On 5 May I was fortunate enough to go see this fantastic film. WARNING…..Spoilers ahead…..
As a Sam Raimi fan already I knew that this wasn’t going to be a typical Marvel outing and my hopes were confirmed, from the very first scene this film is action packed and goes in lots of directions to include various appearances by some fan favourite characters.
To set the scene the story revolves around America Chavez, a young girl who has the ability to travel through different Universes…erm sorry Multiverses! America is being pursued by a number of monsters wanting to steal her power in order to have full reign across the “Multi Vii” I know, I know it sounds more like a Multi vitamin, just bear with me…
Turns out that Wanda aka Scarlet Witch has been possessed by the Darkhold book (post credit scene on the last episode of Wandavision if you haven’t already seen it) and her sole mission is to possess America’s powers so she can travel to another Universe to care for her two boys that were just a figment of her imagination in this Universe. The scene is set…let the chaos commence!
At approx. 2 and a half hours this really is a long outing for Doctor Strange and all the scenes in my opinion were important so you know exactly what is going on here, from cameos by Bruce Campbell from the Original Spider-Man Trilogy ( also Directed by Raimi) and several others I certainly wasn’t expecting in the Illuminati Reed Richards (John Krasinski), Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell), Black Bolt (Anson Mount), Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel) this is truly the spectacle that just keeps on giving… Sam Raimi has somehow been able to cross the barrier between Marvel and Evil Dead/Drag Me To Hell type Monster sequences that are humorous yet entertaining at the same time. Rachel McAdams reprises her role as Christine and we also see Wong (Benedict Wong) and Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) making an appearance along the way.
I have watched this film twice now and keep noticing new things. For any Comic Book novices out there the big eye/squid type monster in the first act is known as Garganto/Shuma Gorath, Garganto first appeared in Sub-Mariner 13 and Shuma Gorath in Marvel Premiere 10 if you want to read more about the character.
Two great surprises for me though were 1. Seeing the trademark Raimi car painted yellow spinning without gravity towards the latter part of the film and also the end credit scene to introduce Charlize Theron as Clea!!!!! Only a very brief scene but so glad a new possible love interest being brought in play.
This is a superb addition to the Marvel Universe, I still think due to the horror tones it should be deemed a 15 rating rather than a 12 but well worth a watch, a solid 8 out of 10 from me on this film.
