Movie Review: Everything Everywhere All at Once

I didn't know much about Everything Everywhere All at Once until fairly recently. A24 films are often quick to pop up on my radar but for some reason or another I never knew about this film until I started hearing all the hype tied around it. Released back in March in NA territories, we here in the UK are only just getting the film releasing in cinemas in May and I was fortunate enough to go see the movie at an advanced IMAX screening. 

Directed by the Daniels and featuring Michelle Yeoh in the feature role along with a star studded cast, Everything Everywhere All at Once is a sci-fi comedy film pivoted around the idea of the multiverse. For anyone new to the idea of the multiverse, it's a concept in that there are an infinite number of universes which run parallel to our own each with their own variations. This isn't a unknown concept in all honesty, it's been seen in multiple forms of media at this point and is currently a concept being carried forward in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Please don't mistake Everything Everywhere All at Once as your typical multiverse story however, as I honestly feel this movie takes that concept and does something with it completely original and never before seen and that originality is what makes this film so amazing to watch unfold. 

The narrative element of the film follows Evelyn Wang who is a Chinese -American  who runs a  laundrette with her husband Waymond. Evelyn is shown to have a struggling relationship with all of the immediate family members around her, especially her daughter Joy. When she takes her husband and father to a IRS review appointment to cover their business expenses, Evelyn's entire world is flipped upside down when Waymond get's hijacked by a variant of himself from another universe. This variant warns Evelyn of a deadly multiverse-hopping entity known as Jobu Tupaki which is set on destroying Evelyn and all her linked multiverses. As things get super weird Evelyn soon learns how to connect with her branching multiverse personalities and use them to help her fight off the dangers developing around her. I'm trying to refrain from divulging much more of the narrative as I honestly feel the core appeal of the film is in how unpredictable the plot is yet in how entirely consistent and engrossing it ends up being. There's a deeply entertaining core to this film's story even though it is completely ludicrous, it's also incredibly emotional and poignant in all the best ways. It's a mix of so many concepts and idea and in most cases you often see a lot fail to land but in this films case it's done in a way which feels so smart and clever that everything just works. 

On a visual end, the film is just as captivating as well. I can't count the number of trippy, insane sequences I watched unfold in this movie. It's literally packed with so much conceptual madness that you feel happy to see what insane stuff the film is going to show you next. I'd list out some examples but again that would rob you of the joyous insanity that this film has behind it. How can a film capture such crazy and baffling concepts and make them so captivating and easy to follow? It's a testament to how good this film is on nearly every level that it can be this level of silly on a visual scale but capture your attention with little issue. The fight choreography is a big aspect to the film as well and it's got to be admired how seamless it fits into this mad narrative the film has going for it. 

Everything Everywhere All at Once was such a surreal experience to watch. I honestly feel it tackles the concept of the multiverse in a way I've always wanted with so much ease. The narrative and visual cues blend together to form a film which is both intensely funny and emotional all at the same time. This film really is capable of being everything everywhere all at once, it's an experience well worth the watch for any movie lover and I'm happy to add it to my list of all time favourite movies.