by Josh Sewell
(Note: I consider this review of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to be spoiler-free, but everyone has their own version of what that means. If you want to go into the movie totally cold, don’t read this until you’ve seen it.)
Welcome back, Sam Raimi. We missed you.
The director of iconic horror comedies Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness (plus the more serious 1981 original) has returned to the modern superhero genre he helped establish with the original Spider-Man trilogy. You’d never guess from Multiverse of Madness that Raimi hasn’t made a movie in almost a decade.
His latest looks incredible, contains several strong performances and allows him to combine a lot of his varied strengths into a singular, tonally weird tale. It’s kind of a mess, but a fun one. While there are a handful of elements that bug me, Multiverse of Madness never stops being entertaining.
That’s an improvement over the first Doctor Strange entry, which is solid but has long stretches where the fun stops so characters can deliver expositional monologues. Raimi’s take on the franchise starts out as typical Marvel fare but goes completely off the rails – in a good way – by the halfway point, turning into the studio’s first superhero horror movie.
The basic premise of Multiverse of Madness massively expands the storytelling possibilities within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (although viewers got a little tease in December’s Spider-Man: No Way Home) by introducing a charming new character. America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) is a teenager who has the ability to travel between universes, which puts her on the radar of some dangerous enemies who’d like to harness that power.
Fortunately, she crosses paths with Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Sorcerer Supreme Wong (Benedict Wong), who vow to protect her. The pair turn to Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), newly rechristened as the Scarlet Witch, for help, but her recent exploits in Westview (as seen in the Disney Plus series WandaVision) have transformed her into something of a wild card.
Michael Waldron’s screenplay is always interesting, even when it doesn’t totally work, but I’m not thrilled with his take on Wanda. That’s mostly because – without diving too much into spoilers – it erases a lot of the progress she made in WandaVision. Nevertheless, despite the problematic approach to her character, Olsen kills it anyway. She gives real emotional weight to the material, even though Wanda’s ultimate goal makes no sense when you think about it for more than a few seconds.
The other performances in Multiverse of Madness are also solid. Cumberbatch has played Strange so many times now – six movies and counting – that he understands what aspects of the character make for compelling drama and which ones make him too irritating to root for if he stays in that mode for long.
Wong the actor is fantastic as Wong the sorcerer, taking a frequently thankless supporting role and turning the character into someone who always makes the scene better thanks to his humanity and deadpan humor. However, the biggest surprise for me was Gomez, who went from someone I knew nothing about to an actress I can’t wait to see more of.
It’s clear Marvel has big plans for America Chavez in future films, an exciting prospect considering how much fun Gomez is clearly having while portraying her. The character’s powers feel a little nebulous at this point, but that’s to be expected considering she’s still figuring them out. Unfortunately, not everyone gets a chance to shine as brightly: Rachel McAdams and Chiwetel Ejiofor return for a few scenes each, but they don’t get much to do. It’s a shame considering what talented performers they are.
I was also impressed with how Raimi managed to keep the fan service comparatively restrained. Based on pre-release rumors, I was worried Multiverse of Madness would get trampled by an endless conga line of big stars popping up for pandering cameo appearances. While some recognizable faces do appear (stay off social media, which is already ruining some fun surprises), they don’t overshadow the primary characters or the central narrative.
Still, all of that is just buildup to one of the most fun, goofy and scary finales I’ve ever seen in a Marvel flick – it’s pure ’80s-era Raimi, with all that entails. I can’t wait until more people have seen the movie so I can talk in detail about why I love it so much. Army of Darkness was one of the first horror movies I ever saw as a kid (granted, it’s more funny than scary), so this felt like a loving throwback.
(A final warning for parents: I’m not exaggerating when I say Multiverse of Madness is firmly in the horror genre. It’s not The Exorcist or anything, but kids expecting the usual Marvel hijinks are in for a nasty surprise. I brought my 11-year-old daughter to the press screening, and she spent the second half of the movie with her hands over her eyes. It gets pretty intense.)
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, frightening images and some language. Opens in theaters on May 6.
Grade: B
Welcome back, Sam Raimi. We missed you.
The director of iconic horror comedies Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness (plus the more serious 1981 original) has returned to the modern superhero genre he helped establish with the original Spider-Man trilogy. You’d never guess from Multiverse of Madness that Raimi hasn’t made a movie in almost a decade.
His latest looks incredible, contains several strong performances and allows him to combine a lot of his varied strengths into a singular, tonally weird tale. It’s kind of a mess, but a fun one. While there are a handful of elements that bug me, Multiverse of Madness never stops being entertaining.
That’s an improvement over the first Doctor Strange entry, which is solid but has long stretches where the fun stops so characters can deliver expositional monologues. Raimi’s take on the franchise starts out as typical Marvel fare but goes completely off the rails – in a good way – by the halfway point, turning into the studio’s first superhero horror movie.
The basic premise of Multiverse of Madness massively expands the storytelling possibilities within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (although viewers got a little tease in December’s Spider-Man: No Way Home) by introducing a charming new character. America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) is a teenager who has the ability to travel between universes, which puts her on the radar of some dangerous enemies who’d like to harness that power.
Fortunately, she crosses paths with Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Sorcerer Supreme Wong (Benedict Wong), who vow to protect her. The pair turn to Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), newly rechristened as the Scarlet Witch, for help, but her recent exploits in Westview (as seen in the Disney Plus series WandaVision) have transformed her into something of a wild card.
Michael Waldron’s screenplay is always interesting, even when it doesn’t totally work, but I’m not thrilled with his take on Wanda. That’s mostly because – without diving too much into spoilers – it erases a lot of the progress she made in WandaVision. Nevertheless, despite the problematic approach to her character, Olsen kills it anyway. She gives real emotional weight to the material, even though Wanda’s ultimate goal makes no sense when you think about it for more than a few seconds.
The other performances in Multiverse of Madness are also solid. Cumberbatch has played Strange so many times now – six movies and counting – that he understands what aspects of the character make for compelling drama and which ones make him too irritating to root for if he stays in that mode for long.
Wong the actor is fantastic as Wong the sorcerer, taking a frequently thankless supporting role and turning the character into someone who always makes the scene better thanks to his humanity and deadpan humor. However, the biggest surprise for me was Gomez, who went from someone I knew nothing about to an actress I can’t wait to see more of.
It’s clear Marvel has big plans for America Chavez in future films, an exciting prospect considering how much fun Gomez is clearly having while portraying her. The character’s powers feel a little nebulous at this point, but that’s to be expected considering she’s still figuring them out. Unfortunately, not everyone gets a chance to shine as brightly: Rachel McAdams and Chiwetel Ejiofor return for a few scenes each, but they don’t get much to do. It’s a shame considering what talented performers they are.
I was also impressed with how Raimi managed to keep the fan service comparatively restrained. Based on pre-release rumors, I was worried Multiverse of Madness would get trampled by an endless conga line of big stars popping up for pandering cameo appearances. While some recognizable faces do appear (stay off social media, which is already ruining some fun surprises), they don’t overshadow the primary characters or the central narrative.
Still, all of that is just buildup to one of the most fun, goofy and scary finales I’ve ever seen in a Marvel flick – it’s pure ’80s-era Raimi, with all that entails. I can’t wait until more people have seen the movie so I can talk in detail about why I love it so much. Army of Darkness was one of the first horror movies I ever saw as a kid (granted, it’s more funny than scary), so this felt like a loving throwback.
(A final warning for parents: I’m not exaggerating when I say Multiverse of Madness is firmly in the horror genre. It’s not The Exorcist or anything, but kids expecting the usual Marvel hijinks are in for a nasty surprise. I brought my 11-year-old daughter to the press screening, and she spent the second half of the movie with her hands over her eyes. It gets pretty intense.)
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, frightening images and some language. Opens in theaters on May 6.
Grade: B
Reach out to Josh Sewell on Twitter @IAmJoshSewell
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