Doctor Strange 2: Wanda As A Mother Makes It Harder To Criticise The MCU Film

Doctor Strange Review: Marvel never disappoints. The films inspired by the fan favourite comics have formed an extremely loyal fan base which consists of superhero enthusiasts and individuals who grew up on a diet of comics. With every new film release, the Marvel Cinematic Universe expands. This time, in the sequel of Doctor Strange, the franchise treated fans with some unlikely possibilities of the superhero world. They killed some heroes without giving heartache to the fans as what happens in another universe, stays in another universe.

Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness left me with mixed feelings. Most of them feel illegal to share as I am a loyal fan who loves everything with Avengers in it. The film started with an inexplainable dream sequence and went on to show a bittersweet aspect of Doctor Strange's life. Some obvious wow moments were thrown in the audience's direction and then came the Scarlet Witch threatening to cause some trouble. Cinematography is brilliant enough for the fans to not notice the logical loop holes in the film's narrative. To be honest, I couldn't care less for the logic as long as the incidents shown in the couple hours of the film make sense to me. I repeat, I am a loyal fan.

To keep things devoid of spoilers, I am forced to inform that Doctor Strange plays with music and Scarlet Witch wants to steal from every happy Wanda in the multiverse. Mind-blowing? Mind-blowing.

Then there were subtle references from other MCU films and shows which were excitedly pointed out by loyal fans but they failed to make an impact on less intense fan-base. Like all Marvel movies, drama was smartly controlled with tools of humour and tension was repeatedly diffused by characters having their witty moments. As expected, the Sorcerer Supreme Wong, continues to exert his authority over Strange and in this film we see him standing back and taking one for the team. When sorcery world got mixed with dark magic world, fans also saw ghosts for the first time in a Marvel movie. Rachel McAdam's is a fresh relief from Strange's aggressive scheming and planning and we see that our powerful superhero still has a soft heart. McAdams is a smart love interest of the male hero.

The character really in focus in Doctor Strange 2 was Wanda Maximoff who shows us her Scarlet Witch personality. She is brutal, demanding, stubborn and possessed enough for a villain to not be reasonable. Although she keeps saying that she is being reasonable. We don't hate Scarlet Witch because we know Wanda loves her children and her wrong actions are rooted in deep and painful emotions. Elizabeth Olsen deserves praise for holding the attention of the audience by never letting her dual characters go off-track. One minute she is fierce, next minute she is tender as ever.

Scarlet Witch's popular powers being used in the film are a treat to the fans but they hold no consequence in the larger scheme of things. Wanda's love for her children is repeatedly recycled for back to back scenes and that makes Scarlet Witch seem too delusional for the most powerful witch in the universe. Logic would say her reign has ended but MCU logic is more complicated and comprehensible only for the loyal fans.

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Another superhero is introduced in the film and she is a woman. She is a woman who speaks Spanish and she was raised by two mothers. The actor playing the role of America Chavez, Xochitl Gomez is herself a Mexican-American actor so her character mostly works out. America Chavez might show up in a movie of her own in the future with an emotional backstory about how Doctor Strange helped her become what she is. For those in the know of all things MCU, Doctor Strange babysits again.

The build up to the movie was so intense that loyal fans don't want to notice how the villain conveniently had a change of heart and everything is back to its normal state in the end until its not. The next Marvel movie might have been teased. The mid and end credit scenes are surprising and annoying but the fun is guaranteed. As always, Marvel never disappoints. I blame the below average ratings of the film on Doctor Strange of some distant and evil universe.

Views expressed by the author are their own.