Dr. Strange 2 (spoilers)

[Hulkout42]

OK. I watched it a second time and I can put down my thoughts better.

1. It was VERY much a Sam Raimi movie. It was filled with his style and this movie really pushed the PG-13 rating, a lot of people were legit frightened at some scenes in the movie. The ending sequence with "Undead Strange" was definitely one of the more bizarre scenes out of a Marvel movie.

2. It's a very strange movie (pun fully intended) because it really had no proper story beginning and no proper ending. Ultimately it was more a sequel to Wandavision than it was Dr Strange sequel.

3. The Illuminati as I mentioned earlier were just fodder and fan service. I guess now that we have incursions an Illuminati will be set up on Earth 616 (as someone pointed out, I wish they hadn't called it Earth-616).

4. I can see why Benedict Cumberbatch was worried about Strange's development in the movie. Ultimately, his actions didn't drive the plot of the movie forward as he was just reacting to everything around him.

5. Elizabeth Olsen was the MVP of the movie. I didn't like what they did with Wanda because I feel there are still stories to be told about her (her fate was ambiguous and I don't she died). Although it's understandable that she was corrupted by the Darkhold but this wouldn't have been the next story I would have told with her. However, if we count her as a villain, she was easily the best villain of the MCU so far. Despite Wanda going as far as she did Olsen always kept that sadness in her performance and you could see that she did indeed struggle with what she was doing at some points.

6. Dr. Strange seemed a lot weaker here than he did in Endgame. I guess that could be because he doesn't have an Infinity Stone anymore (?).

7. America Chavez was more of a plot device here than anything else. Although the actress playing her has a charm to her.

Yes, i felt the same way, i think he pushed as far as Disney let him because i saw so much Evil Dead references here and it was like 30 min of an MCU movie and the rest was Sam Raimi going to his horror roots, even Bruce Campbell pulling that stunt made me think back to that moment in Evil Dead 2 when his hand first gets possessed.

I actually hope she is dead, because i am not happy Wanda was used in a villainous capacity because it feels like not even in the MCU she was spared from being treated like a pariah just like in the comics. And let's be honest she did a lot of terrible things in the movie that can't be ignored or forgiven and from what some of my friends have said she could not have a redemption arc if she were to return and i have to agree, let her rest is my thoughts on the matter. I don't want to see the MCU Wanda go through the same crap that Comic Book Wanda has also suffered.

[Wildling]

I have no dog in any Wanda fight but I don't remotely believe she really died here or won't come back eventually (no corpse shown after all, with or without magic), and if she really got rid of the Darkhold everywhere in the process, that's a lot of good accomplished even the Illuminati would appreciate.

[Agent Z]

I just find it funny that this is the movie where Wanda fans think she went too far. She's been doing villainous stuff since she first appeared in Age of Ultron.

[Wildling]

I just find it funny that this is the movie where Wanda fans think she went too far. She's been doing villainous stuff since she first appeared in Age of Ultron.

That villainous always lurked around, close or far, might be the fact of life.

[GenericUsername]

I just find it funny that this is the movie where Wanda fans think she went too far. She's been doing villainous stuff since she first appeared in Age of Ultron.

Well it's because this showed her being malicious and murderous. Despite everything earlier, she didn't really have a body count. Context is important. She went after the Avengers because of Tony and thinking he was responsible for her family being dead. And he was, just in an indirect way. She tried to stop Crossbone's bomb but that didn't work so people were still hurt and killed but only because she didn't have a handle on her powers. She helped save the world versus Thanos. And despite what she did in WV being very wrong, no one was hurt.

[Somecrazyaussie]

No, Star Lord had play the idiot who screwed things up for everyone, and Hulk was a coward. Particularly fans of the Hulk assumed he'd find his courage and beat Thanos down a little, but that didn't happen. Instead he got to play non-combatant professor, something no Hulk fan wanted.

When i said that I meant they weren't as jokey as End Game ended up being. But most of the characters in the MCU have deviated from the comics. I would have preferred Tony Stark to have been like he was in the comics for decades, but the actor comes in and plays it the way they feel they should.

As for Strange? That's probably Cumberbatch's choice. He plays snarky, arrogant characters well and Strange was arrogant in the comics. Yes, he eventually learned humility, but there is always that undercurrent there of arrogance. Be thankful we didn't end up with the characterization Aaron gave him when he wrote his Doctor Strange run *shivers*

[Jack The Tripper]

I’ll put down my full thoughts later but:

I loved this movie. It was like a Raimi greatest hits in the best way. More Evil Dead Trilogy/Drag Me To Hell than Spider-Man which I appreciated.

The horror elements were really well done, and a lot of the kills were BRUTAL.

I acknowledge problems with the script and the pacing/structure, but when the movie got going it was so much fun. My girlfriend laughed at me because of the massive grin I had on my face the entire run time.

I wish there was an extra 15 mins at the beginning to let the plot start organically, and I wish there was less info dumps and exposition.

I loved all the action, and I hope the movie makes good box office so Sam Raimi can come back and direct a less busy Doctor Strange film. Maybe take Waldron off script duties though. Either way I’m glad we’ve gotten another Raimi film. I hope he gets back to directing full time

[Username taken]

Yeah, Variety is actually wondering how Dr Strange 2 got a PG-13.

https://ca.yahoo.com/news/spell-did-...203104622.html

The movie actually went harder on the violence than I expected. Some of the imagery in the movie was only stuff you see in R-rated movies.

Like I said earlier, a lot of families are shocked at the level of carnage in the movie.

[Castle]

My Review

I just saw the movie and sometimes I wonder with myself, do I really like film/cinema so much as a craft that I like to be informed about it much and the answer is always yes. this is my only logical explanation why i still watch some comic book movies as they are now the big forces of cinema. its like the movie had so much but said so little and I feel in the coming months people are going to look at this film as maybe marvel's worst offender in excessive CGI , (which some were quite awful) over plot.

It is a marvel formula movie at its most excessive and perhaps maybe the weakest film they have released post pandemic. all my predictions that I said will likely be the outcome of the movie came to pass especially the cameos and the concept of how to do a multiverse story.


I have seen some MCU movies more than once at their time of release. I even saw NWH twice, but this movie, I have no intention to see again, one good thing I will say is Rachael Mcadams, looks so lovely in this film. 18 years since Mean Girls and she looks more beautiful than ever and Elizabeth Orsen gave a fantastic performance. Outside of that, most of the movie was severely lacking in content.

If I predicted that The Batman will be the top comic film of the year, this is going to turn out so and with a wide wide gap. This movies fails in many ways for many of the reason the Batman succeeds. First with the Batman, I can at least find a solid story, with better cgi, better cinemathogprhay and better direction, better film craft

Additionally can I say before I went to see this film, I was having a blast from the past of watching some old Hollywood movies again (Annie Hall) which I had to pause to go see Dr Strange 2 and when I was watching Dr Strange 2, all I could think about was going back to finish Annie Hall as I am doing right now and boy, what a difference. no wonder many directors like to come negatively for marvel

I once said that I know why Annie Hall beat star wars 77 for best picture and revisiting the movie, I can see why (again) , so I hope Disney don't even try to push Dr Strange 2 at awards season not even for Oscar VFX, which should have been a big strength here for this kind of film, especially with Sam Raimi as the director.

Hopefully I remember a lot about this movie because by the 2nd and 3rd arc things got so messy, had no clue what was going on and this is not my fault. I blame this on the mishap screen writing that they masked with the excessive cgi, if not that America Charvez ended up giving Wanda what she wanted, which had to be memorable by force (her kids, who ending up loathing her and seeing her as a monster) I wont have remembered much about the film and also Dr Strange getting the 3rd eye in the final scene. I hope this is not a plot point mcu ignores when we see him again.

Lastly I don't think Wanda is dead, she showed so much unlimited power, no way collapsing buildings would have killed her so easily, she likely escaped, hence the red energy burst we see as the building towers collapsed.

Over grade: C-

I wish I could grade this higher just for Elizabeth Olsen but you need more than one stand out performance. I also gave The Batman a B grade and that was a far better movie, so I think the C- here by that standard is deserving.

[inisideguy]

450 million worldwide for Strange 2 in one weekend.

[Username taken]

450 million worldwide for Strange 2 in one weekend.

Wow.

It's going to cross a billion very soon.

[BeastieRunner]

It was very much a Raimi film and I was surprised this was not R.

Between Blackbolt's head explosion, the brutal kill of Reed, the neck snap of Xavier, and the bisection of Captain Carter ... Holey moley.

[I'm a Fish]

Well it's because this showed her being malicious and murderous. Despite everything earlier, she didn't really have a body count. Context is important. She went after the Avengers because of Tony and thinking he was responsible for her family being dead. And he was, just in an indirect way. She tried to stop Crossbone's bomb but that didn't work so people were still hurt and killed but only because she didn't have a handle on her powers. She helped save the world versus Thanos. And despite what she did in WV being very wrong, no one was hurt.

Personally, the villainous thing I was thinking about was when she unleashed an enraged Hulk onto a city…

It was very much a Raimi film and I was surprised this was not R.

Between Blackbolt's head explosion, the brutal kill of Reed, the neck snap of Xavier, and the bisection of Captain Carter ... Holey moley.

So Marvel and DC both have their own neck snap scene now.

[Castle]

It was very much a Raimi film and I was surprised this was not R.

Between Blackbolt's head explosion, the brutal kill of Reed, the neck snap of Xavier, and the bisection of Captain Carter ... Holey moley.

I think the violence has been overplayed, also I find it odd how these are some that claimed r was not necessary and r was bad and r made no sense, it is kind of odd that now they seem to good on here about the violence here.

I saw the film and not once was I scared or felt truly gory, maybe apart from black bolt's death but issue here is that, it all felt cartoonish so the violence does not really get you much if you have seen other pg 13 movies. I also missed out on all the jump scares, which I have heard people talk about a lot.

I think if the movie's style of fantasy had looked more like lord of the rings or even the Snyder Cut, the R-rating flirt would have been effective, if you look at other comic films that pushes of pg 13, why we say so is because those movies have grounded realism that marvel has never had, so the grit that births the violence is more believable, A character like Wolverine was extremely violence on film even before Logan that was R and we always bought it but then again, Bryan Singer was infamously a grounded comic book film maker.

Movie history has always shown that it is very hard to take cartoonish violence seriously (example been Mars Attacks, which is what dr strange 2 reminds me off in terms of violence) and I think that is how Dr Strange 2 would be looked at once compared to other pg 13 comics films that we wonder if they should have just gone r.

It feels like a big deal here for marvel, but outside the bubble, I doubt it will make any difference or shift conversation that MCU movies are too ''kid friendly'' at the expense of been more daring. If MCU had limited the overbearing CGI that was so animated and changed their cinemathogprhay, made it less colourful, the violence would have been very effective. this is a good example of what I mean.



This is a more believable violent movie that is pg 13 but what makes it convincing is how Nolan shot his movies to look very realistic so the violence is more enduring, even in sound mixing again a reference to a conversation I had on this forum about what made Saving Private Ryan a masterpiece in film making and been the one iconic movie that has had the most realistic violence about world war 2.

Marvel is thinking of violence here but they are so equally thinking about selling toys and their movies must still look like the best advertisement for their toys. This is what you get in Dr Strange 2.

[CSTowle]

I liked it. Did it have flaws and plot holes? Sure. I'd say wanting children is just as bad of a motivation for mass murder, genocide, or risking the collapse of a universe in the movies as it was in the comics ("No More Mutants", etc.). America Chavez was a pretty boring character/plot device. I'm not interested in Rachel McAdams' character at all, but I understand the need for an emotional ground for Strange. Didn't care about the mountaintop magic school or any of the students, and don't remember if the one who stood out because they were a cow-person even had a line. Captain Carter shouldn't have lasted as long as she did, but a good death scene (if neutered for rating). The Captain Marvel fight was kind of boring.

Complaints I disagree with:

1. It was too "Raimi" of a movie. 90% of Disney superhero movies this past decade have religiously followed the Guardians of the Galaxy formula, and while this film did have a few of those moments it's refreshing to see something not only not adhere to the formula but to also have a style of its own.

2. Too much CGI. As compared to what? Black Panther and the Phantom Menace droid soldier-style blue shields, rhino mounts, and futuristic city? Everything about Guardians, Thor, Infinity War, and Endgame (and Loki, Wandavision, etc.)? Black Widow doing flips through exploding helicopters without so much as a scratch? I don't like CGI either, it feels like I'm watching a cartoon and am expected to take it as seriously as if it were real, but if you're going to a movie with the Sorcerer Supreme (sorry Wong, but let's be real here) travelling through multiple universes to fight a mega-witch and you think there's not going to be a lot of CGI I have no idea what to tell you. For what it's worth Raimi is actually more prone to have real effects than most of the directors behind the Disney superhero movies.

3. Illuminati sucked/were fan service. On sucked, I'll say it'd have been nice to see more out of Reed, a little bit more stretcho, and again Captain Marvel could have done more than trade energy blasts with Wanda. I did think they handled Black Bolt well. As to fan service, good. It's a cameo (extended cameo to put over Wanda's OP status), we don't need deep development or a minor plot line. What's wrong with making fans happy?