange finds himself in another predicament when a young girl named America Chavez appears in his world being chased around by a giant monster. Turns out, this girl has the ability to travel through the multi-verse. Throughout her travels, she met an alternate Stephen Strange that tried to rescue her from the monsters trying to steal her powers. Things get even more complicated when they find out who's behind these attacks: an old ally.
Going into this movie, it was highly recommended that you watch the "Wanda Vision" and "What If" Disney+ series. It's true they do help you understand the plot of the movie more, and a lot of the motivations of certain characters. I will say that I did not watch either of those shows and I still understood everything in the movie, for the most part, maybe a few things that would have helped a little, but if you haven't seen them it's not really a big deal. I can't say I'm a huge fan of constantly having to connect every little thing in the Marvel universe though. It's okay to make shows and movies that aren't all somehow going to be connected to each other. I guess I just don't want to have to watch two or three shows just to be able to understand a movie. Just so you know, the villain's motivations are heavily tied to one of those shows above, not that you won't understand if you haven't seen the show, but the movie assumes that you have already seen it.
Speaking of connections, the weaker part of this movie probably was all the fan-service cameo stuff (not going to mention who but the trailers did spoil a few). It was pretty fun seeing some of those characters on screen, but I feel like rewatching it after it loses that initial surprise, won't be as fun to sit through. It just feels a little too hard on the fanservice, where it kind of takes away from the story and characters that I actually like and want to see more of. That being said, the movie does do something pretty shocking with this that actually makes it worth it in a way. I feel like I'm being too vague here, but I'm just trying to keep it spoiler-free, if you see the movie I think you'll know what I mean.
Besides that weaker spot in the movie, I think the rest of it is really fun and even pretty damn creepy at times. While it's not perfect in its execution of the story, it makes up for it with really unique visuals, great character moments, and a lot of heart. Where it stands out from other Marvel movies is how it uses elements of horror to really push the supernatural elements of Dr. Strange. The main villain is presented as a slasher movie villain, think like Michael Myers or Freddie. Just a creepy unstoppable being tearing apart anything that gets in its way in a very gruesome way. The violence is pushed to its limits in a PG-13 movie and goes beyond what any Marvel movie has really done at this point. There were moments where I was pretty shocked by how far the movie went with its violence but in a really good way. It made the villain just feel even more vicious and unstoppable, which made the action more intense and raised the stakes. We also get a lot of the trippy visuals from the first movie here too, but the movie cuts back on those in favor of the more horror-themed atmosphere. On top of that, you still get the cool action sequences involving lots of mystical powers, which leads to some really unique and fun battles I really liked, especially one near the end of the movie involving a cool use of music.
What I also liked here is how it feels like the character of Dr. Strange really progressed from the first movie to the end of this new one. It takes everything we knew about the character of Strange from his first movie and adds more to his character, so you see him grow more as a person and also grow stronger. I also really like the addition of America Chavez into this world, her power does open up a lot of possibilities in the world of Dr. Strange and the MCU in general. Not only that but she has a good story and works well with Strange. Wong also returns in this movie but feels more like a side character that's just there to move the plot along, not really much else. As you can see on the poster Wanda is also a big part of this movie. Continuing her ark from Wandavision in this movie, I could honestly say this is as much her movie as it is Dr. Strange's. Her character was great in this movie too, she outshined Strange in his own movie at times she was that good.
This was another good addition to the MCU's already solid catalog of movies. It works great as a sequel to Dr. Strange as it adds a lot to his character and it tried a lot of things we haven't seen in any of the movies yet. The villain was very well done, and the movie did a good job at wrapping up everything at the end, while still leaving things open for more stories with Strange and his friends.
Overall Grade: B
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