Movie Review: Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness

Expectations can be a dangerous thing, especially when you weigh up how much of it we all had going into Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Conceptually, the multiverse is source of infinite storytelling potential and many MCU fans saw it as a means of meeting characters from different franchises we had never seen. This concept was what we all bought in on and maybe to our detriment hyped up too much. As the months rolled by and speculation grow more fierce, we all began to hope for so much out of this movie than I think we ended up expecting too much from it. Don't get me wrong, this is not me saying this film is a disappointment, if anything it's the most unique and stylistic Marvel film we've had for a while, but I have to acknowledge I might have had a better first impression if I had kept my expectations in check and tried to look at what the movie was instead of what it wasn't.

One of the most alluring aspects of this film besides it's premise was who was directing it. Sam Rami is no stranger to superhero movies, as he directed the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy. He's a old-school comic book fan and his love for the classic ensemble of Marvel heroes made him the perfect fit to take on such a fascinating character like Doctor Strange. The other part of what got me excited to see Rami in the directors chair was his unique horror approach. Even in his non-horror films the man is capable of crafting sequences which are truly terrifying in such mesmerising fashion; I often remember the hospital scene in Spider-Man 2 as one of my my favourite horror sequences by Rami. So with Rami behind the film and a concept like the Multiverse being at play, I had expected some very trippy and scary moments in this film; which I'm content to say we do get. 

The narrative element of Multiverse of Madness is difficult to explain without spoiling so I will give you a very skimmed down summary. After the events of Endgame and No Way Home we now follow Strange as he continues his duty as protector of the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York. His dreams are plagued by visions of other worlds and he soon comes to meet someone from them in his reality. American Chavez who has the ability to jump to different multiverses seeks Strange's help in escaping the pursuit of a set of demonic monsters which have been sent to steal her powers. This situation ends up leading Strange to seek the aid of another strong magic user; Wanda Maximoff. Together with Wanda and Wong we see the group go on a spiralling adventure across the multiverse to protect Chavez and stop the demons and their master. 

From a narrative perspective I can't really fault what was put out here. On my initial viewing I had certain expectations and I kept looking past the plot that was presented and hoping it would develop into what I was hoping for, but it ultimately didn't.  That's not a flaw of the film however, because like I said my expectations were maybe too high and I let my own speculation build up the movie to be something it never promised it would be. I think it's a great way to further analyse Strange as a superhero in light of his actions in Endgame, with how his calculations let the blip happen and how people look at him for it. We can see Strange is trying to move forward but he has a lot of regrets which are anchoring him down and making him question whether he could have done things different. A lot of the storytelling praise has to go to Wanda though as I think she;s such a fully defined character in this movie. We've seen her go through so much since she first appeared in Age of Ultron and I like how this movie capitalises on everything leading off from Wandavision for her. I liked the introduction of American Chavez too, who feels like another interesting character with a lot of definition behind her.  I think where my actual negatives come in with this film is I don't think it ever truly explored the concept of the multiverse enough. As I said the multiverse is an source of infinite parallels and variations and we didn't get to see much of that apart from a quick 30 second sequence. There was definitely more room to explore more ideas and concepts and the film ends up feeling notably tame when dealing in that concept, it's not a major detractor but it's hard not to see it as a missed opportunity,

On a visual level, you can feel Rami's direction and style layered all throughout it. For a non-horror movie this feels like the first true MCU horror movie. It's incredible how much of his trademark stuff Rami manages to incorporate into the film to make it feel truly distinct. It feels refreshingly different from every other MCU film and I think Rami should definitely stick around for some more MCU entries. The imagination on display and the way the story is conveyed feels notably exclusive and captivating to get lost in. It's a very commendable movie just on the style and visuals alone. It's also held up by some truly amazing performances too. Benedict Cumberbatch has cemented himself as Strange by this point and it's great to see him fleshing him out in different ways. Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Rachel McAdams and Chiwetel Ejiofor all put in great performances as well. The main star of the movie is Elizabeth Olsen though, Like holy hell does she put everything into this performance, there's so much raw emotion in her character and you clearly see how much Olsen understands Wanda's development up to this point. She was easily the best element of the film for me and such a captivating character to follow. 

People might look at Multiverse of Madness and dismiss it for not doing enough and that's completely fair, but I think it's important to realise that that's not the movie's problem. We let hype and theorising build up so much in the lead up to this film that we disappointed ourselves when it turned out to being different. Don't get me wrong, I definitely did that on my initial viewing and after watching it a 2nd time I managed to appreciate it a lot more. I still think the concept of the multiverse could have been explored a lot more than it was but that doesn't take away from what the film accomplishes. It's a very stylistic and entertaining film, filled with unique ideas and compelling characters, it's definitely high up on my MCU rankings for sure.