It's clear why Feige tapped Raimi to direct this film. In many ways it shares more in common with slasher films of the late 70s and early 80s than recent superhero films. In the process, Raimi feels more himself in this movie than he has since Evil Dead II. However, much like those slasher films, it's not for everyone.
Without getting into spoilers, the villain in this movie shares more in common with slasher-movie villains like Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, or Jason Voorhees than other Marvel villains like the Malthusian Thanos or the misguided wannabe freedom fighter Killmonger. In this movie, the villain is an unstoppable killing machine imbued with supernatural power who will stop at nothing to achieve vaery personal goals. You can map the characters surprisingly easily to the original Halloween with the villain being Michael Myers, Strange as Dr. Loomis and the secondary protagonist as Laurie Strode with the villain obsessed with targeting the Strode character while Strange's Dr. Loomis tries plays the role of protector. However, unlike the simplistic villains created by Wes Craven and John Carpenter, this villain has an extra layer or two of character complexity.
This time around Strange shares his story with a secondary protaganist and narrative surrogate in America Chavez. Chavez serves as a bit of a human MacGuffin but is also a reflection of Strange's own insecurity and self-doubt that Strange struggles with in the wake of the decisions he made in Endgame and the sacrifices along the way. Various multiversal iterations of Strange repeat the mantra "there is/was no other way" in a manner that seems to be as much to reassure himself as it is to the characters that he is trying to convince.
All three of the major characters struggle with dark aspects of their own personality (somewhat unsublty represented by the alternate versions of Strange shown in the trailer) but in the end it's the culmination of Strange's arc and his ability to overcome his major shortcoming - his inability to let anyone else "hold the knife" - that catalyzes the same overcoming of personal demons in each of the other major characters. So despite some other characters having larger roles in the resolution of the story, it's still primarily Strange's story as the others largely serve as mirrors to Strange's personal struggle.
The execution is a bit uneven and definitely could be better, but the core human story arc for each of the three characters is strong. Plenty of amateur film critics will complain about possible plot holes like "why did so-and-so do this" to which MCU superfans will have some kind response relying on deep lore, but ultimately many of those criticisms are more ambiguous rather than blatant.
The main criticism is that this is ultimately a movie for a niche audience of horror fans. It is peppered with cinematic callbacks to 80s horror and slasher films including a variety of "Raimi-isms" that will have fans jumping out of their seats (including the obligatory Bruce Campbell cameo). However, people who haven't watched the Evil Dead film series multiple times are likely to get quite as much out of it. So if you're an MCU fan, Raimi fan, or horror film fan, you will probably like it. If you aren't a fan of any of those, it might not be for you.
Without getting into spoilers, the villain in this movie shares more in common with slasher-movie villains like Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, or Jason Voorhees than other Marvel villains like the Malthusian Thanos or the misguided wannabe freedom fighter Killmonger. In this movie, the villain is an unstoppable killing machine imbued with supernatural power who will stop at nothing to achieve vaery personal goals. You can map the characters surprisingly easily to the original Halloween with the villain being Michael Myers, Strange as Dr. Loomis and the secondary protagonist as Laurie Strode with the villain obsessed with targeting the Strode character while Strange's Dr. Loomis tries plays the role of protector. However, unlike the simplistic villains created by Wes Craven and John Carpenter, this villain has an extra layer or two of character complexity.
This time around Strange shares his story with a secondary protaganist and narrative surrogate in America Chavez. Chavez serves as a bit of a human MacGuffin but is also a reflection of Strange's own insecurity and self-doubt that Strange struggles with in the wake of the decisions he made in Endgame and the sacrifices along the way. Various multiversal iterations of Strange repeat the mantra "there is/was no other way" in a manner that seems to be as much to reassure himself as it is to the characters that he is trying to convince.
All three of the major characters struggle with dark aspects of their own personality (somewhat unsublty represented by the alternate versions of Strange shown in the trailer) but in the end it's the culmination of Strange's arc and his ability to overcome his major shortcoming - his inability to let anyone else "hold the knife" - that catalyzes the same overcoming of personal demons in each of the other major characters. So despite some other characters having larger roles in the resolution of the story, it's still primarily Strange's story as the others largely serve as mirrors to Strange's personal struggle.
The execution is a bit uneven and definitely could be better, but the core human story arc for each of the three characters is strong. Plenty of amateur film critics will complain about possible plot holes like "why did so-and-so do this" to which MCU superfans will have some kind response relying on deep lore, but ultimately many of those criticisms are more ambiguous rather than blatant.
The main criticism is that this is ultimately a movie for a niche audience of horror fans. It is peppered with cinematic callbacks to 80s horror and slasher films including a variety of "Raimi-isms" that will have fans jumping out of their seats (including the obligatory Bruce Campbell cameo). However, people who haven't watched the Evil Dead film series multiple times are likely to get quite as much out of it. So if you're an MCU fan, Raimi fan, or horror film fan, you will probably like it. If you aren't a fan of any of those, it might not be for you.