Luke McWilliams gives his review of the 2022 Marvel film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen.
Multiverse hopping America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) and a version of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) are on the run from a demon in the space between universes while searching for the Book of Vishanti. On our earth, our Doctor Strange attends the wedding of his ex-girlfriend Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams). Soon however, America accidentally transports to this earth’s New York City with a tentacled terror in tow!
Doctor Strange (2016) heralded a mystical change to the then Marvel Cinematic Universe, expanding the MCU’s reach into different dimensions with an Eastern flair. Here, audiences are taken into multiverses introduced in Spider-man: No Way Home, which themselves host alternative variations of heroes and villians from the established MCU and some intellectual properties that have found their way home.
Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead andSpider-Man trilogy) brings his horror-comedy flair to proceedings: extreme Dutch angles, fast crash-zooms and swooping POVs, with a demonic presence throughout and more than a few nods to those pesky Deadites of yesteryear.
While the movie recognises plot developments from No Way Home, Wandavision and Marvel TV’sWhat If? series, little is done to advance, or explore, our titular hero, while the character of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) is completely regressed. It is a shame that, with multiple ways forward, the movie instead chooses to be a shoe-horned, fan-pleasing episode of the MCU as opposed to a bold continuation of the story of Stephen Strange.
Verdict: A beautiful-looking maddening muddle of madness. 2.5 stars.
Viewed at Palace Cinemas.
- Luke McWilliams | themovieclub.net
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