Rating: 8.6
“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” may not have been exactly what I was expecting, but it’s a movie that I liked a lot and has grown on me the more I think about it! While I think it's a small step below the original, it's a great and most importantly entertaining film! However, while there is so much I really did love about the movie it isn’t perfect, nor is it the home run for Marvel that I hoped it would be. That being said, it really is a fantastic Strange and Wanda story with some fun multiverse action! I was enthralled and entertained throughout the entire runtime, and I love the touches of horror that we got! There’s so much to unpack here, so many things I liked and some that I didn’t, which makes this movie a whole lot to process — in a good way!
One of my absolute favourite parts of this movie is Wanda, the Scarlet Witch. I have wanted to see her go full evil for awhile, and let me just say this movie delivered on that! It continues her emotional arc from WandaVision perfectly in my opinion, and adapted stories from the comics in really interesting ways. While I loved how villainous and terrifying she could be, I liked that there was a tragic side to this, seeing how utterly destroyed by her emotions she had become, and this made it easy to sympathize with her. Her emotional arc in the MCU is one of my favourite and I can’t wait to see where it goes next! Her powers were also such a thrill, she was very overpowered, but it made it all the more fun (especially in a certain scene near the midpoint of the film). I will admit there were a few missed opportunities and it didn’t perfectly line up with her development in “WandaVision”, but I was so happy we got to see this version of Wanda. It also worked so well because of Elizabeth Olsen’s stunning performance— she truly stole the show. As much as I loved Benedict Cumberbatch coming back as Strange (and he was fantastic too— so good I don’t even need to talk about it because it should be expected), Elizabeth Olsen really poured her soul into this performance just as she did in “WandaVision”. Much like Oscar Isaac’s performance in “Moon Knight”, Olsen’s performance here has become one of my personal favourites in all of the MCU.
Now, that brings me to one of my issues. As much as I loved Wanda here, it really took away from the movie feeling like a Doctor Strange focused film, as he only had half the screen time and had to share with Wanda. While I loved this pairing, I wish this was a standalone “Multiverse of Madness” film instead of a sequel in Strange’s trilogy. I say this because the writing clearly focused more on Wanda over Strange, her character arc was way more polished, contrasted with Strange’s which was seemingly nonexistent, and forgot some of his development from “Infinity War”/“Endgame”. It continued his story nicely and was fun, but it just didn’t feel like it was as much of a “Doctor Strange” film as it should have been. The introduction to America Chavez was also quite nice, I love the character, but unfortunately she was used as a human plot device (but they did a decent job of it), and took important screen time away from Strange and Wanda.
The writing here is easily the biggest issue I have with the film, which surprises me as the screenplay was penned by Michael Waldron who wrote “Loki”, one of my favourite of the MCU shows. He did a fine job here, but the script is simply flawed. While it set up the lore and rules of the multiverse pretty well, it felt rushed and had very awkward pacing and dialogue. It wasn’t the tightest script at all, could’ve easily used another draft, and even seemed shallow at times, with some pretty lacklustre character drama. The movie also felt like it was missing something; and that something was heart. It just didn’t have a soul to it, and barely had any emotional value, it merely showed the story and that was that. Sure it was fun, but it lacked the impact that films like “Infinity War” really had. The first act was very clunky and it wasn’t until about 30 minutes in that the movie really found its groove. The story was actually pretty simple when you boil it down, and didn’t have as much to it as I would have liked it to. There were definitely some big missed opportunities, but on the flip side I loved how the script really embraced the weirdness of the Doctor Strange comics and brought in a lot of cool elements we haven’t seen before. I also liked the contrast between Strange and Wanda, Wanda focusing on emotion over logic, while Strange has extreme emotional detachment and relies on logic alone, I just wish the movie focused on this more. The film did feel disjointed at times too, and honestly it didn’t always work, but when it did, it was truly awesome. As much as I bashed a lot of Michael Waldron’s work here, I still think he did a good job and thoroughly enjoyed everything his screenplay had to offer, it just had a few flaws. I would definitely love to see him do more with Marvel as long as he continues growing as a writer. (And I love that he got a cameo!)
This film felt very different from the rest of Marvel, as much as I love the “Marvel formula” I love it when they try something new even if it doesn’t work perfectly. This movie started off feeling pretty generic, and slowly became more and more Sam Raimi’s film in the back half. Sam Raimi is easily this film’s greatest strength, and I loved the breath of fresh air his style brought to the MCU. I was really surprised to see we got more of the “Evil Dead” and “Drag Me to Hell” Raimi over the “Spider-Man” Raimi, but getting those moments of horror sprinkled throughout was really fun! It's very distinctly a Raimi film, he nailed it with the style and horror, and really pushed the boundaries of what you can show in a PG movie! It was great, I had so much fun with the horror elements, this is the closest we’ll ever get to an MCU horror film. The movie is quite bloody and brutal at times, had a lot of gore and even some jump scares! I couldn’t get enough of it! It had Raimi’s campy, creepy and especially groovy DNA all over it! There were some scenes that felt out of place or a little weird, but I liked the creativity of it. I also felt there were times (especially with Illuminati) where directors like the Russo brothers may have handled the action and large set pieces a little better, as a lot of the action scenes felt like they were over before they even began. But for the horror stuff alone, I’m so glad Raimi got to direct this, it had some truly horrific moments! I even loved the nod to “Evil Dead 2” with the Bruce Campbell cameo!
This movie works so well despite its flaws because of Raimi’s style. He radiates energy and enthusiasm as ever, truly saving this movie from itself and building it into something so unique and distinct. His instantly recognizable touch is present through and through, even surpassing the usual limitations of the MCU. From snap zooms to circle wipes to shaky cam in first person POV, he pulls out all the old tricks while fully realizing the untapped potential of Doctor Strange to further expand his visual arsenal. The visuals here are fantastic! I even loved how on top of his usual stylistic choices, he added in some canted angles and dolly shots that felt right out of a horror film! His aesthetic choices were very Raimi-esque and I liked the look of the film a lot, and on top of his circle wipes I also loved the way he used match cuts in sequences cutting between universes. The CGI was fantastic and this is one of the only movies since the last “Doctor Strange” that I genuinely think used 3D well! My only issue was that it did lack some of the trippy, Escher-like visuals from the first film, it wasn’t as visually interesting in that sense.
One of my other issues was with Danny Elfman’s score. I am a sucker for good musical continuity— something this film barely had. Elfman completely threw out Michael Giacchino’s themes for the character which have been used in the MCU numerous times since the first film, and this really upset me. I miss the harpsichord based instrumentation, and while we got a few seconds of the Strange theme here and there, it was largely missing from the film. The soundtrack was okay otherwise, my favourite new part about it was the theme Elfman composed for Wong. There’s also a music battle in the film, which was quite strange and caught me off guard, but somehow worked in a weird way because of the score for that scene.
The trailers definitely gave away too much of this movie, and fans speculated way too much. Going into the film I had very different expectations because of all that, but I was glad to see that the movie was different from what I expected. I admit I am a little disappointed in the simplicity of the plot, and that there were a few missed opportunities; this wasn’t the slam dunk I had hoped this would be, but I still really liked this movie! It had some things I’ve been wanting to see for a while that made me very happy! It’s not a cameo-palooza, but I was extremely happy with how the few cameos we got were treated! The film is flawed, and could’ve used 15 to 20 more minutes to add in some more breathing room as it moves at a breakneck pace and felt rushed at times, and could’ve gone a little more crazy with the multiverse, but what we got is still pretty good! The movie is an extremely entertaining time at the movies, its a solid new entry into the MCU with such a fresh feel, some great acting and distinctive directing. While it has issues, it is very satisfying and a joy to behold. And as an added bonus… it seems like Feige might be planting the seeds to start setting up a “Secret Wars” arc for the MCU! So, this movie may not be as good as the first “Doctor Strange”, but I thoroughly enjoyed this new chapter and of the MCU, as well as the horrific tone it took on! Sam Raimi, Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong and even Xochitl Gomez all cast such an entertaining spell! Go see it on the biggest screen possible!
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IMDb Rating: 7.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76%
RT Audience Score: 88%
Metacritic Score: 62
CinemaScore: B+
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Marvel Studios
Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Michael Waldron
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams
Runtime: 2hr 6min
Rating: PG
Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
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Journey into the unknown with Doctor Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.
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Fun Fact: The first Marvel movie to be specifically credited as "a Kevin Feige production" as well as the first time in his 41-year career as a director that Sam Raimi has taken a possessory credit (i.e. "a film by Sam Raimi") on one of his films.
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