Marvel Studios
When Marvel Studios cracked into the multiverse in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it opened up an endless amount of characters and stories that they could use moving ahead. It was a crowd pleaser as it saw several characters from other films appear in the third Spider-Man film from Sony and Marvel Studios. As Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness neared its debut, fans had many expectations going into the film.
Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) seeks to restore the world after Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen), the most powerful Avenger, threatens humanity to create her perfect life with her family. Strange’s ally Wong, the Sorcerer Supreme, joins America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), a teen who is able to jump through different realities, and together they travel through different multiverses to protect their own world.
Doctor Strange has developed into a confident character after his origin film in 2016. He has spent a lot of his appearances in the MCU assisting the younger superheroes like Peter Parker and now America Chavez. He now cleans up other people’s messes, but that adds a lot of depth to the character. He is someone that you can rely on and Strange has a story arc at the end that challenges him. He is put up to the test to see how far he will go to protect others and it’s done in a way that feels impactful to both Strange and the story.
The story for Multiverse of Madness is easily the weakest part. It suffers from a worn-out storyline that was introduced in WandaVision. WandaVision was exciting because we were able to dive into the character of Wanda Maximoff. We saw how she handled the loss of Vision and the world she wanted to create. The world she wants to create is extended into this film, but it loses all of its impact. The plot feels tired when it explores Wanda and her connection to the multiverse. A lot of the emotional moments within the film feel the same as the emotional moments within WandaVision, so hardly anything feels new when it comes to Wanda’s story.
Marvel Studios
As expected, there were several cameos that were exciting. Disney has released several TV spots that teased a few big cameos, but the film still offered many more cameos that surprised me. Unfortunately, the cameos all happened at once instead of spreading them out and introducing someone every now and then. The ones that they did introduce left me excited for what the studio could offer in the future. I do find the multiverse exciting, but when they introduce characters in the film, similar to what they did in No Way Home, I want to see these characters again instead of just one time.
This is a Sam Raimi movie through and through. Raimi has brought us some of the most iconic horror films, like Evil Dead. His flair and use of horror created a such unique experience. This is the first MCU film that felt like a horror film. He utilizes Wanda’s story and Doctor Strange variants to bring forth those scary moments that truly shocked me. The film is goofy at times, but embraces the weirdness of the multiverse.
When Doctor Strange and America Chavez are traveling through the multiverse, it offers unique and odd visuals. Different versions of New York City are offered such as a world covered in paint or a world that is a cartoon. By having different universes, we can see how vastly different the multiverse can be. For a film titled Multiverse of Madness, I expected more madness throughout the multiverse. By sticking to only one or two locations in the multiverse, certain scenes felt dragged out. There was too much focus on certain multiverse characters to the point where it took away development from the main cast such as Strange. With those long-extended multiverse moments, Strange took a backseat for his own film. By traveling to many different realities, it takes away from the dramatic impact that several of the big stakes could deliver on.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness may not be the best MCU film, but it is certainly an entertaining one. It suffers from a messy story but I am excited to see where they take the multiverse characters. Rami has created the most stylish and unique MCU film since Taika Waititi directed Thor Ragnarok. With its crazy ending, the multiverse is only beginning for the MCU.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has a run time of 2 hours 6 minutes and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, frightening images and some language.
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