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Doctor Strange and the Multitude of Misconceptions
Phase 4 is on wobbly territory, probably a nauseous effect of so many interdimensional shenanigans
Spoilers, duh!
Wacky, bonanza fun. I don’t even know what that means, but I know that’s what I expected this film to be. I think we all did. Once the title dropped we were giddy as school children. Unpredictability was this story’s horizon. A film that unabashedly states, ‘Yeah, we’re doing the multiverse and it will be bonkers!’ Throw in Sam Raimi as the Director and Doctor Strange was on course for the stars; uncalculable levels of Strangeness abound! Yet, when the curtains fell I was left with another statement in mind, ‘… that’s a shame. Great ideas, badly handled.’
And I almost hate myself for making such a conceited statement. It’s just a superhero film, don’t be so upset. Look at how much of the rest of phase 4 has gone, should my expectations really be that high? Was wacky bonanza fun too hopeful? Or, indeed, too reductive?
Questions that portal around the brain, jumping from emotion to emotion with no real intent or satisfying answer. Wait a minute, there’s a parallel in here somewhere…
To be clear, I’m not as emotionally devastated as I would be if Thor: Love and Thunder would turn out bad because, frankly, the bar for Doctor Strange isn’t that high. It’s just upsetting that the writers didn’t address some of the necessary questions raised by their own story.
So, what happened? Where exactly did Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness get lost? And what can writers learn from this film? — because there are some interesting takeaways here. For instance, the film’s ideas are fantastic. Where it gets lost is not in the complexity of multiversal travel but in the simplicity of morality and character. In other words, the film doesn't know where its heart lies.
Character: The Strange Issue
Let’s start by addressing the most obvious issue with any Doctor Strange sequel: its main character is nobody's favourite. Not by a long shot.
