Jump to content

Multiverse of Madness


Recommended Posts

What did people think of the movie? 

I'll be honest, I felt it was being hyped on the power of its multiversal cameos (so many spoilers coming)

Spoiler

 

And they didn't really hold up for me. We could have had more with the characters we got, other portrayals (I for one was really keen to see Ioan Gruffudd reprise the role of Reed Richards) or a sort of multiversal road movie with a larger cast of previous Marvel actors. The film supposedly had half an hour cut, maybe some of this was in that half hour.

I found myself leaning more and more towards the 'Wanda has gone too far to be redeemed' camp, and I thought tricking her into destroying her chance with the children she did all the villainous stuff for in the first place was almost appropriately cruel. I'm not totally sure what I think about her redemption, only that it'd take a lot of hard work and good deeds to make up for it all (let's not forget that even if she had been given the power without a fight, she still planned to kill and replace another Wanda). It's a tragic end to a character we've been following for years, although I'm not totally convinced she's dead.

Also, I might just be a pedantic nerd, but I really don't like the MCU being given the 616 designation in the multiverse.

That said, it was definitely an emotional ride, which is what art is all about.

Edited by jamesbondsmith
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw it last night and liked it but didn't love it. I'll be seeing it again this afternoon and will hopefully have just as good if not a better time, and will write up my feelings on it afterwards. As a preface, I'm going to talk a lot about things I would have changed and a revised storyline/movie after discussing general thoughts and feelings from my first viewing and any changes upon the second one. 

Edited by Use the Falchion
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw the movie again yesterday, and my feelings are more or less the same as they were yesterday. 

The movie is good, but I do think it was a tad narrow in scope for something called The Multiverse of Madness. Maybe it's just me, but when I think of multiverse madness, I think of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse or No Way Home or even the DC CW crossover episodes. 

DS2 reminded me of The Rise of Skywalker in certain ways, although I'm left with a far better taste in my mouth with this movie than I am with TROS. I liked America, and I liked Strange's journey. 

The cameos suffered from the same problem that WandaVision's cameos did, and I'm not happy with that. Overall, I think this was a good movie that was well-paced, well-acted, and overall fun, but it could have been better for me at least. My personal revision coming later on. (At this rate probably Monday.) 

This will be someone's favorite MCU film, but it's not mine. 

Edited by Use the Falchion
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I enjoyed this movie. The first Dr Strange was not actually my favorite so I liked this one better. But that really is just me. I thought it was well done. I had heard that this was going to be more of a horror film and I was nervous about it since that is a genre I don’t like at all. But it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Definitely elements of it, but it was manageable for me.

So here’s some of my thoughts on Wanda.

Spoiler

So it ultimately wasn’t too surprising for me that Wanda became the villain, but I still am a little sad about it. She is a great character even still and I just wanted her to be happy and find some peace. I guess most versions of her did. Somehow… not quite sure how her kids exist in all the other multiverse realities but oh well. I do feel like WandaVision was required viewing before this. And I think the part I am most bummed about with 616 Wanda dying (I think she’s dead at least) is that we were just starting to see her at the end of WandaVision really coming into her own with her scarlet witch powers and I wanted a chance to see her use them for good as a hero. 

And some of my thoughts on some foreshadowing elements and character arcs in the movie.

Spoiler

I feel like the line about “you always have to be the one holding the knife” made sense, but made it obvious to me that he likely was going to let someone else really save the day in the end. That felt like the very obvious arc. The happy/fear thing didn’t totally land for me either, but it wasn’t terrible. Part of that I think comes from the fact that I never liked his and Christine’s relationship in the first movie so anything relating to it here was kind of meh.

I did love the set up to the dream walking using the his own dead body though. That landed perfect for me. Definitely thought the same as Christine like “how can you do that without a you there?” And then he did and it was fantastic.

Overall it was a good movie for me. I am still struggling to grasp a little bit after this how (Loki spoilers)

Spoiler

Loki and the TVA connect with everything going on with the multiverse. Did it always exist? What was really getting pruned by the TVA? Was it multiverse realities or just branches off of 616? Did they exist but were inaccessible to 616? Anyway, still trying to make sense of that myself but maybe I am just thinking too hard about it.

 

Edited by Philomath
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have to use the tags? 

If there's a thing I would have liked to be different is Wanda, I think. Her development across the movie is great, but

Spoiler

Her starting point as already corrupted undermines WandaVision's ending, imo. That show is about her realizing hurting others for her own fake happiness was wrong. Her arc in this movie is exactly the same thing, only now the writers were set on making her as close to irredeemable as possible. 

At the very least I'm happy o see what she is like whe she fights without restraint. Those scenes are delightfully terrifying. 

You can see the "creative differences" with the previous director who wanted a horror movie coming through, which is a shame. As good as this was, the best bits were watered down

Edited by Eluvianii
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 08/05/2022 at 8:11 AM, Philomath said:

I enjoyed this movie. The first Dr Strange was not actually my favorite so I liked this one better. But that really is just me. I thought it was well done. I had heard that this was going to be more of a horror film and I was nervous about it since that is a genre I don’t like at all. But it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Definitely elements of it, but it was manageable for me.

So here’s some of my thoughts on Wanda.

  Hide contents

So it ultimately wasn’t too surprising for me that Wanda became the villain, but I still am a little sad about it. She is a great character even still and I just wanted her to be happy and find some peace. I guess most versions of her did. Somehow… not quite sure how her kids exist in all the other multiverse realities but oh well. I do feel like WandaVision was required viewing before this. And I think the part I am most bummed about with 616 Wanda dying (I think she’s dead at least) is that we were just starting to see her at the end of WandaVision really coming into her own with her scarlet witch powers and I wanted a chance to see her use them for good as a hero. 

And some of my thoughts on some foreshadowing elements and character arcs in the movie.

  Hide contents

I feel like the line about “you always have to be the one holding the knife” made sense, but made it obvious to me that he likely was going to let someone else really save the day in the end. That felt like the very obvious arc. The happy/fear thing didn’t totally land for me either, but it wasn’t terrible. Part of that I think comes from the fact that I never liked his and Christine’s relationship in the first movie so anything relating to it here was kind of meh.

I did love the set up to the dream walking using the his own dead body though. That landed perfect for me. Definitely thought the same as Christine like “how can you do that without a you there?” And then he did and it was fantastic.

Overall it was a good movie for me. I am still struggling to grasp a little bit after this how (Loki spoilers)

  Hide contents

Loki and the TVA connect with everything going on with the multiverse. Did it always exist? What was really getting pruned by the TVA? Was it multiverse realities or just branches off of 616? Did they exist but were inaccessible to 616? Anyway, still trying to make sense of that myself but maybe I am just thinking too hard about it.

 

As I think i understand how the Multiverse works (it bent my brain a little to be honest)

Spoiler

It was completely non-existent until the Loki finale, then it suddenly changed to having always existed. That's kind of how I interpreted the visual of the timestream suddenly branching off exponentially, both before and after the 'present'

 

@Eluvianii I definitely see what you mean about WandaVision. 

Edited by jamesbondsmith
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, jamesbondsmith said:

As I think i understand how the Multiverse works (it bent my brain a little to be honest)

  Hide contents

It was completely non-existent until the Loki finale, then it suddenly changed to having always existed. That's kind of how I interpreted the visual of the timestream suddenly branching off exponentially, both before and after the 'present'

 

That seems to make the most “sense” to me. 
 

Also my sister just sent me this meme about the movie and I thought it was super funny.

1ADB5F5D-209D-4E44-A58C-18CD65427FC6.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9.5.2022 at 8:23 AM, jamesbondsmith said:

As I think i understand how the Multiverse works (it bent my brain a little to be honest)

  Reveal hidden contents

It was completely non-existent until the Loki finale, then it suddenly changed to having always existed. That's kind of how I interpreted the visual of the timestream suddenly branching off exponentially, both before and after the 'present'

 

@Eluvianii I definitely see what you mean about WandaVision. 

That sounds like a good view on it.

I watched the movie last Thursday. It was... Somewhat disappointing.

Spoiler

really didn't want Wanda to be the villain - I hoped the whole "old friend returning as a foe" thing would be Mordo. Then again, it wouldn't make much sense - everybody knew he was going to be a villain. Wanda was, indeed, terrifying.

What disappointed me the most was probably the Illuminati. They go all the way through ignoring Doctor Stranger's warnings about Wanda, enough that I thought they actually knew what they were doing; instead, they play the arrogant men in charge role, which didn't work for me. I mean, sure, they probably know their Wanda to be unthreatening, but they also know this Wanda has the Darkhold. How stupid can they be? That also undermined the (possible) idea that Doctor Strange variants are actual threats to the Multiverse. Instead, I'm left with the conclusion that the Illuminati were a bunch of idiots. Though I did enjoy the introduction of all those characters.

Interesting tidbit: the 838 Wanda didn't have Vision around. What's going on with that?

Other stuff: "every Wanda variant but me has Billy and Tommy", "no Doctor Strange variant is capable of trusting others with the knife and ends up with Christine". It's a very narrow Multiverse, don't you think? Though maybe the What ID's Doctor Strange Supreme explains this last one: either Strange is arrogant and loses his hands, he's nice but loses his heart (Christine), or Dormamu wins, because there's no one to put him in a time loop. Absolutely no explanation of the first one, though. No other America Chavez in the Multiverse makes a lot of sense, but might be the reason the MCU can't fit with the Marvel Comics universe, which has its own America.

My favorite scene in the movie was the Lethal Symphonies scene - fighting with music. It reminded me of the Beren and Lùthien scene with Finrod VS Sauron.

In my opinion, the movie could've been better. Can't really list a number of ways, but maybe give us more time to convince is that the Illuminati are just arrogant? Or show us that they were ready to face a serious threat, but Wanda was a little more then they expected? Let Stephen meet a version of him that was actually better as a way of showing him he could do better?

Also, why Is there one Book of the Vishanti in the whole Multiverse, but the Darkhold exists simultaneously in every universe?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...