Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is here, and it is the most insane Marvel movie yet! We follow Doctor Strange through the multiverse while he attempts to protect a new character, America Chavez, with powers she cannot control from a very powerful villain that wants to take those powers from her.
Multiverse of Madness has been my most anticipated Marvel Studios project since the day it was announced, 4 years ago. The title gave us the promise of moving throughout the multiverse in interesting ways, and Kevin Feige himself said it would be Marvel’s first ever scary film. Since then, we’ve had a pandemic, a director change, some rewrites, and release date delays; And when it’s all said and done, the movie is pretty good! Not great, but pretty good!
I want to start with the good, because there is plenty of good, and the good most definitely outweighs the bad, so don’t be afraid! Benedict Cumberbatch is phenomenal as this character once again. He is most definitely giving his all, and you may even see him play more than one version of this character, and he is great as all of them! Elizabeth Olsen is also a lead in this film, playing Wanda Maximoff, and the story makes it a full-blown sequel to the WandaVision series on Disney Plus! Wanda gets the most character development in the movie and she is also great. The newcomer to the MCU, America Chavez, is played by Xochitl Gomez. While the actress does a great job and we get some development and backstory, it was tough to really love and care about her because this is her first movie. Making a brand-new character the catalyst of a story is always a tough thing to execute, and I think if we had more time to fall in love with her, we’d all be happier by the time this movie ends.
Sam Raimi directed this film, known for the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy, The Evil Dead, and more. Raimi has a very distinct and unique directing style, and he holds nothing back with this movie. It has tons of crazy transitions, goofy character moments and bold colors. Also, when he wants to lean into the “horror” elements, he leans in hard. Random spurts of multiple jump-scares in-between our normal Marvel type of movie. It felt forced a lot of the time instead of being more natural to the story. You can tell it was a point to have these moments and to write the film around them.
Overall, I enjoyed Multiverse of Madness a lot. If I had to compare it to the first film, I think I would give the edge to Doctor Strange 1 because you get a chance to fall in love with the character and have a solid story to follow him throughout. Benedict’s charisma really shines in the first film. Things get muddy and chaotic in MoM and I think it could’ve been handled a little better, in order for us to all leave the building screaming for more Doctor Strange! Go see it in theaters this weekend and in IMAX if you have one near you!
'Doctor Strange in the Mutiverse of Madness' is in theaters on May 6th, 2022.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Logan Wischmeier (Contributing Editor) is a Texas native and a massive fan of all genres of film. You can find him talking about movies on YouTube or in line for the latest Star Wars/Comic Book film.Click Here to check out Logan's Articles.