It was entertaining but plot felt really messy. I'm probably done with Marvel too after this. I think they could have stopped making these after Endgame tbh.
I'm out until Secret Wars or any of the FOX characters show up. some of the shows are interesting but the magic is gone. RIP Chadwick. He had the necessary Charisma to lead the franchise like Chris Evans and RDJ had. Everyone else is kind of boring.
I noticed that in the small five theater multiplex near me in Tennessee, that there are 12-showings of Dr. Strange today (Monday). I further see that there are 2-showings additional in 3D. I haven't been following theater trends for the last three years but I had been under the impression that 3D was popular for these types of movies? Curious, I checked the larger theater a little further away and it has 12-regular showings and 6-showings on their SXS sound screens. It didn't have any listed as 3D? "All SXS houses are equipped with 46,000 watt stereo sound systems. Featuring Dolby Stereo with 16 channels with over surround speakers as well as side and stage speakers. These auditoriums also feature 55-Foot Wide Screens." (I saw Star Wars IV in their deluxe sound theater and didn't find it anything special.)
I see that is just bypassed the previous 2016 movie by 10M in worldwide gross. WORLDWIDE: $688,062,523
Some theaters are keeping the prices low to continue to build back their post lockdown customers. While this is a huge success, most post lockdown openings are still modest when compared to 2019 attendance.
Agree that this was an extension of themes explored in WandaVision, and unnecessarily so. Enjoyed it for what it was, with Raimi doing his mostly-excellent thing. Solid, but not top-flight MCU (Winter Soldier still my #1, I’d say).
As much I enjoy Raimi films.. he should learned his lesson with spiderman 3.. He should bow out big movies from now on.
‘Just left the theater, yep it was all over the place and never really exciting. Disappointment from Sam Raimi (other than the Bruce Campbell cameo).
Just watched this finally on the Disney +, and... I enjoyed it. I've been pretty blah about most post-End Game Marvel productions, but I thought this was a fun, if messy, excursion, Raimi style. I prefer MOM to No Way Home, even, which is supposedly the greatest motion picture ever made in the history of cinema. I walked away from MOM ready to watch it again right away. I'm still really hoping for a movie or show featuring the old school Defenders team with Hellcat, Valkyrie, Son of Satan, Nighthawk and Gargoyle.
I watched it this week on Disney+. It took me three sessions to get through the whole thing. I am re-christening it Doctor Strange and The Marvel Cinematic Universe of Disappointment. I really loved the predecessor Doctor Strange movie - my review on this site held the movie to be one of the best of the Marvel offerings, and watching it since several times has only increased my enthusiasm, and his appearances since have increased my appreciation of the character. There are two huge issues with the sequel. The first is the character. Doctor Strange does not appear in the film for what seems like long stretches of screen time. Lots of other characters do - the Illuminati, Wicked Wanda, etc. But when I look forward to seeing a movie for several years, I rather expect to see the guy with his name in top billing doing stuff. Or see plot developments where I am thinking 'oh dear - how is Doctor Strange going to deal with this when he finds out what's going on in the next scene in about twenty seconds' time?' The plot I thought I was going to see was already laid out for Marvel at the end of the first film: Strange takes on Baron Mordo. Possibly (certainly, in my book) with the backing of Dormammu, as took place in the original sixties comics over a long run of ten page stories that formed part of the shared-title Strange Tales. That should have formed the skeleton inspiration for a deeply satisfying movie with lots of action, peril, and character development. The second fault for me was the villain. Wicked Wanda? Really? I am sorry, but we live in a real world where leaders rear up and say 'By the way, this year my ongoing agenda includes bombing public buildings where families and children cower from my army as a tactic of fear and demoralisation'. If you are looking for a movie villain, a formerly sympathetic character who makes poor personal choices in her ambition to modify her working environment so she can spend more time with her family simply does not cut it for me. Dormammu has a title in the comics. 'The Dread Dormammu'. He even uses it to describe himself, as in 'You have betrayed the Dread Dormammu and will suffer accordingly'. Now that's a villain. He has a flaming head, years before Ghost Rider, and spends his life pondering how he can eliminate Doctor Strange, his sole barrier to entering our realm in order to enslave us all. He's also known as The Destroyer Of All Worlds. Does anyone else not see the villain disparity here? Marvel obviously didn't. Here is my bottom line: unfortunately for me, in its DNA Marvel has a real liking for the multi-part storyline which sucks in other projects like a black hole and demands of the reader 'read this, see this, re-watch and re-read THIS before you even think about going further'. They did it in my initial years with the comics, in the 70s, with the first Thanos story and then a decade later the multi-issue 'Secret Wars', which spread across God knows how many titles. Good comic book movies IMHO have clear, clean, streamlined plots. Bad baddies. Action. Character development (keeping in mind we are watching a comic book movie, and not a heartfelt drama that could not be greenlit until Tom Hanks was available). I am not being self-pitying when I say my views don't count for much. I did not really care for the whole Avengers/Thanos storyline, but at least it was well-handled. But those movies were some of the best grossing movies of cineamtic history. The current Doctor Strange is the biggest grossing movie of this year so far. But to me the movie was a cluttered, disappointing mess. The lead actor brought his trademark and welcome wit and sarcasm and stellar acting chops to proceedings, Sam Raimi did some good things, but I really, really did not enjoy it on any level. And the sad fact as Marvel continues taking great and often complex characters to the screen, the voice in the room that says 'wait - how does this idea advance what this main character does? And what's with this plot - I lost my notes somewhere since the last meeting and I can't remember WTF happens in our story and why, and that's not good right there. And can't we get a better bunch of villains, the ones we have here bore me already?' is either muted or not there at all. SO no longer an Excelsior! from me, I am afraid. More like a Dang.
Wanda became a villain in the comics, with the same motivations as seen here and the incredible WandaVision.
Not relevant. It wasn't explained in this movie. Like many viewers of the movie, I did not see WandaVision. And again like others I did not read the corresponding comics. Again, my own view, but I cannot enjoy a movie that comes with homework to do before going in. That was my point. Villains is as villains does. Dormammu never fought alongside the Avengers.
Oh, I see. Marvel should ignore a massive storyline that crossed over all their books and was extremely popular because you didn’t know about it. Right.
I think a bigger issue here is less that you have to have seen WandaVision to enjoy this film, but that several of the villain beats from that story are just flat-out repeated here. I feel like that was an attempt to make it so that folks didn't have to have seen the TV show, but for those that had, some parts of the movie might have seemed a bit rehash-y.
To be fair, and a bit spoilery- this is more of an extension than rehash. Wanda showed no signs that she had gotten over her grief at the end of WandaVision - and she had in fact become more powerful in addition to having learned about the multiverse. She, like Jean Grey, became so powerful that she works best as an adversary.
Your sarcasm is uncalled for. I actually acknowledge in my post that my views are contrary to what Marvel does, and indeed based on its success and the success of the movie we are discussing, should be doing. Hence my Perhaps you should read my post, as opposed to simply scanning it with your 'Highlight Where Differs From My Experience' software.
Duly noted. I think I was reacting, more than anything, to your ‘Multiverse of disappointment’ from a few posts earlier, which I admit made me angry.
No worries. It made ME angry and sad over the weekend. But what I was trying to get across was I realised this has been my experience with Marvel nearly all my life, it is just me (disliking the extended narratives, preferring stand-alone stories). Many others (hundreds of thousands) enjoy it very much indeed.
