Max Ahoy’s review published on Letterboxd:
Someone must’ve told Marvel how to turn down the desaturation.
In the six years since the debut of the mystical ‘master’ of wizardry, there’s been, just a bit of progression in the mcu. No longer is it about stopping a giant purple Shrek but about . . . about . . um . . multiverses? Yea, yea why not. While he’s been in various projects since it has felt like the character has had a far amount of development either off screen or in other peoples films and it makes me wonder “Is Doctor Strange still boring 🤔?” Well to answer that question I’d say not as much as last time but improvements wouldn’t be looked down upon.
Right off the bat I’m happy that this feels more like a Sam Raimi film that Sam Raimi directing another Marvel summer blockbuster. There’s a surprising amount of violence and spooky moments harkening back to his days of old. An in addition to hearing the creators voice it’s also nice to see some color and life being breathed into this gargantuan green greed generating machine of a franchise, superhero suits are becoming less like weird Nike track gear and more silly and vibrant, even Starnge’s customs looks better here. Like Moon Knight it’s nice to see these films becoming much weirder, gone are the days (mostly) of origin stories for the famous WWII solider and play boy billionaire robobots and now on to multiversal mayhem. I don’t even think multiversal is a word but it’s cool. With all these kind hearted things I’ve been praising the film for I. Still. Didn’t. Really. Like. It. Ssssorry.
While color has been painted and horror has been implanted and wacky weirdness is certain stage, it still feels like I’m watching a high budget sitcom. There are still way to many moments of “There’s the guy!” and “He said the thing!” and “Holy shit, their in this!? I’m gonna cum!!” for me to properly enjoy this. If I’m being honest, there were so many characters that came and went and stayed that don’t feel very well set up or developed leading to hollow fan service and crowd cheering moment s that feel very unearned. The parts I enjoyed the most were those of the horror side but even then there not Evil Dead or Drag me to hell levels of good (Though I understand why that is). The complaints that I have are more leaning towards the spoilery side of things but I won’t go there, mostly cause I’m not passionate enough about the mcu to break my fingers over a film about a wizard.
It still feels as though Marvel is still testing out the waters to see what’ll stick and what’ll slide down the window. I understand the caution but you’ve already ramped it up with Loki and Spider Boi so stop sticking your pinky toe in and just dive in already.
