Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (includes spoilers)
- Thread starter Joe.
- Start date
The Illuminati scenes definitely are the worst party. It's obvious they probably filmed it extremely last minute and under strict secrecy. I bet the actors weren't even in the same room with each other. It was clunky and completely fell flat when they all died within about 10 minutes.
It has been confirmed (I'm sure) that those actors all filmed separately, so were not together at all for that scene.
We also know that the version we saw was not what was originally filmed or intended, so it did suffer from reshoots and late rewriting.
I really enjoyed the movie on a rewatch, but it's not without its problems. The stuff we know was filmed and shown to a test audience might not make it a vastly better movie, but I'd still be curious to see what sounded like a much darker, scarier edit. If they re-released it into theatres with some extra footage, similar to what they're doing with Spider-Man, it'd easily get it over $1 billion. They'd be absolutely nuts not to. It's going to end up only $40 million short, which is a real shame.
I think trying to force it to be a Doctor Strange film also didn't help. That entire first 15 minutes or so was definitely part of the re-recordings, you can just tell.
It should have been a Wanda film with Doctor Strange secondary. An MCU film where we follow the "villain" in the story would have been a nice change as well.
Correct. The original opening was cut and rewritten as the test audiences said it was way too dark. But it's probably the scene that most of us want to see the most.
Just having a look and it's going to finish top 10 for superhero movies domestically, and about 8th for the MCU, so it did actually do really well in the end. It's 11th for the MCU worldwide, and that's without China, so again a really good result I think.
He/Him
After rewatching it a couple nights ago, I definitely enjoyed it a lot! But it lacks in a lot of areas… the script is garbage, some of that dialogue is just awful. Patrick Stewart seems to have forgotten how to act…. He came across as so cringe when interacting with Wanda.
Covid obviously did a number on No Way Home and this, I can imagine they both would’ve come together a lot better had there not been so many delays and restrictions. And also it probably gave them the time to over think every little detail to the point where it just became too much.
Covid obviously did a number on No Way Home and this, I can imagine they both would’ve come together a lot better had there not been so many delays and restrictions. And also it probably gave them the time to over think every little detail to the point where it just became too much.
This hindsight of … 36 hours nn this was messy. Not much about it is particularly satisfying or worthy of praise beyond it being fun in the moment if you switch your brain off.
It unfortunately follows both WandaVision and Doctor Strange, both of which are superior stories about the main characters, and this film either does them dirty or does…not much with them at all. Wanda’s story was rushed to an unsatisfying conclusion that renders her largely irredeemable and Strange learns to…get over Christine I guess? America was a non-entity which was a shame.
The bones of a super fun caper were here, but we needed it handled differently. I actually think if the big bad was a different universe’s of Wanda who gave in to these impulses, forcing our Wanda to confront and overcome her demons, literally, that would be more satisfying. As it is, a “good” Wanda exists, with her kids, in another universe we may never see again, while ours is… [redacted]. I know the actors want to have ways out, but it’s a shame how it goes down for her, fun as it is to see Liz camp it up a bit.
Was it just me or were Benedict’s wigs distracting this time? Never really noticed before but it was giving “not human” vibes with how it was styled.
I notice fans are getting itchy to know what the next “big bad” will be, and while I don’t think every phase needs to have that, I really don’t know where they’re going either. We all thought it was Multiverse shenanigans but…to what end? The Infinity Gems weaving quietly through all the original phases was perfect, but it’s difficult to replicate that kind of subtlety again.
It unfortunately follows both WandaVision and Doctor Strange, both of which are superior stories about the main characters, and this film either does them dirty or does…not much with them at all. Wanda’s story was rushed to an unsatisfying conclusion that renders her largely irredeemable and Strange learns to…get over Christine I guess? America was a non-entity which was a shame.
The bones of a super fun caper were here, but we needed it handled differently. I actually think if the big bad was a different universe’s of Wanda who gave in to these impulses, forcing our Wanda to confront and overcome her demons, literally, that would be more satisfying. As it is, a “good” Wanda exists, with her kids, in another universe we may never see again, while ours is… [redacted]. I know the actors want to have ways out, but it’s a shame how it goes down for her, fun as it is to see Liz camp it up a bit.
Was it just me or were Benedict’s wigs distracting this time? Never really noticed before but it was giving “not human” vibes with how it was styled.
I notice fans are getting itchy to know what the next “big bad” will be, and while I don’t think every phase needs to have that, I really don’t know where they’re going either. We all thought it was Multiverse shenanigans but…to what end? The Infinity Gems weaving quietly through all the original phases was perfect, but it’s difficult to replicate that kind of subtlety again.
It's strange how excited I was about the multiverse stuff a few years ago and yet how (slightly) lackluster it now all is for me. I wasn't really hyped for 'No Way Home'. 'Multiverse of Madness' was still enjoyable and I loved Wanda and Christine.
I prefer something new like Shang-Chi and Eternals. As movies, they work far better for me and it felt like Marvel wasn't too hungry for fan-service, easy crowd-pleasing moments and cameos. Nothing wrong with that, but it can distract from telling a solid story.
I prefer something new like Shang-Chi and Eternals. As movies, they work far better for me and it felt like Marvel wasn't too hungry for fan-service, easy crowd-pleasing moments and cameos. Nothing wrong with that, but it can distract from telling a solid story.
I totally forgot about Kang nn. Ok he might be a cool baddie. Come through Ant-Man 3 I guess!
Also, I'm disappointed at how this whole TVA element was introduced in Loki was seemingly has been ignored in the two big Multiverse movies, where it could have been weaved in a bit more. It makes Loki, which was the MCU show that was on the edge of being great, but was missing something, feel even more lacking and essentially throwaway.
The "you've exhausted my patience" line was so well delivered, but being able to watch it over and over again now just emphasises how unsatisfying other aspects of the movie were. After Wanda said the "patience" line she should have destroyed everything in sight in a full bloodbath (that is clearly what they originally filmed) rather than just knocking a few CGI people out and carrying on. That would have made her dominance against the Illuminati more satisfying, too.
I wonder if COVID or the bad test screenings are to blame for all the reshoots and the final edit being so conservative in its horror.
I wonder if COVID or the bad test screenings are to blame for all the reshoots and the final edit being so conservative in its horror.
I don't think the film needed necessarily more or less Wanda evil horror.
I think if anything it could've benefited from a little more exposition that it was the book that was progressively making her more and more evil.
And then to tail end the film, show that the book and temple being destroyed will put her back on the right path maybe? -- We just don't know about that yet. She still did those terrible things. I don't know if the dark magic scripts being destroyed absolves her of it. We didn't get a satisfying conclusion for her in that regard. I would've rather have seen her broken free from it's hold and realize the villain it made her and go f*ck off to think about it in an emotional exit. Instead we just got her collapsing the temple on herself for no reason when it's obvious she poofed out at the last second.
I think if anything it could've benefited from a little more exposition that it was the book that was progressively making her more and more evil.
And then to tail end the film, show that the book and temple being destroyed will put her back on the right path maybe? -- We just don't know about that yet. She still did those terrible things. I don't know if the dark magic scripts being destroyed absolves her of it. We didn't get a satisfying conclusion for her in that regard. I would've rather have seen her broken free from it's hold and realize the villain it made her and go f*ck off to think about it in an emotional exit. Instead we just got her collapsing the temple on herself for no reason when it's obvious she poofed out at the last second.
I enjoyed the film, but it completely rehashed the WandaVision arc, except less well. And honestly, I was kind of rooting for Wanda, even if I quite liked America.
Rachel McAdams was great as well.
Rachel McAdams was great as well.