Written by Michael Waldron / Directed by Sam Raimi / Released in the U.K. by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / 126 Minutes
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Review by Rob Deb
The Pitch: To restore a world where everything is changing, Doctor Stephen Strange seeks help from his ally Wong, the Sorcerer Supreme, and the Avengers' most powerful Scarlet Witch, Wanda. But a terrible threat looms over humanity and the entire universe that no longer can be done by their power alone. Even more surprising, the greatest threat in the universe looks exactly like Doctor Strange.
I am not a Marvel Zombie. I’ve not seen Wandavision, I’ve not seen Spider-Man: No Way Home. But I know a thrilling film with a great sense of craft when I see one, and this is it.
Of the Pantheon of Heroes in the MCU, one of Strange’s most notable traits is being the one who’s willing to ‘make the call’, ‘draw the line’ and do what has to be done. This film does a lot to shed a brighter light on Strange, as we finally begin to see that this approach has a cost and a consequence to who he is.
America chavez’s origin leaves a lot to be desired
On one level the story is fairly linear, as our wary hero finds himself with a teenager on the run in America Chavez, and attempts to both avoid pursuit and defeat the enemy while helping the child to gain control of her wild talents. While America is played gamely by Xochitl Gomez, her origin itself leaves a lot to be desired and frankly, feels quite pedestrian from a studio of almost 15 years of cinematic creativity. Indeed, both she and Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer do spend a great deal of their screen time doubting and running, and, aside from a few quippy moments, don’t get to deliver a real sense of their own character’s potential.
This film is more thematic and tonal than plot or character-driven and it delivers thrills and chills in utter eye-gouging bucketloads. This is first and foremost a Rami feature, his motifs of crash zooms, askew angles and jump scares run throughout the film. His depiction of demons and evil twins sticks to the mould he created with his legion of deadites, and he drags Doctor Strange through his own personal hell. The creepiest and scariest scenes are in the most mundane places as a supernatural home invasion does more than any bargain with Dormammu. This is possibly the most gruesome and shocking film from the MCU thus far.
FINALLY TAKING HER MANTLE, THE SCARLET WITCH IS A PEER IN POWER TO DR. STRANGE
Wanda Maximoff is the only character to show real change and growth. Finally taking the Mantle of the Scarlet Witch she truly encompasses a peer in personal power to Stephen Strange and shows that strength someone would understand coming from the Daughter of Magneto.
STRANGE IS A STRAIGHT MAN TO THE CHAOS AROUND HIM
It is with this level of reference the film falls flat. There is a substantial amount of time where, twist after twist the film suddenly decides to pepper and indeed practically bombard us with not so much easter eggs, but a battery farm of fangasming delights that detract from the film itself and was more like a montage of the post-credit sequences that often people seem to go and see marvel films for. It’s more a distraction than a fantastic force in the film and I could have done without it. Subsequently, the world of magic opens up beyond the visual introspection of the first film to a broader and more emotive force. There are moments with the clashes of magic by two maestri are more Fantasia than fantastical and the dark quality the, albeit quite ‘Disneyfied’ magic has, suitably unnerves and admonishes any notion that being a wizard is ‘cool’.
Strange himself is a straight man to the chaos around him. Yet, he shows his vulnerability more, as well as his ruthlessness in this feature, and it ends with a sense of adventure that leaves me keen to eye the third feature. The running question throughout the film has various people asking the good doctor the same question: “Are you happy, Stephen?”
And I was delighted.
Doctor Strange takes on The Raimiverse in a film that is cacophonic but never catastrophic and, despite a few flat notes, orchestrates a great experience against the Army of Darkness.