Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has TWO post-credit scenes, following an insane film packed with cameos and dark lore. Charlize Theron joins the MCU as Clea, sorcerer supreme of the Dark Dimension and possible future wife to Doctor Strange, warning of an “incursion” that may point to Avengers 5 Secret Wars. But why does Doctor Strange have his third eye? Erik Voss explains this film’s ending, and what takeaways we have from the jaw-dropping Illuminati sequence, featuring John Krasinski as Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four, and Patrick Stewart as Professor X Charles Xavier of the X-Men, and Hayley Atwell as Captain Carter.
Mainly light spoilers for Dr Strange (ie nothing you wouldn’t see in the trailers). With some minor plot spoilers dashed in. But these spoiler are okay for non-marvel fans or less hardcore marvel fans, but any hardcore marvel fans please don’t read until you’ve seen the film. Don’t worry, this review isn’t going anywhere – it will be here when you come back 😉
Dr Strange is hands down the best marvel movie I’ve seen to date. Infinity War, No Way Home and Black Panther take a back seat to this.
There are some minor story mistakes here and there, like:
HORRIBLE “show and telling” that cheapened an already lacklustre back story.
The cliché “hero all of a sudden knows how to use their powers perfectly at the end when they need it even though there was little evidence of that during the film “
Also feel like there was a deeper story to be told that was only lightly touched on in relation to the patriarchy. Dr Strange is allowed to almost break the multiverse to help a kid and his friends get into college (when he literally could’ve done anyway if he just sent a simple email) and receives zero consequences whatsoever. But Wanda does so in the pursuit of finding her kids after losing everything dear to her. She killed the love of her life only for it to mean nothing because Dr Strange gave Thanos the very stone he used to undo Wanda’s sacrifice and rip the soul stone out of his head. (If this doesn’t make sense to the non-marvel fans see the last 20-30 mins of infinity war) What does Wanda get just for doing a similar thing to Dr Strange but in purpose of finding her kids? Well she gets the entire world of magic up against her.
I think this would’ve been a good story bead to dive deeper into because in this world “men fail up”, while women are judged more harshly for the same mistakes their male counter parts make.
Besides my above disappointments with the film, I think it was a cinematic masterpiece. The pacing was so phenomenal that I didnt even realise that time was passing as I watched the movie. It kept feeling like I was in the first 30 mins the whole time. The fight scenes were phenomenal and took full advantage of the magic aspect.
This movie gets a 9.5 out of 10 from me. It was so close to being perfect which is disappointing because I know these errors are very fixable and basic writing issues.
At the end of the day if you ignore all the CGI, superpowers, and craziness; this is one of the most relatable and human stories you will ever find. It’s about a mother fighting to be with her kids. And as we see in nature, there’s no force more dangerous than a mother fighting for her kids. And this movie embodies that so perfectly well.
Highly recommend to both marvel and non-marvel fans
(Also really loved the first Dr Strange because of how different it was from other Marvel movies during its time and its safe to say that they’ve done it again😇)