Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Official Australian release date: 5/5/22.
Viewed: 5/5/22.
Director: Sam Raimi
Actors: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams
Genre: Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Rating: M

 

‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ (Dr Strange 2) feels odd in a few ways, as it’s been six years since the first film, but we’ve seen so much of Stephen Strange (Cumberbatch) recently, in the last two Avengers films and ‘Spider-Man No Way Home’, where he was almost the co-lead. This is also a bit different, as it dips slightly into horror territory, with demons, monsters and zombies – it is directed by Sam Raimi, from the original Spider-Man films, but also ‘Evil Dead’ fame.

The plot follows new character America (Gomez) and her teleporting power and what that has to do with Strange, Wong (Wong) and Wanda (Olsen). This film follows along the lines of what happened in ‘WandaVision’, ‘Loki’ and ‘No Way Home’, so it should be no surprise to viewers with all the interdimensional hopping, magic and psychedelic “other worlds” in this film. It’s good to see some of the alternate Strange’s and the other characters they chose to show us.

While not actually horrific or scary – even though there’s a few minor-shocks – it’s certainly quite dark and tragic, with the Scarlet Witch storyline being quite well-done, even if it leaves little room for humour or fun. It’s good to have McAdams back and she gets some screentime. Cumberbatch is good, but Olsen practically carries the film. The score is good, the CGI top-notch as always and the plot not too indecipherable. As always, there’s two end credit scenes.

Overall: Dark, brooding dive into the dark & mystic arts.
 
Gav’s Rating: 3.5 stars.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Official Australian release date: 21/4/22.
Viewed: 3/5/22.
Director: Tom Gormican
Actors: Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan, Tiffany Haddish
Genre: Comedy / Action
Rating: M

‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’ starts off like a biopic, but with Nic Cage playing “Nick Cage”, a slightly-nuanced version of himself and almost veers into dramatic territory when it involves his daughter, Addy (Sheen). But his ex-wife Olivia (Horgan), agent Fink (Patrick Harris), Vivian (Haddish) & Martin (Barinholtz), as well as Javier (Pascal) help keep it on track as a mostly-comedy.

Cage is forced to take a gig going to super-fan Javier’s party in Majorca, Spain, where it’s quite funny to see The Mandalorian in dick-togs and fawning over Cage! Then a bit of plot is introduced with Vivian & Martin being CIA agents who recruit Cage to spy on Javier & Lucas (Leon). When his family gets endangered, it becomes a full-on action film.

While maybe trying to be too meta for it’s own good, it’s certainly fun for almost the whole time and Cage certainly gets a few good moments to shine. He does well to both play up his action chops – and only a little of crazy-Cage is on show. The setting is lovely (although apparently Croatia, not Spain), soundtrack good, over quite quickly (~100min) and supporting cast excellent.

Overall: Fun twist on the action-comedy.
 
Gav’s Rating: 3.5 stars.