Two days ago I told you I watched it in the premiere. Let's now make a fair in-depth explanation, and a final no-spoilers review.
Alright, so let's start by giving the story some context.
"Every night I dream the same dream... and then, the nightmare begins."
With this epic phrase we were introduced to the movie (watch first official trailer here) which promised to explore a wide concept known as "The Multiverse."
In the MCU, the Multiverse was first introduced in the Infinity War Saga, when Stephen Strange by using the Eye of Agamotto (a.k.a. the Time Stone) saw all the possible outcomes of the fight against the Mad Titan Thanos, and foresaw the only one in which the earth warriors could actually win this war.
Although this first approach was not exactly multiversal (instead it was an use of the Infinity Stone to create a time loop, just like the loop also made by Strange to defeat the ruler of the dark dimension Dormammu, in the first movie from the doctor saga) it implied that different decisions could lead to alternate realities, or different outcomes of the reality.
Later, it was also implied by The Ancient One when Bruce Banner tried to convince her to give him the Time Stone. She explained that it could affect their realities in different ways, as they both weren't from the same reality.
A possible deviation from reality explained by The Ancient One.
So, basically what we come across is a wide range of possible versions of reality that will entirely depend on each and every decision made by every main or secondary character of every planet of every galaxy. Pretty wild, isn't it?
The concept was then further developed in the Loki series (one of the best productions in the whole MCU if you ask me - I completely loved the music score by Natalie Holt, read an interview on the music here.)
In this series, the so-called God of Mischief sees himself wrapped up in a mess originated by him altering the course of "what was supposed to be" when he stole an ancient artifact and escaped from his imprisonment, creating so an "alternate" version of the first Avengers movie ending.
This circumstances led him into something named TVA (Time Variance Authority) which seems to control pretty much everything (at least, this everything) so things don't get out of hand. Loki, as someone who broke out from the "Sacred Time Lime" as it's called by the Time Keepers, becomes a "Variant" - a version of himself that got out of this sacred timeline.
In the series finale we saw (by circumstances not described here) the falling apart of this Sacred Time Line (Oh! Loki... always Loki) thus generating an infinite realm of possibilities. These was further developed in the animated series (my favorite so far!) "What If" - enjoy the intro here.
"Time... space... reality. It's more than a linear path. It's a prism of endless possibility, where a single choice can branch out into infinite realities, creating alternate worlds from the onw you know." - The Watcher
So now we know about the multiverse, what is the exact line of events that brings us all the way to "Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" movie?
I would say that the main catalytic element is the breakdown of the Sacred Time Line in the ending of Loki series. This is the main soil on which the entirety of the known universe (known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe or MCU) starts to crumble.
Then there is another situation that relates to the latest of the Tom Hollands Spiderman's movies "Spiderman: No Way Home." In this chapter of "Your Friendly Neighbor" the identity of Peter Parker as Spiderman is revealed, and such as human opinions are always divided, he starts to be chased by the love and hate of mainly everyone. The brilliant Peter Parker then decides to ask an even smarter Dr. Strange to do a spell so everyone who knows that Peter Parker is Spiderman would forget about it. In the middle of the cast, Peter starts asking Strange to change the parameters of the spell, causing a huge magic explosion/implosion and the spell to miserably fail.
What really happened is that everyone who knew that Peter Parker was Spiderman was summoned into this reality, that including friends and foes from alternate realities. I personally think this movie was a very good chapter of the MCU and the superheroes movies, as we got to witness sort of "epic" and memorable moments.
So we finally reach Dr. Strange 2.
The movie starts with high tension, and powerful action scenes that let us see Stephen Strange in different clothes running away from a monster with a girl. You may see the majority of these scenes in the trailer.
In general, the first act is always very much an action movie with some cool visual effects (as we are used to in Strange movies) and we are rapidly introduced to the main plot of the movie: there are more than one Dr. Strange in scene, and even though he's a superhero, he doesn't always get what he wants.
My guess here is that actually the main argument of the movie is Sacrifice
...which lead us to Wanda Maximoff.
The now known "Scarlet Witch" has lost all of what was important to her: her parents, her country, a brother named Pietro/Quicksilver, her beloved Vision, and lately (in "WandaVision" series) her two children.
As you may guess, this circumstances bring her to the edge of emotional breakdown (this is the main plot of "WandaVision" series,) leading her to take choices, sometimes good ones, sometimes bad ones, just like you and me.
There are important cameos of previously seen characters (people in the cinema screamed when saw a few of them!) however, they don't have much effect in the main story. There are a few unfinished arguments with some of this extra characters, and in the mid-term, the movie gets slow, and uninteresting.
I can't believe I just wrote that. - But we are seeing a movie that opened up a "prism of endless possibility!" and this was one of the major issues I had with the movie.
In the Loki series, we learned that as vast as the multiverse are the "alternate" versions of oneself. We saw then hundreds of alternate Loki, getting together into the void.
So in the "Multiverse of Madness" we see exactly... 6. Six characters from alternate realities, and a repeated one, so that would be 7 variants.
In my personal opinion, the huge possible outcome went down to zero when they didn't used it to its last consequences. If we are to open the door for the entirety of the multiverse, then at least we should've seen hundreds of variants, and not just a few entirely for fan service.
The director chosen for this movie was Sam Raimi, who is known for his low-budget cult horror movies in the 80s and the 90s. He also previously worked with Marvel when directing Spiderman (2002), and Spiderman 2 (2004). Ever since, he directed many, many horror movies.
I don't want to get into the realms of the discussion if he was a good or a bad choice for the script. What I can definitely affirm is that he's influence is clearly noticeable in the film. One of the best moments of the film is much more a horror persecution than an action scene. However, we were lacking the later very very much.
Marvel movies are usually rated PG-13 which means a lot of healthy action, non-bloody fight scenes, and an ironic sense of humor. In this case, for a horror fil director this means a lot of limitations, as well as a ballast for creativity. A horror director cannot do a PG-13 horror movie, and as a horror specialist, he also failed to make action scenes that were truly remarkable.
IMDB has rated the movie with 7.6/10, while Rottentomatoes has given it a punctuation of 76%.
Personally, I think it is in general a good movie to watch, nothing special tho. It could as well be named "Dr. Strange and the Scarlett Witch Situation" or "Scarlett Witch Unfinished Business" - definitely smaller than a multiversal situation, and not a mad one neither.
The ending was also very loose, and showed a lack of a concise closure in the script. What is completely clear to me, is that sometimes, trailer directors can do better than the movie itself.
