Director Sam Raimi (the EVIL DEAD movies, the first SPIDER-MAN trilogy, and DARKMAN, to name his most relevant credits here) makes his first new film in just shy of a decade, and it’s a simultaneously convoluted yet simple quest adventure sequel to not just Scott Derrickson’s first DOCTOR STRANGE from 2016 but also a laundry list of other Marvel-branded entertainment. And somehow it largely works! It’s not as uniquely its director’s baby as, say, THOR RAGNAROK or the GUARDIANS flicks — but as with Shane Black and IRON MAN 3, you can definitely see Raimi’s fingerprints all over it. The whole thing is soaked in Raimi’s particular visual language — from the tense edits, jump scares, and creatures that recall his early horror work to inventive scene transitions and overlaps that remind me of some of his more unique visual touches from DARKMAN all those decades back.
I’m not going to say much about the plot, because anything more than the following — a wistful Stephen (Benedict Cumberbatch) and ever-vigilant Wong (Benedict Wong) find themselves having to defend super-powered multiverse-hopping teen America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) from an entity seeking to steal her power — feels like a giant SPOILER. There is one major, nigh-fundamental element of the plot I’m not thrilled about, but in the end it just about lands; the actors involved play it well, and the final note hits right emotionally. But I tell ya, there’s a couple comic creators who inspired this stuff that I’m still shaking my fist at. I was also a little disappointed that America Chavez wasn’t quite the seasoned, confident hero and world-hopper from the comics, but it’s clearly early days for the character, and I liked Gomez well enough in the part; if we’ve gotten to the point that you can confidently tell a superhero tale like this, which plays like a stack of STRANGE issues with a particularly bloodthirsty crossover issue of EXILES wedged in the middle, I’m sure America Chavez has many ass-kicking tales yet to come.
It’s two hours and six minutes and feels a lot longer, but not in a bad way — you’re getting your money’s worth in eye-popping visual razzle-dazzle, Marvel Comics lore of both the expected and unexpected varieties, and actual emotional meat for the title character and the extended cast to chew on. While these Marvel Studios movies are starting to get harder and harder to rank, I think it IS easy to say this is one of the better first sequels we’ve seen, up there with WINTER SOLDIER and GUARDIANS VOL 2. Oh, and the 3D is probably worth shelling out for if you’re still into that — and not just because that AVATAR sequel trailer before it looked pretty spectacular with all its wonders leaping off the screen (I’ve still never seen the first one and probably won’t see this one either, but it was a neat-looking trailer); especially after a few years of the local theater going without, it was a real treat to see all those brain-bending spell effects and magical gateways with just that extra bit of pizzaz the 3D adds.