Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness finally arrives in cinemas this week after a year-long delay, and the MCU is in a very different place now to when it was originally set for release in May 2021.
After Loki made the first steps into the multiverse, Spider-Man: No Way Home showed all the crowdpleasing potential of the concept as it brought together three generations of Spider-Men. Doctor Strange can't repeat that particular trick, but fans certainly have high hopes of just who Strange might bump into.
Add in the excitement of Sam Raimi directing his first superhero movie since Spider-Man 3, and the worry is that Doctor Strange 2 might not live up to the hype – or to the movie that fans have created in their minds.
The truth is that it probably won't, but that's necessarily a bad thing. It's absolutely a Sam Raimi movie and is definitely the MCU's first horror movie, resulting in some unique sequences. However, the story lets it down and could prove divisive for fans.
(Fear not, we won't be going into any spoilers in this review, beyond what we already have seen in the various trailers and marketing teasers.)
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Raimi certainly wastes no time chucking you into the madness as the movie opens mid-chase scene. We meet America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), who's on the run from a creature with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), but not our Doctor Strange. (He's even more of a dick, amazingly.)
Our Strange wakes up and assumes it's all a dream – until Christine Palmer's (Rachel McAdams) wedding day is interrupted by the arrival of Gargantos, meaning Strange has to make a quick costume change. During the battle he meets Chavez and so begins the madness.
With the help of his new ally and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), Strange sets off to traverse the alternate realities of the multiverse in order to confront a mysterious and dangerous new villain.
And that's about all you'll get from us plot-wise. As well as throwing you into the action, the overall pacing is relentless and the sequel shows its hand a lot earlier than you'd expect. There's been endless speculation from fans about the villain, which we won't spoil here, but it's revealed surprisingly quickly.
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It means that there's not really a mystery for Strange to unravel, and it doesn't take long for you to realise there's not much else going on either, plot-wise. There are certainly attempts and nods to deeper themes, but the same notes are repeated throughout and no time is given to explore them further as the movie speeds to another location or set piece.
In truth, though, there's not really as much multiverse-hopping as you'd expect, so the movie never feels bloated or overlong. If you're after two hours of spectacle, it won't disappoint and the multiverse setting is exploited to its fullest, visually speaking. Most pleasingly though, the movie has Raimi's fingerprints all over it.
A long-running criticism of MCU movies is that they can feel made by committee and it doesn't really matter who's directing. They'll end up looking the same, ticking all the familiar boxes and never really pushing boundaries. For better and (for some fans) potentially worse, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness doesn't always feel safe.
For all the frustrations with the thin storyline, the sequel leans hard into the horror with an early eyeball-gouging setting the tone, followed by numerous impalings, charred corpses and effective jump scares. It probably pushes the family-friendly vibe as far as the MCU ever will, and at least feels different to what's come before.
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The set pieces themselves sometimes stray into the CGI overload we've seen elsewhere, but there are unique thrills to be found here too. A late-stage magical music battle (about the only way we can describe it) is inventive and witty, while Raimi goes full-on horror with his take on the zombie Strange that's been teased in the trailers.
Even though the character development is as one-note as the plot, Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen are too good in their roles to let it sink them. They do their best to make the movie connect on an emotional level, but really it's more down to your history with them, rather than any revelations here.
Benedict Wong's Wong is sadly underused (even if he is the Sorcerer Supreme now) and we get barely more than cameos from other Doctor Strange characters, but Xochitl Gomez has a promising MCU debut as America Chavez. She doesn't get too much to do other than be rescued a lot, but her fun interplay with Strange and Wong suggests she'll fit right in.
As with any MCU movie, there are surprises to be had for fans, but the movie is smart not to lean too hard into the potential of the multiverse. It's a good thing too, as the main sequence that does just that is jarring and exists purely for fan service, halting the movie in its tracks when you wish the time was spent developing the plot.
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Much like the first Doctor Strange movie, the overall feeling you're left with is one of frustration. It does feel unique in terms of the MCU and there are strong sequences throughout, right up to the understated finale. Yet there are obvious flaws elsewhere with rote characterisation and an underdeveloped plot.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is far from a horror show, but you can't help that feel somewhere in the multiverse, there's a better version of this movie that exists.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is out now in cinemas.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
