Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Elisabeth Olsen, Xochitl Gomez, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Stuhlbarg. Written by Michael Waldron and directed by Sam Raimi. Budget $200 million, running time 126 minutes. Number of post credit stings - two, one right at the absolute very end.
This is a fully spoiler free review.
The plot. Oh god. Dr Strange must save a young girl with the power to travel the multiverse or die trying. Everyone else is along for the ride.
Gosh, that was a relentless movie, 126 minutes later and I leave having enjoyed the movie but also, sadly, never really engaging with it all that much.
The odd thing is I don't know why I didn't engage, I just can't put my finger on what it was that niggled me, because there was nothing I didn't like about it. In fact I liked it all. I enjoyed the performances, I thought the cast was all great, the effects were superb and the whole thing was absolutely bonkers!
Every now and then you'd get wonderful flashes of that Sam Raimi genius, which only made you wish he put in more flourishes. The film was funny when it needed to be, and equally dramatic and shocking the next. It moved with a breathless pace and it avoided having a flabby middle, so it ticked all the right boxes and yet...
It never connected with me.
In preparation for this I rewatched the first Dr. Strange movie and really enjoyed it, I love how Strange battles the big cosmic threat in that one, and I really enjoyed Dr. Strange in the last Spiderman movie, so perhaps my lack of connection this time round is that I'm just a little overdosed on Strange?
By the way, it seems everyone picked up on the audio cameo revealed in the trailer, but I was delighted to discover there was one reveal not spoiled by anyone, and I won't be doing it here, which made this fan boy giggle with delight!
My son, in comparison, loved this and gave it a solid 9/10, which is high praise indeed from the Baxter (perhaps it's cos he got name-checked in the movie), I on the other hand will be giving this an 7/10.
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