★★★★ Let the reader excuse the four stars; the author is not sure that it is so good. The kid who went and read the comics had a great time; the adult critic has other things to say. This second installment of Dr. Strange, and the 20th episode of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is as fun, as excessive, as comical and truculent as the comic-Sam Raimi combination (which gave three Spider-Man, one of them excellent, and gave – don’t forget- Darkman) may be. It also plays with a theme that Raimi has already worked on in two films totally distant (in appearance) from this one, A Simple Plan and The Gift: not only the responsibility that power brings, but the consequences of its use. That is what revolves around Strange, Wanda and América Chávez, the last two true protagonists of the whole. But Raimi has a problem: the character’s psychedelia (whether in the hands of Steve Ditko or, much more baroque and pertinent here, of Gene Colan) allows him everything and tries to do everything he loves: horror (it’s the Marvel movie with the most terror), the crazy humor to the Three Stooges (as in the excessive Army of Darkness) and the camp side that the character always had. And that design, fun, full of winks to the fans and cast surprises, dissolves the effectiveness of the story in many moments. Yes, it is a tremendous show: the question that remains floating is “what for”.
