Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) | Review

26/June/2022. Watched. 

 My rating: 6/10. 

 Every MCU project since Endgame, except for No Way Home, has left me at best feeling underwhelmed and at worst frustrated. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is not an exception.

 Look, we've all heard how terrible the Marvel template is. How creativity goes to drown herself in Kevin Feigi's well of restraint. And when I first heard that Sam Raimi was returning to direct a superhero film, I was disappointed. Not only because I find myself experiencing extreme superhero fatigue, but also because I knew that Raimi would barely be visible in the film, coming to the surface at regular but brief intervals. And that's exactly what it is.

 Consider the action scenes in the original Spider-Man films. The times square battle, the tram full of kids and Mary Jane falling towards their death, the train full of civilians men, women and children rolling towards the sea, even the bystanders are endangered during a car chase. There were stakes. They made us care and flinch and thrilled when the hero saved the day. It felt real, in it's own fantastical way. 

 But now when you look at the fight scenes in DSITMOM (terrible title for a movie by the way), which are choreographed way before a director is even hired, they feel hollow. In spite of their millions of dollars worth of VFX, they end up feeling lifeless. Why is that? Its because we know nothing bad of actual consequence is going to happen to this world that we're seeing. Because we have been seeing this same world for the last fourteen years. Things only seem to be getting better for this world, if not for the bigger monsters. For narrative to have some weight, the characters and the world needs to worsen as it progresses, not flourish. 

 Take a look at Spider-Man 2 (2004), for instance. Directed by none other than Raimi himself, and written by Alvin Sergeant, its a masterclass at how chasing your protagonist up a tree and throwing rocks at them makes the audience root for them even more. The worse the situations they find themselves in, the more interesting the story as a whole gets. But the fact that the MCU films are rather lucrative intellectual properties first and foremost, they come with a ceiling to which the tension can escalate. They can't risk to gut their cash cow. And all the more power to them for it. But don't expect me to stay around for that. 

 The cast is alright. I don't understand what am I supposed to admire in these big budget movies nowadays when it comes to acting. We've seen a lot of Benedict Cumberbatch in this past decade; Sherlock, The Imitation Game, The Power of the Dog and the hundred different MCU titles; hence we know, you know, exactly what you'll be getting when going into this, so I needn't talk about any of it. 

 Elizabeth Olsen steers her performance into a more unhinged territory and finally becomes a complete villain (which she had already became in WandaVision but the writers refused to treat her as one at the end). And I liked her character the best in this, as she finally gets to complete her arc and finish her story. I hope that they don't bring her back - which they will sooner or later - because it was a pretty good ending for her character. 

 This paragraph will contain spoilers, so skip if you haven't seen it yet. I smiled once in this entire affair and that was when Hayley Atwell and Jim, James, Jimothy from The Office (John Krasinski) showed up as Captain Carter and Reed Richards respectively. I love both the actors, their scenes were short but nice. Their scenes weren't written very well though, the totality of my enjoyment came from their mere presence on the screen. Also, Sir Patrick Stewart also reprised his role as Charles Xavier. He rolls in the frame with a rendition of X-Men animated series' theme playing in the background, but was it worth it? Logan was a perfect send off for the character, we didn't need to see him again. But alright. And the Bruce Campbell cameo could've been so much better; his post credit scene was fun though. Man... he has gotten old.

 There were many callbacks to the Holy Trilogy, with the way the shots were composed, the dialogues were written and the music was composed. Danny Elfman's new score for this film sounds eerily similar to how his score sounded for the Spider-Man movies. Which makes it forgettable for me, by reminding me of the other movies. Its good though. The cheesy piano bangs were fun. Plus, the ending for Wanda is exactly the same as Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2. There you go.

 Another thing which bugs me is that these films feel agenda-driven. Almost qualifying as woke-propaganda. For example, during a scene in a church, in a single frame you can see people of all races and religions sitting and smiling as the wedding proceeds. Now, I'm not saying that it can't or doesn't happen. What I'm saying is that it feels forced, pandering and it makes me cringe. And guess what, when you travel to an alternate New York City, its an envirmentalist utopia. I'm all for environmentalism, but when you put social messages in such a blunt manner where it doesn't belong, it feels odd. 

 I wonder if Raimi decides to make his Spider-Man 4, would it really be "his" Spider-Man 4? Or would the studios dictate it's fate? I doubt if it would have that same cinematic feeling. Sam Raimi will always have a special place in our hearts for my generation, but perhaps his best work is behind him. I hope he proves me wrong.