The cynical side of me wants to call this Everything, everywhere all at once for consoomers.
The optimistic side of me sees Kevin Feige finally pushing the boundaries of his own franchise.
I guess it’s a little bit of both in the end.
Undoubtedly, the best thing the movie has going for it is the Sam Raiminess of it all. His fingerprints are all over it; you’re getting the weird camera angles, camp, his sense of horror, etc. It definitely has more style than some other Marvel movies, though there's also still some of the usual blandness. I'll give it to Marvel for putting in a scene where a talking corpse gives a heartfelt, sentimental speech. There's more of a psychedelic feel to it than the first film, but every time it tends to get really interesting it feels like Raimi's being reigned it to adhere to Marvel's demands. Elizabeth Olsen and Benedict Cumberbatch are giving some of their best performances as these characters to date, and the music’s really well done. But ultimately the film’s Achilles heel is its own script, which is complete junk. The story is thin, messy, nonsensical, and at times flat out embarrassing. The set-up in the first act is very rushed, while the second and third act feel like they’re written by a Reddit fanpage (you just know for a fact that Marvel only went in this direction because of the 2 Batmen that have been announced for The Flash). It’s Marvel at its most ‘producty’, and it’s going to trick a lot of people into thinking the film is better than it is. Regardless, I hope Patrick Stewart got a big paycheck for ruining his own perfect send-off in Logan at the very least. A lot of the story beats don’t make sense either, with most of the characters arcs feeling rushed and nonsensical, even despite the copious amounts of exposition that are desperately trying to tie everything together. The choices made with Wanda in the third act are baffling, and I still don’t know what the takeaway is supposed to be by the end of the film. Her motivation is problematic in general, and I don’t like the use of the [insert plot device] corrupts the mind of the villain trope, which is becoming very overused in the MCU (Ant-Man, Winter Soldier) and just a lazy way of forcing a conflict where the villain stays redeemable. The new character (America Chavez) is a boring, underdeveloped plot device, while Strange himself doesn't even have a real arc. It's the kind of film where a lot happens, but very little leaves an actual impression. I’m not sure what happened, but I get the impression that a significant portion of this film was reworked and rewritten during post production. The action didn’t impress me whatsoever, but that’s been a case with these films for a while now (some of the stuff in Shang-Chi excluded). Some of the visuals look tacky and unfinished, the action’s a bunch of people shooting flashing lights at each other, shots don’t linger enough, people move like animated characters, it’s all the usual bs (and this is coming from someone who thinks the action and effects in the first one are still underappreciated to this day). Inbetween the first film and the sequel, Marvel has become a machine that’s now collapsing under its own pressure. If Disney would allow it, they really should go back to making 2-3 properties a year. The consistent mediocrity of their current output is killing their own longevity.
4/10
Oh, and your kids will be fine watching this. I’ve seen some uproar about the ‘horror’ and violence of the film, and it’s honestly not that shocking. There’s way more creepy stuff in some of the Harry Potter and Indiana Jones films (or just your average 80’s kids film in general).
Girl Power! lol... This isn't Peter Pan! This is woke garbage and they changed the entire story...
Neverland is just an boring empty depressing place.
They ruined Captain Hook and they made him sympathetic.
There is no tension between Hook and Peter... Hook isn't a dangerous man anymore and can't even defend himself lol.
They even mention in the movie how Peter would win every time.
The lost boys now have girls in them and they don't even explain why! Not having girls in the Lost Boys was a key element!
In the original they didn't even know the concept of what a father and mother was, but in this movie they do.
They ruined the whole point from the original Peter Pan movie...
Peter Pan is now the bad guy, he is the boss and everyone has to listen to him, nobody is allowed to leave or speak their mind.
They took away the lines of the new race swapped Tinker Bell too, until the end where she says "Wendy, thank you for hearing me." smh
This movie didn't tell the story of Peter Pan they just used his name to make money!
They had a checklist and they hit every box on it.
This thing is quite annoying, it’s essentially Tár if the protagonist was turned into a cartoon villain and the movie lacked any subtlety in its messaging.
Within 15 minutes I had a grasp on its shtick (artistic ego; pretension; wealthy people being out of touch), and it never surprised me in an interesting way beyond that shtick, so the movie got old for me very fast.
Not only that, but I could see it potentially leaving those who label any piece of art that requires thought as ‘pretentious’ feeling empowered, which we don’t need in a world where people are getting more illiterate by the day. Not that I think that that’s the film’s intention, but it’s the most obvious read and a better director would’ve made sure that the film can’t be interpreted that way.
It’s completely predictable if you’re paying attention, and most of the comedy I found to be absolutely eye rolling; it’s so obvious and on the nose all the time because it keeps recycling the same joke over and over again. Look at these ridiculous, pretentious descriptions for food, aren't we clever? Yes, but maybe don't do that joke for every single course.
The characters are non existent (everybody is playing a caricature), the logic and character motivations are paper thin and the directing/cinematography are completely average.
The only thing I genuinely liked is the acting (Ralph Fiennes is amazing), and I guess it’s decently paced. The food and sets look nice, but this script needed a bunch of rewrites.
4/10
