Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

I don't often visit the Marvel Universe but I spent a day prepping for this one by watching recaps of all the precursors for this film. Turns out only "WandaVision" and an extremely brief knowledge of End Game was necessary to understand this film's plot. I even watched "Spider-Man: No Way Home" for the first time just so I wouldn't be burned at the stake if someone brought it up in conversation and realized I hadn't seen it yet. Watching that film was the best experience I had that Thursday. For a film universe that prizes itself on developing storylines over years of movie titles and epic adventures, I was remarkably disappointed by this film's accumulation of the Scarlet Witch's storyline. This is a character planted in the Marvel universe nearly a decade ago in the end credit scene of Winter Soldier. As someone who doesn't watch Marvel movies anymore, I was impressed with myself for remembering that. For a character who's been developed for that long, who recently had her own show, how did they manage to miss the emotional hits in this film? Every punch felt pulled. Sure, there were grand moments of action and mind bending CGI visuals that you've probably seen before. If this was only trying to be an action adventure it might have worked better. They could have spent more time exploring the Multiverse, which didn't feel utilized enough here. The films coolest idea took a back seat so that the Scarlett Witch could see her story through and they finished that without catharsis. However, it wouldn't be a Marvel movie without the crowd cheering on opening night and there were moments of fan service that were able to erupt the theater. Even as an outsider I couldn't help but smiling at the fun of it all. Though in truth those moments didn't really add much value to the films plot and probably won't develop into anything of note... 

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