WHAT IT MEANS TO BE STRANGE
If I could give this a 3.75 or a 3.8, I would. I was struggling to give this a rating because although flawed, this does some daring stuff that just can’t go unappreciated. I don’t think it deserves a 3.4 rating. It deserves more and it deserves more recognition for said daring ideas. I’ve expressed this before but my distaste for this site’s hate towards marvel is coming to the point where I now find it funny that people pay for a ticket and go to the movie theater to watch this film, just to hate on it. If you don’t like the MCU, and if you know you won’t love this, I suggest you just save your money for The Northman or EEAAO. The best part of the film is Sam Raimi. Sam Raimi’s signature horror, Sam Raimi’s signature use of bloody imagery, Sam Raimi’s handheld zooms, Sam Raimi’s over-the-top style of direction, it’s all about Sam Raimi. Cumberbatch is fantastic, although he’s better in the first one, where he gives one of the best acting performances in the MCU. There are blatant plot holes, and the film is too fast for it’s own good, I won’t deny it. But the horror imagery, the bloodshed (restrained, but Raimi still goes off,) and the moral ambiguity that these characters have are all bloody fantastic. The cameos are really fun and the costume design is immaculate. Wanda’s arc as a villain, kicked off and held by Wandavision and thrown into the realm of the multiverse, is really good. The final scene has some really great photography and visual metaphors. The CGI is fantastic, but nowhere near marvel’s most impressive. The music from Elfman bangs. The VFX is overused… unbelievably. It’s great but it’s a fest of visual effects and CGI. An overdose of the special effects drug, but that just adds to the film’s trippy feeling that it makes you feel. The acting was choppy at points but overall good. It’s an enjoyable flick, it’s not exactly a crowd-pleaser but it’s a film that needs to be experienced with strangers, with buttery popcorn, with a coke, and with all the good stuff that comes with the cinema experience.