The new American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics featuring the character Doctor Strange out. Here is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Review
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Review
Dr. Stephen Strange fights a threat to humanity through the multiverse, where he encounters alternate versions of himself.
This movie stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olson, Xochitl Gomez, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams, and Chiwetel Ejiofor and is directed by Sam Raimi.
All right, so to keep this spoiler-free, I’m going to stay away from most of the story elements, or at least I’m going to be very vague if I do need to reference something.
Now, I overheard some people coming out of our screening talking about how this didn’t really move the narrative forward, at least as far as the story went, or at least within the MCU, and I feel that I can agree to some part with what they said.
But this wasn’t a story that was made to progress the MCU in a forward direction. This was a side story and it’s almost a sequel to Wanda’s vision because it draws heavily upon Wanda with Doctor Strange then as the driver.
I still really enjoy Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange. I love his wit, his sarcasm, and the snark that comes from him, but I also appreciate that it’s not overplayed in this one.
He seems a little bit more down to Earth and less arrogant, like the effects from Infinity War and Endgame have truly taken an effect on him and we get to see that within his character.
I like that it carries over, we just don’t see this overly optimistic Doctor Strange. He’s been jaded by the world that he’s seen, but yet he still wants to fight for it, making him heroic and worth rooting for.
I’m really enjoying Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff. I love that we get to see more of her character because she is awesomely powerful, but she’s also very charismatic. She has some really emotional moments within this and I think that she’s actually the biggest heart of the story.
Well, we do follow Doctor Strange because it is his movie and he’s the action driver in this. He’s trying to solve a problem that the story has created for us, but Wanda provides a lot of the emotional pull within the story.
I love the conflict that she has internally. So what she then creates for the story and her character, it feels true to what we’ve seen previously from her. And in all of the other productions, she has this Edge tour where she’s really angry at points and then bad things can happen if she lets him, but she also has a massive capacity for love and joy.
I like the introduction of America Chavez as a character in this because she’s a very powerful addition to the story. We meet her right at the beginning of the story and even though we don’t really get much introduction on her or really even much character development, she becomes somebody that I found myself rooting for a lot.
She also has a bunch of charisma and she does click well with Doctor Strange, but I think to give her character more depth and her situations to just feel more weighty, we need to have some actual backstory and development on her character. Other than just this one brief flashback that we get.
This is certainly a more violent film. I think it’s right in line with phase four of the MCU, where we have begun to see a lot more darker themes in the storytelling, where everything has a more serious tone to it.
And Sam Raimi at the helm does a good job because he’s bringing in a horror aspect and element to the entire story. And even though this is PG 13, the violence is actually pretty shocking where we see a lot of characters meet some very gruesome deaths.
Now, sure, it may not be absolutely bloody and we may not see just the full view of the violence being taken, but we do at least get to see or understand the aftermath and it’s pretty dark.
The action sequences are a ton of fun too, and we get to see a lot of the magic that we’ve come to expect from a Doctor Strange film.
And there’s a sequence where we see the multiverse happen and the way that it’s handled, I thought it was very visually appealing. It’s awesome to look at and it provides just the right amount of context and excitement without us having to be stuck in the storytelling where we have to figure out what each of these multiverses means.
I mean, we get glimpses of them and we get a feel for some of them just based on maybe a second or two of their visuals and then we continue on.
And I like that as a storytelling device, because to remain in a universe that maybe is unimportant would just bog down the story and it would lose a lot of the momentum that was being built. And the pacing for this is pretty aggressive.
There aren’t many moments of downtime where we just get to breathe because every single time where we think we’re about to take a breath, something then happens again, which is great for the tension.
And Sam Raimi is attempting to keep a slightly terrifying edge to the entire story. And by never really letting us relax the story does it effectively.
Now with all those things that I loved about this movie, it’s not perfect and in fact, it’s a bit messy in spots to start with, the rules for the multiverse, they’re just not clearly defined.
So at one point, Doctor Strange is asked to prove who he is and he uses an example that wouldn’t necessarily be the same across all universes, but it’s accepted as being the same and they move on.
In another area of the story, family comes into play, but the situation of the family is the same across the universe. So if universes are different, which they are because we do see quite a few differences within the story to have so many things that are just the same, it doesn’t feel logical.
Now, while it could happen, there are too many times where the story picks and chooses which rules it wants to follow, meaning that the overall story relies extremely heavily on conveniences just to progress it through the narrative.
Now, had the rules for how the universes exist and function been laid out, I wouldn’t have a huge issue with this. But the more I thought on it and began to run through different scenarios in my mind, the larger this issue became for me.
And there are several points, especially towards the beginning where the CGI and the graphics they’re a bit wonky. There are scenes where it’s very evident that a virtual screen is in play, or maybe it’s just the wire work that was way too obvious.
So the effects are just not up to par with what we should expect from a Marvel movie at this point in time. And a lot of the time the graphics do look great, but it’s not all the time.
There was news that the reshoots were taking place for the movie and it was reported that these were planned as just part of the shooting schedule. But after seeing this, I’m not sure I really buy that because the reshoots are extremely obvious.
And probably the most standout example, there are several times where Long’s hairstyle is drastically different. Sometimes he has short hair and sometimes he has longer hair. It just seems very lazy in the editing or maybe in the continuity for the reshoots to not have at least attempted to make his hair very similar to what it was in the other scenes.
Now, if you’re a Sam Raimi fan, there are some definite nods to his films and his other works within us. And the HD eggs themselves, they’re pretty cool. Some are very obvious. Mostly they’re just little nods here and there that I think you’re going to recognize.
Now there is a mid-credit scene and a post-credits scene. The mid-credit scene, I think is really setting something up for the future. I think it’s going to be pretty exciting.
And then based just on what I saw in that little glimpse, I do think I understand at least a little bit of what it could all mean. But the post credit scene, it’s just there for fun. I mean, it provides a few laughs. Is it vitally important that you stay for it? No, of course not. But I think if you do, you will get a kick out of it.
There’s no sex or nudity, a bunch of profanity, and a whole lot of violence.
I am going to give Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness 4/5.
So who is your favorite character within the Doctor Strange world? And then why? Or maybe who would you love to see in a future movie? Let me know in the comments below.
Guys thank you so much for reading Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Review. See you next time.
