For the good: magic and the multiverse are brought to life with spectacular visual flair, there's an impressive horror element in which Sam Raimi's strengths as a director really shine, and Elizabeth Olsen's performance as Wanda/Scarlet Witch might just be one of the greatest in her career.
For the bad... there is simply too much going on. Strange and America Chavez scarcely have time to advance their own character arcs thanks to the tedious Illuminati plot, and with Wanda's story crowbarred into the mix, it's barely about Doctor Strange at all.
And as much as I liked her performance in this film, Wanda's plot is a mess: quite apart from not following on from the ending of Wandavision (so no word on what we were hearing in the post-credits sequence, or what happened to White Vision, what might become of Agatha, or any of that), we've catapulted her from "troubled character teetering on the brink of villainy" to "flat-out villain".
This shift in character has no buildup, no moment in which Wanda goes from unknowingly committing villainous acts and sustaining them out of denial and selfishness, to knowingly and remorselessly enacting mass-murder. We're told she's been corrupted by the Darkhold, but we never see it actually corrupting her. It's like showing a cut of the Lord of the Rings films with all the scenes of Frodo being influenced by the Ring removed. It's the same problem we had in Season 8 of Game of Thrones, complete with the professional point-missers crawling out of the woodwork to say, "I don't know why everyone's so surprised."
Also, after all the importance the marketing gave him, Sinister Strange has exactly one scene to his name. For this alone, he is easily the most annoying character in the film: the Illuminati have bloated this plot to the point of ridiculousness, Wanda's storyline has been rudely nailed to the film with no effort to do her justice, and along comes this bargain-basement Strange Supreme acting as if this story is still about Doctor Strange. Damn your eyes, Sinister Strange, all three of them.
Speaking of Strange Supreme, the most damning thing of all about this film is the fact that it's walking in the footsteps of TV shows like Wandavision, Loki, and What If...? (2021) - but with none of the nuance, creativity, time, or even fun that they demonstrated.
Compare and contrast: Peggy Carter taking Captain America's place? Ultron? Dr Strange turning evil? Battle between two iterations of Dr Strange? Multiversal collapse? Zombies? You name it, What If? did it better. The one exception to this is the Scarlet Witch horror factor, and that's only thanks to Sam Raimi getting a chance to revisit his roots.
In short, don't bother with this film. Just watch Wandavision or What If? You'll get the same experience with more depth and less intrusive cameos.
Too Many Good Ideas Done Badly
I have so many mixed feelings about this film.
For the good: magic and the multiverse are brought to life with spectacular visual flair, there's an impressive horror element in which Sam Raimi's strengths as a director really shine, and Elizabeth Olsen's performance as Wanda/Scarlet Witch might just be one of the greatest in her career.
For the bad... there is simply too much going on. Strange and America Chavez scarcely have time to advance their own character arcs thanks to the tedious Illuminati plot, and with Wanda's story crowbarred into the mix, it's barely about Doctor Strange at all.
And as much as I liked her performance in this film, Wanda's plot is a mess: quite apart from not following on from the ending of Wandavision (so no word on what we were hearing in the post-credits sequence, or what happened to White Vision, what might become of Agatha, or any of that), we've catapulted her from "troubled character teetering on the brink of villainy" to "flat-out villain".
This shift in character has no buildup, no moment in which Wanda goes from unknowingly committing villainous acts and sustaining them out of denial and selfishness, to knowingly and remorselessly enacting mass-murder. We're told she's been corrupted by the Darkhold, but we never see it actually corrupting her. It's like showing a cut of the Lord of the Rings films with all the scenes of Frodo being influenced by the Ring removed. It's the same problem we had in Season 8 of Game of Thrones, complete with the professional point-missers crawling out of the woodwork to say, "I don't know why everyone's so surprised."
Also, after all the importance the marketing gave him, Sinister Strange has exactly one scene to his name. For this alone, he is easily the most annoying character in the film: the Illuminati have bloated this plot to the point of ridiculousness, Wanda's storyline has been rudely nailed to the film with no effort to do her justice, and along comes this bargain-basement Strange Supreme acting as if this story is still about Doctor Strange. Damn your eyes, Sinister Strange, all three of them.
Speaking of Strange Supreme, the most damning thing of all about this film is the fact that it's walking in the footsteps of TV shows like Wandavision, Loki, and What If...? (2021) - but with none of the nuance, creativity, time, or even fun that they demonstrated.
Compare and contrast: Peggy Carter taking Captain America's place? Ultron? Dr Strange turning evil? Battle between two iterations of Dr Strange? Multiversal collapse? Zombies? You name it, What If? did it better. The one exception to this is the Scarlet Witch horror factor, and that's only thanks to Sam Raimi getting a chance to revisit his roots.
In short, don't bother with this film. Just watch Wandavision or What If? You'll get the same experience with more depth and less intrusive cameos.