Movie Review: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (PG13 – 126 minutes)

 

For a bonus treat - check out the LAMBCast on this movie, where opinions were mixed! https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/lambcast/episodes/2022-05-09T15_54_46-07_00 

Those who live inside the MCU continue to deal with the fallout from Thanos’s snap, the resulting blip, and the reappearance of all those who were blipped.  In addition, they now have to deal with the sudden and brief exposure to the multiverse in Spider-Man: No Way Home.  It feels like we have had multiple Doctor Strange movie, but in reality, this is just his second stand-alone movie.

This story picks up after Dr. Stephen Strange has helped the world (including himself) forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.  He wakes up from what he assumes is a nightmare where a different version of himself was helping a young girl evade a monster by trying to reach a fancy book.  As he heads off to attend the wedding of Dr. Christine Palmer, his ex, the reception is interrupted by a big one-eyed tentacle monster (with great facial expressions despite having only one eye) chasing that same young girl.  After he and the Sorcerer Supreme, Wong, defeat said monster and rescue the girl, she informs him that was no nightmare, but a glimpse into one of his variants in the multiverse.  She is America Chavez and has the unique power of being able to travel the multiverse, but without the ability to control that power.  The monster was sent by some sort of demon who wants that power for itself.  Wong takes the girl to protect her, and Strange heads off to speak with Wanda Maximoff to get her opinion on the runes used on the monster.

From this point on – spoiler alert!

Wanda is at first shocked by this turn of events and offers some opinions on the runes, the multiverse, and her life at the moment. She then slips up and requests that Stephen bring America to her, so that she can protect her.  Of course, since he has not told her America’s name, he realizes she is the demon that has been sending the monsters. She’s still obsessed with finding her ‘children’ that she manifested and then lost in WandaVision.  Stephen must then try to protect America while falling through the multiverse.

I was not sure what to expect with this one, I enjoyed the first Doctor Strange stand-alone, and knowing Sam Raimi was stepping in, this one had the potential to go a little dark. And it certainly does. It has the expected Raimi touches from the Danny Elfman score to the Bruce Campbell cameo.  It has some genuinely terrifying moments and truly scary scenes. It seems to me that bringing Raimi back into these movies with this particular story was a great choice.  With any huge franchise, especially one like this, the actors can suffer some fatigue from playing the same character over and over in multiple movies. The way to avoid that is to keep the characters fresh, growing, and evolving.  I felt like everyone involved in this movie was having a great time.

Benedict Cumberbatch continues to have tons of fun as Doctor Strange. Despite this being his second Doctor Strange movie, he was also in Thor 3, Infinity War, Endgame, and No Way Home, so it can feel like this is his sixth movie.  Strange is still crazy arrogant and confident, but that is tempered a bit here by realizing that Christine is moving on and he never really has, despite having amazing adventures. I really appreciated how this movie seems to end with him putting his past away (literally and figuratively) so that he can finally move forward with his life. Being able to play multiple Strange variants seems to have made him very happy and he looks like he is having an absolute blast – especially as the zombie Strange.

Benedict Wong has stepped up his game as Wong and again, seems thrilled to be the Sorcerer Supreme. Wong has just about everything handled until Strange throws all kinds of mess around.  Their partnership feels real and genuine and I look forward to their continuing adventures.

It was fun to see Chiwetel Ejiofor back as Baron Karl Mordo.  I could not get enough of the scene between he and Cumberbatch where they attempt to out-thespian each other at the highest level and then have to have a hand to hand combat sequence. Fantastic.

Xochitl Gomez brings a freshness of spunky confusion to America with an amazing power that she is confused by and struggles to control. She is going to be great in additional MCU projects. And, while it might be a little cheesy – I love her star-shaped power – very fun!

Rachel McAdams as various Christine Palmers all get to keep Stephen grounded, focused, and reminded that he is not the be-all-end-all of existence. It’s a tempered and layered performance that I enjoyed.

I feel like Elizabeth Olsen steals the movie. Continuing her excellent work from WandaVision, where her grief was the big bad – here she is corrupted by dark magic using that grief to manipulate her into becoming a true villain and a fully realized Scarlet Witch.  She dives headlong into very Raimi-esque horror sequences and thrashes her way through anything and anyone that tries to stand against her as she struggles to reach her kids.

Overall, the movie was scary, yes, twisted, sure, but so much more fun than I expected and mainly because the cast seemed to be having such a good time.  In a franchise this deep, creating new flavors and layers is a great way to keep new entries fresh while still feeling familiar.  Side note – I did get to see this in 3D and I loved it. 

9 out of 10

Super spoiler-y statement here, but I loved the Illuminati as they appeared. Who knew this would be the movie that justified my watching the Inhumans TV show, or that that Professor X version we would get would be the one from the 90s show, or that watching the animated What If show pays off in a brilliant Captain Carter turn by Haley Atwell, or that Lashana Lynch is an exceptional Captain Marvel variant, or that the fan-casting a lot of us have been hoping for would be fully realized in John Krasinski.  Now I cannot wait for that Fantastic Four movie.