Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness – Movie Review
126 Minutes, Rated PG-13
Written by Michael Waldron
Directed by Sam Raimi
**NOTE: I have updated this post with the audio of us more discussing the movie than reviewing it, lol. A lot of love letter to Sam Raimi here…**
You can read Ryan’s full review HERE.
Synopsis:
Dr. Stephen Strange casts a forbidden spell that opens the doorway to the multiverse, including alternate versions of himself, whose threat to humanity is too great for the combined forces of Strange, Wong, and Wanda Maximoff.
Let me start by stating that I have, much as did with Spider-Man: No Way Home, been steadfastly trying to avoid anything that might spoil this movie for me ahead of time, from online articles (aside from the headlines that just pop up here and there) to even not watching the latest trailers.
Clear?
Cool; let’s begin.
There’s no sugar-coating this: this is NOT the Doctor Strange movie you thought you were getting. That’s not intended to — in any way — comment on whether the film is any good; we’ll get to that.
This is just a statement of fact. You weren’t expecting THIS movie.
After the events of WandaVision, we were left knowing Wanda had embraced her existence as the Scarlet Witch and was using the Darkhold to learn more about and expand her powers. She had been redeemed (at least in Strange’s eyes, as we see early on in this film) from the events of Westview and had withdrawn in isolation and grief.
But she’d moved on.
After the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Strange was back doing what he does every day: making Wong furious…mostly most by being himself.
In the Multiverse of Madness opens, strangely, with the “classic” Marvel title card, from the earlier films, not updated with any Phase 4 heroes (at least that I saw) and stayed in this retro mode in its choice of music: the classic Marvel score, eschewing the recent trend of playing a pop/rock tune over the opening.
In a nightmare, we see Doctor Strange (just not OUR Doctor Strange) running through the multiverse, as visualized in early trailers, a collection of floating ruins and energy.
We meet a monster intent on killing the girl running alongside Strange, and see her escape to another reality: ours, as it turns out.
And that’s it; that’s the set-up. After a creature appears to attack the girl again, only to be saved by Strange and Wong, we spend the rest of the movie protecting her (yes; “her” is America Chavez, the multiverse-hopping teen who is, sadly, used more as a plot device in this film than an actual character).
Strange approaches Wanda in her isolation after figuring out the creature wasn’t “magic” but “witchcraft” (though, really, what’s the difference in the big picture?), hoping to gain some insight into that world, and the multiverse in general.
That’s it for possibly story-spoiling discussion. I’ll keep it as generic as possible from here on out, unlike those fuck-wits who feel compelled to “break-down” (read: spoil) every movie or TV show as soon as they’re done seeing it, and tend to emphasize what they hate out it, because, let’s be honest, it gets them clicks/views.
Fuck those guys.
Let’s talk.
Sam Raimi returns to form here, as the fingerprints of his horror upbringing virtually drip from every frame. From shaky-cam pursuits, to the multi-angle, rapid-fire push-ins on characters under supernatural attack, to a classic bit I like to call “where is that noise coming from?”
Yes, the rumored Bruce Campbell appearance, another Raimi cinematic hallmark, is real, but I won’t tell you who he plays, only that if you’re a Bruce Campbell fan:
…otherwise, depending on your level of fandom and/or expectations/hopes for this film, your mileage may vary.
We’ve long been told this would be a horror movie, and it is, much more so than a “Marvel movie,” whatever that means to you. Consider that Thor: Ragnarok is more a slapstick comedy than a “Marvel movie,” and you’ll get the idea.
But this is still a superhero movie, and, as we’ve all been reminded of recently, Raimi is 100% capable of handling a high-level superhero property (Spider-Man), and he demonstrates that ability deftly here.
Danny Elfman’s score played perfectly for me, in terms of Raimi’s propensities and shooting style, and served to either heighten or lighten (yes, they lighten the mood more than once, mostly through the almost Ash-level snark of Steven Strange when dealing with those he considers appropriate targets.
The Illuminati segment (teased in the most recent trailer) doesn’t disappoint, exactly, but it feels largely like a reminder of the What If…? series and some other fan-service variant casting.
And there IS variant casting here.
I don’t want to go any farther into that so as not to spoil who/what happens there.
Which reminds me: remember those guys I mentioned earlier, who just want the clicks and views? Well, I’m sure I’ve commented in the past on the internet cottage industry of deriding all things Disney/Marvel/Star Wars as “woke garbage,” using such derogatory terms as the “M-She_U,” clearly I find most of their spew to be just that: spew.
But they do make one salient point here, if I may: Marvel especially seems purposeful in the elevation of its female heroes.
STOP. Before you freak out on me: I am not saying this is a bad thing. Shit, Wanda herself is, arguably (and often demonstrably), the most powerful Avenger out there, so it’s not like there’s no precedent for “strong female heroes.” Even depending on what attribute you consider the “strongest:” power, emotion, intellect, etc.
The point here, is that a lot of those folks like to run-down Disney/Marvel/Star Wars for not simply making strong female characters (we can debate the relevance of the “Mary Sue” trope another time), but that such characters often exist to not simply be as good as the “traditional” male heroes, but surpass them in every way, often to a near-comical level.
Normally, I’d agree that such blanket indictments are inherently misogynistic, but in the case of Doctor Strange, they may be right, at least in the execution, if not explicitly the intent.
In a key fight involving the villain against two female heroes and two male heroes, the villain dispatches the two (inarguably powerful) male heroes in seconds, with little to no practical effort, leaving only a two-on-one, girl-on-girl battle in which the combat last minutes, and is a pitched contest finally concluded with the villain on their last legs, but victorious.
So there’s that.
We then get a return to Raimi-esque horror, as a seed that was planted (literally) in the first act is harvested for the final one, resulting in a very Evil Dead/Army of Darkness bit of physical acting from Benedict Cumberbatch.
I wonder if he took pointers from Bruce Campbell… I digress.
The film wraps, as all Marvel films do, with a final shot designed to stoke interest in where the character will be going next, and the inevitable credit scene(s).
There are two of those here, with the final one being ALL THE WAY AT THE END OF THE CREDITS, so you have to stick around. The second one has no story bearing whatsoever; it exists as a gag/homage, but the first is a harbinger of things to come for Doctor Strange, if not the MCU writ large.
I enjoyed In the Multiverse of Madness, but some people won’t because of the horror elements.
And that’s fine. The Marvel franchise is full of films some people like and some don’t.
It’s that diversity of appeal that makes the overall product so interesting when you pull back from it.
In the end, I think Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness is probably around a 7.5/10. As much as I like Sam Raimi, I can’t help but feel like the 126-minute runtime might actually have been too SHORT, with another 10-15 minutes of development a possible boon for the cohesion of the overall film.
But that’s me. I still liked it, and most (but not all) Marvel fans probably will, too.
Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness opens this Friday, May 5 in theaters and stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomes, and Rachel McAdams.
And please, if you like what we do, consider helping us keep on entertaining you. You can use this handy link:
Or, you could check out the merch in Our Store:
VSMP Merch Store
Not only will you be helping us out if you pick up some merch, you get cool stuff to wear around (including the coveted WTFWT? logo!)
Leave a Reply