Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Quick Reaction!

And so after that, I'll be out of town that following weekend, which means we wouldn't be able to get to record until the weekend after. So rather than waiting until then, I'm going to put out a very quick, very, very quick reactions episode. And then whenever Jude and I get back in sync with our schedules, we'll circle back to a more traditional, quick reactions episode of Dr. Strange and the multi-verse.

So this one will be short, but, uh, we're going to start with the preschooler thoughts before jumping into the spoiler zone. So preschooler thoughts, my general reaction to this film is I really enjoyed it. I think it's a lot of fun and I think the strength of it is the continued inventive use of magic beyond just being beams of light shot at each. And it's not even just in the way that magic is used in combat.

It's just the, the overall anchoring of magic in terms of traversal, in terms of using it to get through obstacles. It is fun in a way that I feel like is continuing the tradition of the first one that very much made me happy to see in the sequel story-wise there are definitely strong character.

But it still feels like an event movie where the spectacle outpaces the story, not to say that's bad, but in, in terms of Dr. Strange and Dr. Strange and the multi-verse of madness, I think the original stilts. Is the stronger of the two for me. Uh, I've mentioned before, Dr. Strange is in the top five of all the MCU movies, partly due to the strong story that it tells. Uh, you don't have to look further than the review episode.

We did a few weeks ago where we were just boasts gushing over how wonderfully crafted that film is. And this one doesn't quite hit the same narrative strengths, but again, it is incredibly fun for what it sets out. In that regard. One of the things that it feels like is in its objectives is bringing a horror aspect to the MCU in a way that's been flirted with for awhile.

But man, this, this movie delivers on it because right from the get go in the trailers, you could feel there was this looming sense of dread and without getting into too much spoilers just yet dread I think is a very common theme throughout this movie. So yeah, I think that's where I want to leave my priests. Uh, so like I said, you're going to hear an audio cue and on the other side, it will be fair game for all spoilers in the MCU. We'll see you on the other side and we're back. All right.

So where do I want to start? There's so many good things that I want to talk about. I know the obvious ones would be the cameos, but I'm actually start here with American Chavez a few weeks ago when we did our reaction to the trailer and may a few weeks ago, who knows time is nothing anymore. Whenever we did our reactions episode, I talked about America Chavez and how I felt like she was going to be. The key to this story. And I feel like I was right.

Like, we got that cold open where we saw America Chavez on an adventure in, in media Rez with a different doctor strange. And that was our introduction to the character. And I have to say. Hit me in a way that I wasn't expecting that this huge blockbuster Marvel movie, literally the first word spoken or spoken in Spanish. And that made me really happy.

I didn't, I didn't, I wasn't necessarily looking for that, but the fact that America Chavez and that version of Dr. Strange were speaking in Spanish was really, really touching. However it doesn't last very long because we see that Dr. Strange is willing to sacrifice American Chavez before she is sent through the multi-verse and landing in the one that we know. Sticking with just the character herself. So Gomez, I think is wonderful in the role.

I think she holds up well in the quick pace of delivery that we seen from Benedict Cumberbatch from the first movie and all his other appearances and the different non titled movies and so on. And this one, they have great chemistry together and I'm really happy to see that by the end of this movie, she has sort of an apprentice type. Uh, she's definitely someone I want to see around the MCU for quite awhile.

And if that means we see her in Dr. Strange three or somewhere else, I'm very happy that she's sticking around because given her multi-vessel travel powers, I wasn't sure where she was going to ultimately land, but it seems like she's here to stay for the long run. And I'm very happy about that. Now, moving along, another one of the things I wanted to talk about is Elizabeth Olsen. The Scarlet witch, Wanda Maxim off my God. What an incredible performance on her part.

You know, I talked about it in the pre spoiler thoughts, section, how this movie has a very continued theme of dread. And that is in part because of Elizabeth Olson's performance as the Scarlet with. Whenever her intentions are fully revealed. She becomes this unstoppable force that has no equal in this movie. And so a lot of it is the protagonist running away from a character. They know they cannot stop and every time she is on screen, it is.

Uh, especially when we get into the Scarlet witch versus the Illuminati, the quick work that she makes of all of them is wild, incredibly wild, and not just the quickness of it, but the way she blows the inside of black bolt's head, the way she turns Reed Richards into just literal strings. Yeah. Reed Richards in here, and the way that she just takes captain Carter in his. My God, Elizabeth Olson is a force to be reckoned with.

And, and when I say she has no equal, I mean, the movie itself recognizes it. The only one that is able to stop her is herself. Because once we see American Chavez, give her what she's been looking for. It is the reaction of her children and the guiding of a different multi-verse of her that is able to finally quell the Scarlet, which is quest to get her children back at any cost. And on that note, you know, we've talked about it a lot of how important are the Disney plus shows going to be?

I think we got our answer in multi versus madness because this movie definitely assumes that you've seen one division and it doesn't try to retread too much ground at all. There are some quick like summaries here and there. We like, we get the dream sequence where Wanda is living a happy life before we see that she wakes up in her own bed and she is alone again. And that dread sets back in.

You know, I don't know if somebody who hasn't seen one division would be able to completely gather everything that's going on with her motivations, but there's enough there that it's functional, but it is fully rewarded. If you have seen Wanda visions. We've got our definitive answer here. It is. It is going to be influencing the movies and it doesn't necessarily feel beholden to catch the audience up to speed more so than just functional knowledge for this film. All right.

So I talked about it a little bit. Let's go ahead and talk about the cameos. I think that's another one of the big things to highlight here. In this quick episode, I texted TK upon leaving the film and I had two thoughts and. The first one that I put is captain freaking Carter. It made me so, so happy to see Haley at well in live action as captain Carter, I think she was easily the standout of what if and seeing her in live action just was incredibly awesome.

You know, captain America, fan boy, getting to see the shield and action is always a delight. But the thing that felt really exciting is that captain Carter was able to deliver the, I can do this all day line and it doesn't feel cheesy. And I think that level of, or that threading of the needle was going to be so delicate to translate that character from animation to live action. And I think they did it.

Unfortunately, I am a little upset of how she was bifurcated with the shield by the Scarlet witch. So I don't think we're going to at least see that version of captain Carter in live action, but I hope this doesn't mean we won't see a live action captain Carter elsewhere, since this is just a one rendition in the multi-verse moving on from there. I think one of the bigger cameos outside of what was confirmed is. We got John Krasinski as Reed Richards.

Now the, I had heard rumblings of this going in. Unfortunately I logged into Twitter and I wasn't looking at any tweets in particular, but the trending section on the right-hand side of the webpage was showing John Krasinski the night of the movie premiere. So I kind of put two and two together. I figured that would be the case, but seeing them on screen was still really, really exciting. I am still wrestling with the question. Is this going to be our Reed Richards moving forward?

Is this just one iteration of the character that's kind of to lean into the fan casting without having to commit to John Krasinski as being the definitive one? I'm not sure I can go both ways because as fan servicey, as the MCU can get, they do it really well. It wouldn't shock me if it's just a way to. Give a wink and a nod to the fans. But at the same time, there's a quick line exchanged between the Scarlet witch and Reed Richards, where they talk about his wife.

And it's not just John Krasinski that has been heavily fan casting. It has been Emily blunt as well as Sue storm. So whether or not that's going to be the case, who knows, but it was very fun to get to see John Krasinski in this. And, you know, I'm wondering. What it's going to mean for his stretchy powers, because that is going to be a power that is very hard to translate into live action, I think, and we only get a taste of it here.

Everything happens so quickly that I would like to get another watch in hopefully before Jude and I do our review, but I'm curious, I don't know if this is just them kind of playing it close to the chest, or if this is a, Hey, we're still figuring out the stretchy power look on screen. Another, one of the cameos that I really enjoyed was Leshanna Lynch as captain Marvel, uh, in this universe of the Illuminati, Maria Rambo is the captain Marvel character rather than Carol Danvers.

Uh, I thought that was a nice touch, especially because if I'm not mistaken, very limited comic book knowledge, but if I'm not mistaken, I think she was originally captain Marvel before Carol Dan. So. That was a good nod. Uh, the other one, I only read about this, so I didn't know much because I have not seen the Inhumans, but, and some Mount was black bolt in that show and got to re portray his character in this one. So. I don't know what it means.

If in humans is being regarded as Canon, or if this is just a different depiction with the same actor, getting to relive the character. So we'll time will tell on that one. Finally, another one of the cameos I really enjoyed, and this is the one that was the big one in the trailer itself. But professor Xavier, when they played the original X-Men cartoon theme as his entrance in his little yellow Hubbard. It was hard not to have a grin ear to ear.

It was just so exciting to see him as part of the Illuminati. He's such a major force in the comic book, movie, world. I mean, the X-Men were part of the original surge of the superhero films. And I liked that it's not just him sitting around and being a part of the. We get to see him and action as well. Whenever he enters in the mind of the Wanda that has been day walking or dream walked by the Scarlet witch and is trying to rescue her from the mental prison before the Scarlet. Snaps his neck.

So all of that is a wonderfully done with the Scarlet witch, slowly hunting them down. Uh, they had a lot of hubris and thinking that they could stop her so easily, but she makes quick work. So, yeah, I don't know what it means for the cameos that they're done away with so quickly. If this means there's no ramifications and it was just a fun nod to fan casting and previous depictions, or if this means in the prime universe, somewhere out there, these characters exist time will tell.

Uh, but I, I can't wait to see where they go next with the. Peek into the wider universe that we got here. All right. Finally, one of the last things I want to touch on of course is Dr. Strange. Uh, his story really seems to center around this idea of justifying the means. So his decision to give up the time stone is something that is under constant questioning here in this movie, which I wasn't expecting, but it makes complete sense. In fact, we see Dr. Wes from the original doctor.

In the wedding scene, questioning him about whether or not that was the right call and strangest, very confident about it, but it is through the doubt of Dr. West, that that puts into motion strange, really examining what it means when he says there is no other way because he in this multi-verse is not the only one who continues to use that same.

We see in the very beginning, whenever the first version of Dr. Strange is running away with America Chavez and he realizes that he has to kill her to stop at that time. We didn't know, but to stop the Scarlet witch from getting her powers, he, once again uses there's no other way. Uh, we see it again with the universe that the Illuminati is set up where that strange, justified his means of using the dark hole to stop nanos.

But unfortunately that also meant him sacrificing himself because he had been corrupted. So just to pause there, I personally am a fan of those stories where it is a character who is metaphorically, seeing how close they can get to the fire without getting burned.

The thing that I think works in this film, This all culminates into the moment where 6 1, 6 strange is using the dark hole to dream walk into zombie, strange to stop the Scarlet, which of course there's clear objections from Christine who has seen a strange, who has used the dark hole before and saw how it corrupted them.

And we see that even though he doesn't put too much of a stop to it, Wong is very much not happy with it, but he doesn't want to know what it is that stranger is doing to save the day. So once again, we find strange justifying. And he's put in that situation again, where all things point towards him having to stop American Chavez before the Scarlet, which can get her powers.

But the thing that separates this strange is that in the moment, instead of doing what all the other strangers have done in the. He enables America Chavez to be the one to save the day, his belief in her ability to do this, rather than taking away that power is what is ultimately stopping the Scarlet witch, rather than just delaying the inevitable over and over. I like that, that pairs with the line of advice that professor Xavier gives them back at the council.

I can't remember word for word, but it's something to the extent of just because someone has stumbled along the way does not mean they're lost or something to that extent. And so rather than condemning the actions of previous multi-verse versions of a character, it is allowing each individual one to be responsible for the choices that. Uh, and I like that that's reinforced with how the Scarlet, which has stopped again.

I said it earlier, America Chavez gives her what she wants by showing the universe in which she can go and be with her kids. But in order to do it, she has to take away that Wanda from her kid. And all throughout the movie, she's justified it as though she would get to be with them, but seeing the horror in their eyes as they see what she's become is what helps her realize how far she's gone.

And that Wanda assuring her, that those kids will be loved is the compassion, the similar compassion that strange gives to America Chavez that Wanda gifts to the Scarlet witch, which spurs the. So again, I, I, I would need to see, see it more times to be able to really ruminate on these themes, but quick reactions. I enjoyed what they're doing here. So yeah, just to round this off some, some quick things, I liked one, there is a music battle between Dr. Strange and the sinister strange.

I can't remember what exactly he's called. He's not the one from what if, but there's a moment where they have a battle with musical notes that I think is one of the coolest pieces of action in this. Uh, again, that is more towards the inventive use of magic that the series continues to hold. Uh, and it had me grinning ear to ear a second. I really am so glad that Wong made it out of this movie.

I know when we first talked about this, Jude was very adamant that long was going to die if not the Wong, but a wall. I'm happy to say that that is not the case. And he lives to see another day. And I love their continued back and forth where even though Wong is a sorcerer Supreme, strange, still isn't giving him the proper respect that he deserves. And by the end of the film, he gives him that respect that he is so desperately missing in the beginning of the.

So, yeah, I touched on it a little bit, but I just want to highlight it one more time. This film is incredibly gruesome and incredibly creepy. Uh, this might be. Like I've seen this talk on, on social media. This is definitely not one for kids because it goes into some very horrifying territory. So for example, there is a scene in which the Scarlet witch is trying to come out of a magical prison that strange has put her in through the reflections.

And as she comes out of one, it is almost like the ring where she is just crawling out on all four. Uh, the way that she is able to, or the way the movie to picks her invading people's minds by having her physically appear behind them is incredibly creepy. Uh, and the deaths, again, I talked about it in the cameos, but those deaths were incredibly gruesome. So yeah, that is, that is something that sets this movie apart from all of the other MCU.

Oh, so the, the Intacs we've gotten two of them this time. The first one is a continuation of how the movie ends, where we see Dr. Strange goes out for a walk and is an incredible amount of pain as a third eye opens on his forehead. Uh, the credit start, and then we pick back up again with him walking down the street before he is greeted by a woman played by Charlie's.

So, I don't know who that is as far as comic books go, but it's clear that Dr. Strange can never have a day of peace because he has quickly ushered away into a new adventure. So I'm assuming that is setting up what's to come and Dr. Strange three and I'm very much hoping it doesn't take as long to get to that one as it did from Dr. Strange to Dr. Strange and the multi-verse. Uh, the last in tag is with Bruce Campbell.

As we see pizza, Papa is finally free of hitting himself in the face, which is a very odd thing for our strange to force him into. I don't know how I feel about that, but letting it set up the fact that we get the in tag where Bruce Campbell's like, it's over. That at least it's worth it. And is up there with captain America imbuing the value of patients at the end of homecoming. Uh, it's always fun.

Whenever the Intacs are self-aware enough to make fun of people staying long enough for the extra. So, yeah, I think that's going to do it. Uh, like I said, this is a very quick reaction. We will definitely circle back once Jude and I have our schedules sinked up again to dive into it more.

But again, since we are doing two episodes on Dr. Strange and the multiverse of madness, I thought this would be a great way to put a call out, to see what you've thought of Dr. Strange and the multi-verse and madness. And we can discuss those and read those reactions whenever we do the fuller review.

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