Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - May 2022

[Ste_S]

On 18/05/2022 at 23:16, Festoon said:

Marvel really need to taper off this multiverse shite.

 

It's kinda embarrassing for Marvel that an indie super-hero (kinda) film has done far better with the multiverse concept than they have. 

 

The Raimi and Marvel call-backs kinda got me along in MoM, but only in a cheap sugar rush kinda way. I've no need to see this film again, whilst I'll probably be re-watching Everything Everywhere all at Once for a while yet.

[MardiganX]

The only thing I can say about this is that the What If episode that focussed on Dr Strange was more fun, looked better and added more to the MCU than pretty much everything going on here.

 

Spoiler

I did really enjoy the Illuminati characters but it very quickly felt like a pointless nod to versions of characters that deserve so much better. How quickly they were dispatched by Wanda / SW was ridiculous given they were apparently that universes mightiest heroes, had faced and defeated Thanos already and then laughed at Strange when he talked about the threat SW possessed. Ok so Black Bolt getting taken out by his own voice imploding his skull was fucking hilarious, but it made these characters look pathetic.

There were some nice moments that looked good but overall it was one of the weakest MCU entries for me.

[Benny]

27 minutes ago, MardiganX said:

The only thing I can say about this is that the What If episode that focussed on Dr Strange was more fun, looked better and added more to the MCU than pretty much everything going on here.

 

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I did really enjoy the Illuminati characters but it very quickly felt like a pointless nod to versions of characters that deserve so much better. How quickly they were dispatched by Wanda / SW was ridiculous given they were apparently that universes mightiest heroes, had faced and defeated Thanos already and then laughed at Strange when he talked about the threat SW possessed. Ok so Black Bolt getting taken out by his own voice imploding his skull was fucking hilarious, but it made these characters look pathetic.

There were some nice moments that looked good but overall it was one of the weakest MCU entries for me.

 

Spoiler

Among the film's many problems, I didn't mind that too much. Wanda has been shown to become consistently more powerful as all the MCU films progressed, and nearly beat Thanos on her own in Endgame at one point. Now her Scarlet Witch powers are fully awakened after Wandavision. And she also has added the power of the Darkhold. So she's a cut above even an alternate Captain Marvel at this point.

 

[MardiganX]

47 minutes ago, Benny said:

 

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Among the film's many problems, I didn't mind that too much. Wanda has been shown to become consistently more powerful as all the MCU films progressed, and nearly beat Thanos on her own in Endgame at one point. Now her Scarlet Witch powers are fully awakened after Wandavision. And she also has added the power of the Darkhold. So she's a cut above even an alternate Captain Marvel at this point.

 

Spoiler

That on its own I could accept, but the stupidity of them not acknowledging her threat alongside it and then being dismissed like absolute amateurs was too much. 
 

It was an otherwise decent part of the movie as I love Fantastic Four and hated what they did with the Inhumans a few years ago. Although they did then double down on that lack of love for Inhumans with Black Bolt getting wasted so easily. 

 

[Lorfarius]

Not good, not bad just... okay. Thought it was about on par with the first but that wasn't a good film either, one thing that did puzzle me at the start was

 

Spoiler

Strange talked about Spidey. But I thought everyone was going to forget about him, including Strange?

 

[Benny]

50 minutes ago, MardiganX said:

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That on its own I could accept, but the stupidity of them not acknowledging her threat alongside it and then being dismissed like absolute amateurs was too much. 
 

It was an otherwise decent part of the movie as I love Fantastic Four and hated what they did with the Inhumans a few years ago. Although they did then double down on that lack of love for Inhumans with Black Bolt getting wasted so easily. 

 

 

Spoiler

I think that hubris was the point to be honest, as it made Doctor Strange our point of view character for those events, and it therefore presented them as being "antagonists" so that the audience could be "okay" with Scarlet Witch brutally murdering them.

 

It is somewhat odd, mind, when you consider these are generally kid friendly franchises with heroes with Lego action figures that are now turning into mass murderers for spurious reasons

 

[MardiganX]

14 minutes ago, Lorfarius said:

Not good, not bad just... okay. Thought it was about on par with the first but that wasn't a good film either, one thing that did puzzle me at the start was

 

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Strange talked about Spidey. But I thought everyone was going to forget about him, including Strange?

 

 

Spoiler

He only forgets that he is Peter Parker, like everyone else. But still knows there is a Spiderman.

 

[Popo]

Watching again on D+.

 

Cant believe no one has pointed out the movie’s biggest plot hole:

 

Spoiler

Wanda’s kids are such little weiners - when they start singing that ice cream song? Forget about it - she’d immediately realise she didn’t want to be a parent, and go home. 

 

[Benny]

Spoiler

I honestly couldn't decide if that bit was meant to be so toe curlingly bad and twee on purpose or not.

 

[Stig]

It was the biggest horror scene in the whole film

[Alex W.]

Spoiler

It clues you in that Wanda has not only become obsessed but has gone completely insane.

 

[Protocol Penguin]

19 hours ago, Stoppy2000 said:

£14 for an adult ticket at my local Odeon. Goes up to £19 for an iSense screening. Crazy really. 

Same where I live. Last film I saw was Top Gun Maverick, £15 each. And I made sure I was watching off-peak when the place was virtually empty, to minimise the Covid risk.

 

22 hours ago, PK said:

The reason I ask is Ragnarok and this are, for me, the two best MCU films and I was wondering if there was something specific about both of them which puts people off.

 

I can't really put my finger on why they're my favourites, other than a vague sense that they have real character rather than being slightly generic-but-enjoyable like the rest of them. Wandavision is also my favourite MCU TV series, I think for the same vague reason.

For me, Thor: Ragnarok probably hit better as I had rock-bottom expectations after Thor: The Dark World. I enjoyed how much they leaned into the humour as well.

 

Wandavision I liked in places, but it was bloated and he ending just wasn't great, really. If it was edited into a two hour(ish) film and given a move satisfactory ending it probably would've been top-tier MCU, but then it might not have been recognisably Wandavision any longer.

[Nick R]

32 minutes ago, Protocol Penguin said:

Wandavision I liked in places, but it was bloated and he ending just wasn't great, really. If it was edited into a two hour(ish) film and given a move satisfactory ending it probably would've been top-tier MCU, but then it might not have been recognisably Wandavision any longer.

 

A big part of its appeal was that it was a TV series about being a TV series. (Specifically, a "prestige" streaming miniseries playing at being an episodic network sitcom.)

 

You could alter it to be a film that plays with the ways that comedy films have changed over the decades, but as you say, would it still be recognisably the same thing? (You'd lose the title's "vision" pun, for a start. )

 

[Darwock]

I somehow managed to avoid knowing anything at all about this, before watching it last night.

 

my thought process was something like:

 

1. This is quite trashy, but the title is ‘multiverse of madness’ so I guess they are leaning into the B movie thing.

2. Woah, pure schlock! Alright I will get onboard with it.

3. Wow they are really channeling Sam Raimi, that’s cool haha (this was in the Baron Mordo fight)

 

End credits

 

4. OHHHHHHHHHHH… I see! 

 

My first reaction on the opening CGI scene was that it all looked a bit shit, but my enjoyment of everything snowballed from start to finish and I was having a blast at the end. I totally loved it, and unlike No Way Home (which I also loved but see no reason to watch again) I think it could be a lot of fun watching this even after knowing everything that happens.

 

My 10yo daughter is a big fan of Wanda/Wandavision but I’m not sure she could handle this. I told her it was a continuation of that story and she was like “right at the end you hear her kids voices when she’s doing the magic, right?”. I didn’t even remember that.

 

edit - if I can be permitted one complaint (and I think I will be the first to have this one) it’s that in the scenes where Strange was in his civvy clothes his whole head looked like CGI, even though it wasn’t. His hair and beard looked ridiculously painted on, and his face is all smooth and shiny. Shouldn’t he look a bit more weathered?

[Captain Kelsten]

The comics needed the multiverse as a way to soft reboot characters that had, by that point, been going for decades into ever-increasingly convoluted storylines and they needed a jumping on point for new readers. 
 

In the films they’ve just made it all a bit lazy. 

[DeciderVT]

15 hours ago, Darwock said:

His hair and beard looked ridiculously painted on, and his face is all smooth and shiny. Shouldn’t he look a bit more weathered?

 

Doesn't Strange's hair and beard always look a bit off? I thought that's why we got the hair dye joke in No Way Home.

[deKay]

Watched it today and very much enjoyed it. Some of you lot are really hard work to please.

[yashiro]

This film is shite and you're too easily pleased!

[Darwock]

8 hours ago, DeciderVT said:

 

Doesn't Strange's hair and beard always look a bit off? I thought that's why we got the hair dye joke in No Way Home.

Maybe because it’s so hard to make the hair look real for his CGI double, instead they just made his real hair look like CGI.

[SeanR]

Came home

the other day to

find the boy paused 50 minutes

into this and it looked

like a ps4

cutscene

 

 

[Broker]

On 24/06/2022 at 13:20, PK said:

Out of interest, those of you who didn't enjoy this or think it's middling - what did you think of Thor Ragnarok?

Ragnarok is the second best MCU film. This is the 9th worst. 

[NecroMorrius]

On 24/06/2022 at 21:58, Stigweard said:

Wow that ridiculous

 

Come to Bristol, I dare you












£136. And that's assuming you all live in the same house like the Young Ones

 

[Stig]

48 minutes ago, Moz said:

 

Come to Bristol, I dare you












£136. And that's assuming you all live in the same house like the Young Ones

 

 

An 8 hours round trip is a bit much just for the cinema 😆.

 

I have to travel 20-25minutes to the closest cinemas but the ticket prices are £4.99 at Empire or Vue near me. So there's fuel costs to consider these days but I'm happy to travel to see something I want to on the big screen. My town's in the middle of building a cinema at the moment though which is great cause it'll be a 5 minute walk.

 

Always take in your own treats if you want them though. £2 for a bag of popcorn and a drink from the shops.

[Captain Kelsten]

5 hours ago, SeanR said:

Came home

the other day to

find the boy paused 50 minutes

into this and it looked

like a ps4

cutscene

 

 

That’s not how you write a haiku 

[footle]

2 hours ago, Moz said:

 

Come to Bristol, I dare you












£136. And that's assuming you all live in the same house like the Young Ones

 

 

You are going to an everyman though. If ever a name was less appropriate for a cinema?

[NecroMorrius]

1 hour ago, footle said:

 

You are going to an everyman though. If ever a name was less appropriate for a cinema?

 

Haha, very good.

 

I used to work in a cinema called the orpheus, which is still there now. The prices have barely changed in 20 years! Fiver for an adult. The downside is it's pretty small and low-tech, it only takes a couple of arseholes to totally ruin a movie.

 

 

[ScouserInExile]

Watched this with the kids (6, 8 and 11) yesterday. We all thoroughly enjoyed it, it was a lot of fun. No, it's not a masterpiece of cinema like Citizen Kane or Showgirls, but it did what it did really well - it kept us entertained for two hours. And that's all we asked of it.

 

My only complaint would be the swearing and done of the horror bits. The bulk of it was clearly aimed at kids, and the occasional "shit" seemed a bit out of place, as did Zombie Strange. 

[sofasurfer]

8 hours ago, Moz said:

 

Come to Bristol, I dare you












£136. And that's assuming you all live in the same house like the Young Ones

 

That's an Everyman cinema if I'm not mistaken. Our local one in Gerrards Cross has the same pricing and a night out can get expensive when you factor in drinks and maybe eating there.

[Jimmyzilla]

Just rewatched Shang-Chi and doubly disappointed he wasn't in this after Wong called on him at the end.

 

MCU just can't work as stand alone films now....

[DeciderVT]

Everyman cinemas might be expensive but I haven't had to put up with a shit audience spoiling the film since I started going to one. It's a much better experience than other local cinemas.