 Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is out and I've seen it, and I have thoughts on it, this time spoiler-filled ones. So if you haven't seen the film yet and you don't want it to be ruined, walk away. I have a spoiler-free video review if you want to check that out. Otherwise, let's go. First things first, I'm a real ass. Drap this and let the whole world feel ass. This should have been called Dr. Strange in the Wandaverse of Madness. There's very little multiverse going on. A lot of Wanda, a lot of Wanda happening, which is also bizarre because her character development in this movie is garbage. Now I know what some of you are saying right out of the gates, hold your horses, sir. WandaVision had the character development for this character. Even where the Disney Plus show ended, I wasn't convinced she was gonna scorch earth. She was gonna start killing friends or anyone that was in her way. She was in a dark place, sure. And yes, she has the dark hold, which got ahold of her. But they don't do a good job presenting that at the beginning of this movie. She's there already. She's already changed. The first act should have been the dark hold corrupting her, taking her harsher side and really bringing it forth, really setting things ablaze. But instead, we're kind of hoodwinked into believing she's still got it all together and then boom, she shows the reality what it really is. If you haven't seen WandaVision, you're going from multiple movies showcasing her as a hero to just suddenly, boom, she's bad. And I think that's a piss poor way to handle this. It's one thing to have movies required to see in the MCU, but to now bring in the shows that require a Disney Plus subscription on top of watching all the films. It's just no, it's nonsense. I don't like when you have to read comic books in order to get certain character traits. That should be done in the movie. That's its job. So don't make me start watching TV series, especially if they're as bad as Moon Knight has been. Couldn't even finish it. Maybe it gets better, but episode three I thought was atrocious. Felt like watching a, like it made for kids Disney show, but it had adult shit in it. Poorly done. I'm sorry. Now before I get into the things that maybe didn't work for me, let's talk about what did. Well, the pacing was very breakneck. It didn't feel bored during this. It entertained me. Kind of like going on a roller coaster for the 40th time. I've been on it. There's no surprises anymore. It was exciting the first time, but after 30 or 40 attempts, it's just kind of like, yay, this is still fun. I'm still getting some of that exhilaration, but there's probably some better rides out there. And this year there has been. There's been much better movies out, even ones that do the multiverse, like everything, everywhere, all at once. Far better movie. Buttloads of action in this. We got Dr. Strange doing his little moves. He's kind of buses in half. Picking them up, changing reality so we can see invisible creatures. Opening portals. Fantastic Beasts and where to find them are jumping through there, going away. I wish the Fantastic Beasts movies would go away. Newt Scamander. More like Newt Scanever. I hate that guy. The special effects, while inconsistent, get downright gorgeous at times, doing some really creative things, like when they're jumping through the multiverse for the 20 or so seconds that that happens, that should have been the movie, right? I mean, I think, I think the opportunity was there to have Dr. Strange go to different wild universes, meet some of the Avengers from the past. Maybe there's a twist to them. And I think ultimately that's what really upsets people. It didn't bother me that much. I just thought this story was kind of bad, but the fact that they call it the multiverse and we barely do anything with that is a little bit bananas, right? I mean, we have Robert Downey Jr. in the wings. He could come back in one of these other, you know, universes as a different variant of Tony Stark. We could have had variants of characters. Red Hulk could have been in the mix. Maybe there's a version of Captain Marvel that's likeable. Hell, there's a point where Dr. Strange goes through one of these universes and turns into a cartoon. We could have had Miles Morales swinging through there, or someone else from Into the Spider-Verse. No. I mean, Sony probably has a say in that. But still, it's Disney Marvel. They can make anything happen by cutting a check. It's wonderful to have Sam Ramey back in the director's chair, though. I love his vision. I like that he's unapologetically over the top with the horror elements. Later on, we see, you know, zombie Dr. Strange. He fights a version of himself using Fantasia-esque music notes as weapons. I mean, I honestly thought that was great. I'm sure a lot of people thought it was the dumbest shit ever, but to me, it just was full-blown Sam Ramey combined with Disney in such a just bizarre way. Having Strange pull the notes off the sheet of paper. And then the other one, bring them back. At that point, I was looking for some marching broomsticks, or Mickey outside the window on a mountain casting up spells to keep the waves down. It's multiverse of madness, after all, and it didn't get near as mad as it should have. We could have had the OG Fantastic Four show up, which includes Chris Evans as the human torch. That would have been hilarious. All three Spiderman could have been in this, or at least Toby, since it's a Sam Ramey film, or one of Sam Ramey's characters from that film. Maybe we bring him back. Maybe Tofer comes back. Tofer Grace is Venom from Spiderman 3. Critically acclaimed Spiderman 3. We could have had bully McGuire in this, and the fact that we didn't is a slap in the face to anyone who wanted to see a true multiversal film. That's not to say we didn't get any cameos, because we did. The worst kept secret ever, Patrick Stewart, aka Professor Xavier, was there. Charles, he's out on his more classic iconic chair from the comic books. And we had Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic himself, Jim Helpert. Listen, the Krasinski family Robinson was a fan favorite choice to play the Fantastic Four for many years. Disney made that happen, they brought him in, and then they wasted him in possibly the worst first impression you could give. Hey, there's Reed Richards, supposedly one of the smartest men ever to walk the face of the earth, giving away their best weapon by straight up telling the enemy what that person can do to them. And so what does she do blows the guy's head off. I will say the fatalities in this are great and how the Illuminati died. Beautiful. Shouldn't have been the Illuminati. These are the handcrafted handpicked people, the best of the best, brightest of the bunch that are supposed to keep the multiverse in order, keep law. And they all got their asses handed to him in like in like three seconds by Wanda. I get that she's OP, I get that she's awesome, but she should have done this to some variant multiverse characters, not these iconic ones that were just seen in the MCU for the first time, like Professor X and Reed Richards. I don't know how Into the Spider-Verse got it right so well, maybe because Miles Morales was such a likeable kid, and so was the Peter Parker variants that came through, but I had no connection to anyone here, not even Dr. Stranger Wanda. Wanda, who I thought was incredibly sympathetic and very likeable in her TV show, came up here is very just kind of flat for me, very one-dimensional, she's evil, she's got to get to her kids, very cliche stuff. And I just thought Dr. Strange just kind of went through scene to scene, very cash. Again, kind of how he was in no way home, he's definitely keeping us cool, maybe a little too much. So when the Illuminati died, I felt nothing. I'm not sure if I was supposed to, but then what was the point? You introduced this apparently great thing from the comic book series and dismiss it outright so quickly. And Professor X dying? I've seen that like six times now, how many times are we gonna kill Patrick Stewart? It lost all of its weight. That was my favorite kill of the movie though, that next snap was sweet. And because now I know there's a Professor X in a bunch of different universes, nothing really matters. Just get another version of him, we know we're gonna see the Fantastic Four again. So it was kind of pointless shock and awe. Didn't really amount to much of anything outside of having a couple cameos in there that were I guess fun at first, but on hindsight didn't deliver. Last little observation before I wrap this up, Scarlet Witch captures America Chavez and she has her for a good amount of time. How long does it take to absorb her powers? Sam Raimi cuts away and Wanda's already starting to absorb and then we go through a whole bunch of nonsense with Dr. Strange, then back to Wanda, still just taking her time, having a coffee, one-handed, kind of sucking that soul up. What are you waiting for? This definitely feels like a film where a lot of footage was left on the cutting room floor. I wouldn't be surprised if that first act maybe did contain some more build for Wanda. I should hope. Because as it stands this script was pretty rough, pretty hacky. As far as Sam Raimi goes, loved all the horror elements, loved the breakneck speed, just wish there was a bit more behind the storyline. I wish things were served a little better. I don't know the comics, I don't know the Illuminati, but if I was a fan of them, I'd be pretty bummed out about this. Not like in the interpretation, these guys came off as clowns, total bozos. It's possible I'm off base and this is the best MCU movie yet. It's also possible they've done a pretty bad job after Endgame to make anything really land. I know, Spider-Man No Way Home, huge massive hit, people love it. It's so overrated. I'm sorry, the story is so bad. The pacing is not very good. We all love it because of the trio. Let's be honest, it's because of the trio and they're only in it in the final act so I'm gonna leave it there. Please think about subscribing if you haven't. I post a ton of movie content, got the new studio going, we're ready, we're rocking, we're gonna put all content constantly and hopefully I'll see you soon.