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#329 (no ads): Into the Raimiverse, Pt. 2: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Patreon)

Published:
2022-05-24 04:01:01
Imported:
2022-05

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DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS carries its director’s fingerprints more clearly than most films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but is it ultimately more of a Sam Raimi movie or an MCU installment? We hash out that question this week with the continued assistance of our friend Matt Singer, before bringing back in what is unquestionably a Sam Raimi film, 1993’s ARMY OF DARKNESS, to compare how the two movies operate as vehicles for the director’s filmmaking sensibility, as sequels, and as Bruce Campbell showcases.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about ARMY OF DARKNESS, DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net. 

Outro music: The Lovin Spoonful, “Do You Believe In Magic?”

Next pairing: Robert Zemeckis’ WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT and Akiva Schaffer’s CHIP ’N’ DALE: RESCUE RANGERS

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Comments

Mike Vago

Some disconnected thoughts about this episode and the movie my kids have been calling Strange Doctor: — I actually agree with both opinions that the CGI visuals are bad and terrific. The opening sequence's "jump from one weightless thing to another" element makes it look and feel like a Mario game and is empty CGI at its worst. But the alternate New York, with plants growing from the buildings and the pattern of geometric shapes as a language and the red-means-go lights... that was so inventive and had so much depth I could have spent another twenty minutes just ambling around that world. Whether that comes from Raimi or the windowless Korean sweatshop where Marvel makes its CGI, somebody deserves some recognition. — My biggest issues with Wanda's storyline weren't mentioned in the discussion. Wandavision leaves the character on an ambiguous note. Has she learned anything at all from what she put the poor people of that town through? My feeling was, no, not really, but she'll go into her next adventure with the best of intentions before realizing too late she's being selfish again. So her heel turn being limited to, "oh, hey Stevie, I'm evil now" just felt like really lazy screenwriting and giving short shrift to a charater whose entire arc thus far is that she's been given short shrift by the other Avengers. (Not to mention, she's one of three women in the whole MCU who have been given a storyline, so giving her such a one-dimensional one feels like a twist of the knife.) And the second thing is... how do her kids exist in "every other universe"? They're not real! She made them with magic under very hyper-specific circumstances. I actually feel like this movie makes *less* sense if you watched Wandvision first. One positive note: my wife, who hadn't seen Wandavision and didn't know the backstory, almost immediately said of the kids being the central Macguffin: "they didn't seem like real kids, they were empty and idealized." So if that comes across with someone who doesn't know they're literally that, then that's some good characterization on the part of Raimi and the young actors. — Speaking of young actors! With back-to-back appearances in this and Spider-Man, the MCU briantrust has learned that the best way to deploy Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange is to have him continue to be an insufferable dick, but to pair him with an irreverent kid who sees him as ridiculous and is happy to take him down a peg. His dynamic with both Tom Holland and Xochitil Gomez were highlights of their respective films. — As far as the cameos, I think to the uninitated, an alternate universe with alternate superheroes who get their asses whupped is appealing even without the Easter Egg-ness of who those characters are. But the Easter Egg-ness is also fun. To agree with Tasha's Marvel vs. Star Wars comparison, Feige and co. seem to put a lot more care into throwing in easter eggs as a bonus, without making it the whole point. Whereas so much of recent Star Wars only works on the level of "hey, here's a thing you recognize from that other thing." Especially because Star Wars has so often given us, "here's a person you watched die on screen, but now they're back with little or no explanation." Somehow, long sigh, Palpatine has returned. Also, here's Darth Maul for no reason. And a Boba Fett show whose sole reason for existing is to answer the burning question, "hey, remember Boba Fett?" Whereas Marvel avoids doing that to a fault. It doesn't really make sense that Vision isn't in this movie, but if you've only watched tentpole Marvel, all you know about Vision is that Thanos killed him, so it'd take a lot of explaining to bring him into this, and I'm not that upset that they didn't slow the proceedings down for that. Besides, every Marvel movie has a "why didn't they call _______?" so it's pretty much baked into the cake. WandaVision involves the authorities investigating problems caused by Wanda and Vision. Should we call Dr. Strange, who deals with magical people like Wanda? Should we call Bruce Banner, who built Vision? Nah, they're probably busy.