Director: Sam Raimi
Runtime: 2 hours, 6 minutes
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness sees Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) reteam with his former sidekick, now current Sorcerer Supreme, Wong (Benedict Wong), and Dr. Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) as they protect Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) newcomer America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez ) and her ability to move between universes.
As the title implies, the multiverse will be explored as Dr. Strange and America make it to quite a few alternate versions of Earth. America faces off against witches, monsters, and variants all desiring her little understood ability to create star shaped portals that let her see into and move between universes. America’s abilities end up becoming a means for other characters to borrow from other universes, strand their enemies, and interact with specific variants. One of the main potential benefactors is Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and the film is just as much about her, post Westview, as it is about Dr. Strange.
Fans of director Sam Raimi’s work will definitely enjoy the Dr. Strange sequel, especially if the MCU style was starting to feel a little stale in terms of tone or cinematography. Raimi brings the violence and gore that previous iterations have been missing; audiences may not have ever witnessed a director make a movie quite their own as Raimi does while retaining the MCU’s signature DNA.
As online commentators have already noted, make sure to go into his film with an open mind. Above all else, lower your expectations of the previously announced cameos. Some of the rumors around the film are true whereas others are overblown, so make sure to clear that out of your system. The movie is much more about magic, sorcery, witchcraft, and multiversal travel than it is about the admittedly nice callbacks to other Marvel characters and productions. Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness also makes good use of themes of regret and one’s ability to change or grow.
While the cameos didn’t end up being a huge selling point for me, I was drawn in by how committed Sam Raimi and Feige and team were to the director’s vision. This movie feels completely different from anything that Marvel Studios has done before and should earn Raimi a seat as an executive producer on future films, in the vein of Jon Favreau, James Gunn, and the Russo Brothers.
As usual, stay for the post credit scenes. The first one sets up future installments and introduces a major character in the world of Dr. Strange while the second one is just for fun with a humorous callback to an earlier scene.
This was one of the few Marvel movies where the music didn’t level up the film, but Raimi does use it authentically. The tone, camera work, and color is definitely a nice change of pace too. Speaking of pace, the movie literally begins in the middle of the action and never stops. Another 20 minutes would have been nice, but the studio definitely cut the footage down to just the right amount of story.
Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness earned a position as my favorite MCU entry about halfway through, but didn’t maintain that status the entire time. Elizabeth Olsen continues to be one of the most provocative actors; she is amazing in her role as Scarlet Witch and continues the solid work from WandaVision. Wong doesn’t have a huge speaking role, but with his growing influence in the MCU, his presence is very much felt. America Chavez is a solid addition though her introduction doesn’t allow for as much character development as one would hope.
Strange takes on many decisions and I feel we won’t really see the repercussions of his choices in a movie until his third outing. It’s actually one of the few issues with the film. Audiences can tell that Infinity War and Endgame weighs on his character arc, but we don’t really get to see that pressure play out because the movie literally picks up with him immediately after the additional weight of Spiderman: Far From Home and doesn’t stop for two hours. As a result, we still have not seen Strange reflect on the impact of his actions or what he’s gone through. As a result, the movie misses a little something, but I’d still give Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness an 8.5/10.
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