5/5/22 - Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022) - 4+10
While wild and intent on a bit of bonkers boisterousness, it sorely lacked consistent enjoyment and character forward plot engagement. In fact, it was a bit dull and uncharismatic, languidly falling to the bottom chunk of the MCU mega pics. All that said, as a fan of these films in general, my disappointment is in context, as the film was solid enough as it’s own filmic entity but I can’t say that I dug it.
I was surprised at how non-horror this touted “new MCU direction” or “groundbreaking superhero scares” really was. There are monsters, animated corpses and demons sure, but it lacked near any affecting frights. There are a couple nice jump scares that happen within seconds of each other, which make up the bulk of the “scary” bits, but it was feckless in such a tone. It’s simply lifeless in that category.
That’s more symbolic of the whole corpsification on display. There is very little to sink your teeth into character wise. Simple would be a spoken kindness by way of the scripted plot and its dialogue. Cumbebatch’s Strange is brusque and stodgy to the film's detriment. There are no relationships or genuine magnetic arcs. How much do we need to pair Strange with a love interest he doesn’t actually seem to like or have any spark with, especially to the point of it mattering more than all of reality? The new characters are also somewhat bland, especially for someone who has read them in the comics. I guess you could try and fall back on Wanda and her path towards the dark side, but that was starkly unrefined and vacant enough to belittle (remember when you cared and felt for her, when she was a dynamic character with palpable pathos?).
Perhaps the most defining deadness is that behind the camera. Raimi’s style is one personified by a spicy mixture of spunky dark comedy and gross out horror, heavy in genre, and accentuated by wild free-roaming camera tracking & the injection of his favorite actors. While you get some Campbell, making the most of his minimal time, and some established camera flourishes, it lacked humor and horror, leaving a somewhat vanilla collection of set-pieces and stilted narrative. Yes, there is some style, but not enough to praise or save the film.
Perhaps this was just to introduce elements for the next phase, which is a weak excuse for a film. There are 10 min or so of geek out fan service, prompting gasps and cheers in the theater, which was limited fun. There is also a sparse collection of cool scenes and some imaginative machinations. If anything, those just jazzed me up for what could have been, but what we received on the whole was a disappointment.
