Doctor Strange 2 was much anticipated since the title release. The concept of Multiverse intrigues every marvel fan and combining the master of the mystic arts can’t be bad. At Least that’s what we all thought.
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| Elizebeth Olsen and Benedict Cumberbatch [Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Marvel] |
Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness released first on May 4th. In India, it was released on May 6th. From the beginning there has been mixed opinions regarding the film which generally isn’t the case for a cinema with Doctor Strange in it.
After the forms of teasers, trailers and posters, the film failed to meet our expectations. Discussed below are some reasons why the film was not satisfactory.
America Chavez
Xochitl Gomez debuted as Marvel’s new teen superhero, America Chavez in Doctor Strange 2. Her performance was not one of the best, which is not exactly her fault. The character of Chavez was not built at all in the script, leading to a disconnection with the audiences.
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| Xochitl Gomez [Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Marvel] |
America Chavez can walk across universes but not at will. Unable to control her powers she can only open a portal during emotional outbursts. She lost both her parents the first time she opened up a portal to another universe. She also had trust issues as in the beginning of the movie defender strange tried to kill her by absorbing her powers in order to save the multiverse.
This was not enough for the character to be empathized with. Even after getting enough screen time she felt more like a background character. This worked against the film as the whole story revolved around the young trespasser. What she needed was a better origin story and more character layers.
Battle of Kamar Taj
The two most powerful avengers, Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch, face off for the first time on screen at the Battle of Kamar Taj. This happens after Strange and Wong decide to protect Chavez at Kamar Taj as Wanda Maximoff asks them to hand her over.
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| Battle of Kamar Taj [Photo Courtesy: Screenshot from trailer] |
The full might of Kamar Taj (who fought against Thanos) including Doctor Strange fought against Scarlet Witch, yet the battle was very one sided. Even though Scarlet Witch is the strongest, the strength polarity was exaggerated leading to almost no punches from Strange's end. This stole the glory of the battle.
Considering the fact that it was done to establish Wanda’s might, the action choreography itself was weak unlike the other fights of the film. A few significant moment’s which were backed by Sam Raimi’s direction were worth appreciating in the fight. Rest as a whole, it was mediocre.
Illuminati
The biggest surprise of Dr. Strange 2 is the introduction of Illuminati. That ended up to be the biggest disappointment.
Illuminati is a group of super smart and super intelligent heroes who judge over the actions of other heroes or villains. Although the members kept changing in comics, in the film there was Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic played by John Kransinski, Captain Marvel played by Lashana Lynch, Black Bolt played by Anson Mount, Peggy Carter aka Captain Carter played by Hayley Atwell and finally, Professor Charles Xavier played by Sir Patrick Stewart.All these major characters faced death within 15 to 20 minutes of their introduction.
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| Illuminati Shot [Photo Courtesy: Screenshot of Trailer] |
Why was the whole of Illuminati, one of the strongest groups of marvel comics, disarmed and murdered within 20 minutes with no solid contribution to the plot?The only plausible explanation for such an interception in the script is fan service.
Marvel had included innumerable fan serving moments in Endgame which is the highest grossing MCU movie. It made sense there as it was the end of an era.
Ironically, much to the grief of the fans, marvel has adapted to fan serving as a business strategy. This was evident in Spider Man: No Way Home where the profits sky rocketed and eventually the plot holes were ignored. Alas, in M.O.M. the strategy went south and it degraded the quality of the script.
Introducing the Illuminati without any evident boost to the plot, heavily wasted the screen time which could have been used elsewhere. Moreover, it distracted the fans temporarily from the main story, which they had to fall back to after Illuminati was literally useless.
Wasted characters opportunities
While Marvel Studios was busy trying to position Illuminati in the script, they forgot a few major characters:
● Wong
● Mordo
● Strange Supreme & Defender Strange
Wong, who was established as the current Sorcerer Supreme quite a few times in the film, was shown considerably weak. His character placement reminds the fans of Hawkeye in “Marvel’s The Avengers”. From the battle of Kamar Taj till the climax, Wong didn’t/couldn’t do anything, which is a great demotion from the ancient one in Doctor Strange 1.
Baron Mordo, Strange’s arch-nemesis, was given a mysterious character twist at the end of Doctor Strange 1. While he is an equally strong wizard as Strange, his character in the movie was Illuminati’s henchman. With a great build up from Doctor Strange 1, it was anticipated both the students of the ancient one will have a majestic battle. What was served was nothing close.
Strange Supreme, the MVP of “Marvel’s What if?” series, when introduced in the teaser of M.O.M., broke the internet. Yet, the strongest form of Doctor Strange didn’t survive 10 minutes on screen. The same disappointment was experienced for Defender Strange who died in the first 5 minutes of the film, only to be used as a puppet in the climax battle.
OverCrowding
The runtime of “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness” is 2 hours 6 minutes. Within this, there were 13 major characters, 7 deaths and 7 battles. From this, the lack of character build up other than Wanda’s is understandable.
Illuminati’s presence was already a toll on the screen time and the introduction of so many major characters on screen hypes the fans but doesn’t allow them to connect to the heroes.
Moreover, it makes the script congested, distracting the audience from the plot point.
It is Elizabeth Olsen’s acting and the studio’s insane visuals and action choreographies which keeps the film alive. Marvel should change its strategy of fan servicing and nostalgia, and go back to quality scripts like Winter Soldier and Infinity War. Because although the fans would cheer in the theaters for the time being, they would soon start criticizing. As Mordo said,”The bill always comes due.”
Author
Archan Kundu
(Opinion of Author)
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