Whilst I really did quite enjoy this - and it was great to be in a busy cinema again - it's really more of a testament to the skills of the VFX guys rather than to any of the writers. The story is really pretty thin with the engaging and confident Benedict Cumberbatch joining forces with the charismatic and feisty young Xochitl Gomez' "America" - a young lady who has been appearing in his dreams. Turns out, she can cross from one universe to another - and soon both are being sought by the mighty Elizabeth Olsen's "Wanda Maximoff" (surely a "Bond" girl?) who wants control of time so she can get back to her lost family, yada yada... Benedict Wong features sparingly, but always adds a little value as the "Sorcerer Supreme" and there are a few cameos from Charlize Theron and Sir Patrick Stewart to help prop up what is, admittedly, a pretty meagre second half. I think this multiverse strand could provide Marvel with the gift that keeps on giving, but they have got to tighten the pace up - two hours for this was just too long; the plot doesn't sustain it and though the combat scenes are nothing to the length in the "Avengers" movies; there is still far too much slack here. It does look and sound great on a big screen, though, and I am now warming to the star in the role (and his intuitive flying cape). Fun, but flawed.

Obviously this film came loaded with the usual great special effects and endless battle scenes that I guess are needed to draw and hold your average superhero movie fan. Not so much of the Marvel wit and humor that are more like to hold me, the anything but average fan, or rather,not a fan at all, though I do like science fiction. For me, the 500 pound elephant in the room that cast a shadow over the entire movie was the villain. Now if you haven’t seen the film yet this may count as a spoiler, though it is revealed fairly early on. But the former heroine turned evil one is a woman taken over by the dark side. But what got me was her motive. Not to take over the world or the universe or the multiverse, but rather because she wanted to be a mommy to kids she lost along the way, or never had, or something. Billions of people in multiple universes died because she didn’t want to adopt. It seems like inserting herself into one universe might have been enough for you or me, but I suppose she wanted more options open if something went wrong with the first kids whose mother she killed (or is it her alternate self?) to get hold of. Dr. Strange even asked about it once, and she blithely explained that if her new old kids got terribly sick, she could find the cure for anything in other universes. She is the perfect mom, doing anything for her kids; well, except for providing moral leadership and showing them the path to be a good person who helps others and contributes to the world around them. Yeah, do as I say, kids, not as I do. Whoever created the evil dark book that took over her personality would have been disappointed that it was used merely to seed a new family.

Dr. Strange explores the multiverse even further than Spider-Man: No Way Home. It was extremely entertaining, and Sam Raimi brought a good amount of horror to the MCU, even though I would have preferred slightly more. Both Dr. Strange and Scarlet Witch stole the show and really made this movie for me. Many movies you wish it were a bit shorter, but with Multiverse of Madness, I really wish we got 15 more minutes. A lot happens in a short 2-hour chunk, and pacing would have been much better if it were given a slightly longer run time. **Verdict:** _Great_

**Pretty good but filled with missed opportunities.** A Marvel movie so different than the rest... while still just like the rest. With the introduction of the Multiverse, this movie took full advantage of the opportunity to explore new worlds, new variations on familiar characters, and character cameos that Marvel fans have been desperately waiting for! I enjoyed Raimi's horror influences on the MCU. Unfortunately, the movie propelled itself from start to finish at breakneck speed, preventing the story from really taking advantage of the exciting cameos and roster of characters. The pace also jumped past true character motivations making the average audience confused and unsympathetic towards a formerly well-accepted hero now turned villain.

Man all the people that went into this to watch a Doctor Strange movie are going to be angry aren't they? This isn't about Doctor Strange, well, it is if you make Doctor Strange into a bumbling idiot. This is about Woke Captain America, Amerigo Chavez, the biological daughter of two Lesbian women who is the center focus of this backdoor pilot. And it is about Wanda, who did horrible things and was instantly forgiven because girl power... or something... or Woke or whatever. But don't expect to see the Sorcerer Supreme in this, you know given that since Strange was already stripped of that title because he is problematic and they couldn't let him retain it, but then, don't expect to see that much of Strange either.

Great movie. This multi-universe stuff is crazy. I wish I could be a part of this in real life. It would be so awesome.

**A colossal work of incredible CGI, in which the script is quite lost, and the actors do a good job playing characters they already know well.** Contrary to my custom, I saw this film directly after the first one. It wasn't my will, it was the TV channel that decided to show them in sequence. And that's good: things are clearer and more understandable if we have previously seen the initial film, which explains the origin of the character and her journey. There are some aspects and details of the script that I didn't understand, but as Marvel tends to chain its films together, as if they were the threads of a tapestry, I believe that what I didn't understand will be related to the number of Marvel films that I still didn't have the opportunity to see it. The film is directed by Sam Raimi, which immediately raised my eyebrows: after all, he is a truly creative and intelligent director, who has already given us works worthy of praise, although hero films have not gone well for the director in the past. As far as I know, production was extremely confusing and, as we know, heavily affected by the recent pandemic. Raimi took advantage, rewrote a good part of the script and revised everything, in order to create a bizarre, somewhat scary story (he started out as a director of cheap horror films, let's remember), about the multiverse, a concept that has been explored a lot in the cinema of this decade. As expected, the film was a brutal success, both at the box office and in terms of specialized critics, having registered the fourth-best box office of 2022, and was sacramentally ignored by the Oscars, even in the visual and technical categories where, in my opinion, opinion, he could have had a good chance of winning a prize. In fact, the film is a visual spectacle of supreme proportions, making the most of the multiverse's enormity of possibilities for a visual experience that is worth it in itself. If the first film had already been colossal in terms of effects and CGI, this film surpasses it almost in every way. The sets, costumes, props, makeup, everything was thought out in minute detail and makes good use of the huge budget that Marvel made available. And the work of the stuntmen and choreographers was excellent in the action and fight scenes. The script brings together two characters from the Marvel universe in the same story: the already known Dr. Strange and the Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff. Before this film, and what came before it, I didn't know them because I'm not a big fan of comics, although I recognize Marvel's exceptional work in this field over several decades. There is also a third character who enters here, America Chavez, a young Latina who, honestly, must be some kind of third-line character, but who assumes considerable relevance to the plot. In general, the script seems weaker to me than that of the first film, and this could be a direct consequence of the immense confusion that was the entire process of conceiving and producing the film, between a pandemic, withdrawals and all sorts of setbacks. Benedict Cumberbatch returns to his character and does a job well done, although the actor seems to be working with slightly less interesting material and entering a comfort zone that makes things more monotonous. Elizabeth Olsen was also perfectly at ease with her character, as she had already played it in other films in the Marvel universe that I, as far as I remember, have not yet seen. She is quite good at what she does, and the actress's work is convincing. There are also several other actors from the first film who return for a new job: Rachel McAdams and Chiwetel Ejiofor have an easier job, but it seems to me that the film doesn't particularly take advantage of them. Much better luck had Benedict Wong, with impeccable work, and Xochitl Gomez, who made positive use of the opportunity, even without deserving the spotlight.