The Reel Rejects - DOCTOR STRANGE 2 MOVIE REVIEW! Instant Reaction & Honest Thoughts on Multiverse Of Madness

Episode Date: May 3, 2022

Fresh out the world premiere in Hollywood, Greg & John discuss the MCU's latest Multiverse-Hopping Doctor Strange Adventure - SPOILER FREE, of course! Written by Michael Waldron & Directed by Sam Raimi, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness finds our titular hero caught between worlds and allies as he meets & deals with the likes of Wanda Maximoff (aka Scarlet Witch), America Chavez, The Illuminati, and a host of odd & interesting variants! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-reel-rejects/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is happening there, Reject Nation? Greg and John just got out of the screening for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Okay, so the first thing I gotta give a disclaimer for is that almost every second of this movie is a spoiler. You mean that literally? Like every second of this movie is a spoiler. Here's what I'm gonna do. I pulled up the plot description for this film. Dr. Stephen Strange casts a forbidden spell that opens a portal to the multiverse. However, a threat emerges that may be too big for his team to handle.

Now, we've seen a lot of TV spots and a lot of trailers. There's a lot of plot that you are not going to get in those trailers. Or that log line for that matter. We're going to keep this non-spoilery. Obviously, our spoiler talk, we will be doing live stream. We're aiming for this Sunday. So cancel plans with your mother on Mother's Day and come hang out with us instead. Joy, Johnro.

It's going to be a really fun time. Here's what I'll kick this off with. This movie's called Multiverse of Madness. Is it Madness? Bet your goddamn ass is madness. You're gonna wake up with PTSD after this experience. Were they crazy? Yeah, you're damn right, they were crazy to make this.

I'm mad. Am I going mad? I must be going mad. No, it's not perfect. The film's not perfect. What movie's perfect? What do you just said that I hate that criticism? I get it. I've heard you guys say that about anything I've ever said that about before ever. Some criticisms that I feel like we might be able to dive into without going into spoilers, but let's Let's leave with all the things that are positive about it because there's so many things that are overwhelmingly positive about it. First things first, this is a Sam Ramey film. This is not Oz the Great and the Powerful, where you slap Sam Ramey's name on there.

And you're like, it's kind of a Sam Ramey film, but it feels like they held them back a little bit. There were times where I was like, we are watching the other side of town in his Spider-Man world where Dr. Strange is having a fight. At times, as you've seen the trailer, that's straight up remind you of his work from, like, Evil Dead and Drag Me to Hell. the camera work they really let him be a visual storyteller i want to say this is my favorite marvel movie i would not go there with that however it was pretty early on where i was just thinking this is one of the most exciting marvel movies i've ever seen it's probably the most visually dazzling marvel movie we've ever seen like it is crazy and just how much they just let him do his thing the amount of gasps throughout the audience the amount of applause would just this just i guess

I can't explain. Imagine what you saw in the trailers, all the weirdness, times that by 10, and then forget everything you know, because you're never going to even come close to understanding what I'm getting at here. Because it is insane. It lives up to the title in the best possible way. Would you agree, John? I would absolutely agree. And I think that not only does his style really suit the piece, and it doesn't feel like Sam Ramey is at odds with the movie at all or not. It does deliver, I think, a leveling up of some of the intensity, especially just within certain images and certain deeds done and depicted in terms of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

There are certain things that are actually kind of shocking in a way I was not expecting this movie to go to in a horror kind of setting. So, I'm very much pleased by that. And it feels appropriately sinister and mystical and sort of outside the realm. Like, I think they're doing a really nice job of differentiating the godlike characters

from the masters of the mystical arts and the magicians and the witches and whatnot. And then, you know, your traditional sort of inhumans or super serum-injected characters. Like, they do really have a great grip on that sort of occultish end of the MCU. And it gets pretty demonic at points in a way I was kind of surprised by.

This movie was just pure popcorn entertainment. It has that wonderful camp and cheese that is just so damn charming and it's so effective. At times, maybe not the most effective, but most of the time, it's pretty awesome. Shocking at times, arguably the most imaginative. This feels like a doctor's friend.

strange comic book come to life. I really like Benedict Cumberbatch a lot in this movie. I would say that the one who stole the show was Wanda. Like I think Wanda. Wow. She is such a presence, yeah. They keep a lot of her story out of the promos for this. And she's great. It picks up after Wanda Vision. There's been a little bit of time jump with their character. Let's just keep it at that. Find out for yourself. They definitely are built. upon and segueing right out of that into this. So brush up on Wanda Vision if you haven't seen it. Yeah, because I think if you haven't seen Wanda Vision, they give you like a recap.

And that's part of the issue that I kind of have with this film. And I'll dive into that in a second. Elizabeth Olson does something so different here than what she did in Wanda Vision. And yet still steals the show. It didn't even take adjusting, actually. No, I was like, no, this is, yeah, I love what we're just doing with me. This is a great stuff, man. Absolutely.

Keep it coming. I really like what she's doing. Zoshi Gomez is also. very excellent in this film. I was really endeared to her character. Are there cameos? You guys know there's cameos. And... Multiverses.

Whoa. Wowie. I found out that some of them are on the internet, so avoid at all costs, please. They know what they're doing in this movie. They do, and they know how to make it so hard to talk about

what they're doing in this movie. Let's say there's some good horror in the film, there's some amazing action, a lot of moments that truly generate applauseworthy stuff. You know, I'll say this too. I'm usually much more of a reserved audience member at a theater to be respectful, but I was pretty vocal in all ranges of emotion for a lot of this film throughout. So, yeah, it's a damn good crowd film for sure. Even Rachel McAdams returning in this film is pretty freaking solid. I think I enjoyed it. or more than I did in the first Doctor Strange movie. I would agree. Some things that I think are kind of issues for me.

This really wasn't an issue for me in the first like 20 to 30 minutes of the film. I was like, I don't think I've ever seen a Marvel movie like this so entertaining. In the first like, rollicking along. It's just so entertaining. The movie constantly moves really fast. But the thing I would liken it to, and this is going to sound worse than it actually sounds. And I'm not just saying this to be nice. But this is the only thing I can really think of right now to give a, a big.

basis for how I would like it without spoiling things. You know when you don't watch those DC shows, but you want to see the crossover event? So you watch the crossover event and it's like super fast paced, super quick. It's kind of like a bunch of exposition nonstop. This movie felt like it needed 20 more minutes. It felt like that to me, but a darker, better version of that. It was definitely rushed at times and the times it is like messy and not in the way that feels intentional. There are times where it is just like, there's too much.

going on. To me, ultimately, I was still left going. This could have used an extra 20 to 30 minutes to breathe. It really could have. And then other times, it needed that pacing. Like, this movie excels a lot of the time in the pacing that it's doing. And then other times, I'm like, yeah, I kind of wish it was slow down. In various scenes, when it does slow down and when it does indulge in the emotional journeys of the characters that are running alongside this, I kept finding myself going, oh, yes, a good scene. I like this. Let's do more of this. And I do wish they had balanced the movie out with more of that kind of stuff because it does, especially with certain characters, start to feel like, okay, you're, you're just here for some exposition, and that's

kind of all we have time for, and your emotional arc is a little perfunctory. Hey, Warren, you're talking about America Chavez? I'm talking about America Chavez. Yeah, because America Chavez, Zochie Gomez elevates the role, but I would think that about America Chavez, too, is like multiverse of reactions, the characterizations and the character journeys, you know, the emotional stuff, that isn't the first thing you think of when you come into these movies is something that is a little bit more lacking, and I don't want to sound like a broken record, but it's one of those things where you look at the shows and you

look at the movies and you go, damn, the benefit is we have all that time to dive into the characters. And while I liked the emotional journey they had laid out for Dr. Strange, I liked what having Christine Palmer back did for that story as well. And it's just all stuff I wanted more from and I wanted to be more affected by. It's like there's good work and there's some good writing, but it's not what gets the focus. And I think that it makes some of the, again, emotional payoffs feel a bit perfunctory or feel a bit like, oh, you know, the plot requires that. Instead of letting you live within the building of certain relationships or the letting go of certain traumas or the, you know, coming to face with your legacy in a, you know, multiversal kind

of way. Yeah, it's like, part of the point is it's supposed to be madness. There's a way to make chaos feel smooth and natural. And other times you're like, nah, I really think this needed like 24 minutes. Yeah, it's like there's madness in the plotting and in the things that are happening. and I wanted to feel more of the madness. And it's there in fits and bursts, but I wanted to feel the emotional madness throughout.

Yeah, I think the reason why I felt that way is because even though it was full of that wonderful Sam Ramey aesthetic and tone overall, a lot of scenes looked wonderfully Gothic or horror-centric, yet for some reason the film seemed to lack in suspense when it seemed like it was really going for that. But it was always fun, though. That was the thing.

It was really made up for it in the mouth fun it was. And there's just so many scenes and so much information, And a lot of it is just mainly following like plot points and reveals and there are things that might be plot holes. Well, I'm not sure any of a second viewing. It's really hard to explain it because there's so much that's not in the trailers to spoil the film. The stuff that I'm talking about is not in the trailers. It's like they're in the beginning of the movie. So I can't go into it because the trailers plain and simple, don't make it clear.

Overall, though, I would say that this movie is very entertaining. A lot of what the writing, I did find myself desiring more. However, because of the fact that it was just such a visually exciting film and because how Wanda was so cool in this movie. And I will say, man, I know the movie was effective to the point where there would be these things that happened later on in the film that I was like, oh yeah, I forgot the trailer showed you that snippet of that scene. A lot of times, you know, you kind of go, where's that scene that we saw on that trailer, waiting for it? And I would completely forget about it. So it was effective. Danny Elfman's score, awesome in this film. Overall, I did leave going like, I can't wait.

to watch that again on iMacs like this is a theater going exciting experience absolutely and because there's so much in it like i'm really excited to see how a second viewing changes the experience and what i like more or just as much or less depending on that you know but yeah guys thanks so much for being here um subscribe if we look out for our spoiler talk what are you looking forward to most about this movie talk with you guys soon