Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
“Things just got out of hand!” – Sinister Strange.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Written by: Michael Waldron
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams, Xochitl Gomez
It’s no secret that Marvel’s biggest scriptwriting headache at the moment is ‘the multiverse’.
On the one hand, Spiderman: No Way Home showed us how universe hopping can be leveraged to great critical and financial acclaim. When done right, travelling to other universes allows for a lot of creative flexibility - cameos, fan service, teasing characters for future movies, revisiting some of our favourites from old films. It’s a simple nostalgia injection that even casual fans can enjoy, and Disney had 2 billion reasons to try and capitalise on the momentum with future multiverse madness.
But at the end of day, if a film decides to travel to OTHER universes, and the scriptwriters don’t provide any meaningful stakes for OUR universe, then who cares? We spent over a decade falling in love with the universe Iron Man died to save, formed connections with all of the characters, and if we leave all that behind for a meaningless collection of interchangeable alternate dimensions…well…that’s just a boring side quest.
Unfortunately that’s exactly how I’d describe Multiverse of Madness, with about two thirds of the film feeling like it could have been a standalone TV show. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily – TV is really good now, if you hadn’t noticed – and with the budget and cast Marvel has at their disposal, they can cover up any mediocre storytelling with world-class charisma and visuals. And admittedly, some of the worldbuilding and attention to detail for the alternate universes is insanely impressive. It’s also fun to hang out with the likeable, charismatic Benedict Cumberbundle for two hours, and we are once again joined by Wong, Wanda and Christine.
Conversely, the motivations and complications for the main characters were painfully boring. Not in the way that Morbius was like getting a tranquilizer to the temple, but it still felt worryingly uninspired and safe. The big villain had the EXACT SAME MOTIVATION we’d seen from them in another Marvel show, the problem that needed to be solved was “stopping the baddie from destroying the universe” (original, I know) and the new character America Chavez felt more like a MacGuffin than a character with any substance. My guess is that she was introduced in an attempt to replicate the Tony Stark, Peter Parker relationship with Strange as the wise but flawed mentor and Chavez as the innocent, ambitious student. But as we found out very little about her character, this whole concept felt criminally underutilised.
However, Sam Raimi mercifully saves the film in the final act by leaning into his horror roots. Tapping into the witchcraft and vaguely satanic elements of the story, we’re treated to some creepy scenes that feel like they’re straight out of a B-grade slasher film, including some grizzly deaths and jump scares. There’s ominous music, off-key piano in the background…it’s actually kind of jarring how creative and fun these scenes are, as they feel so detached from the rest of the movie.
As a final point, I feel like this might have been market corrected by Everything Everywhere All At Once. By that I mean that this is sanitised, blockbuster movie making. It’s a completely fine superhero film with entertaining sequences. But it’s also clearly shackled by the requirement to fit into the wider MCU franchise, meaning that Raimi didn’t have the creative freedom to go absolutely wild here. On the other hand, Everything Everywhere All At Once had the freedom to tap into the insanity of multidimensional travel, which made for a much more nuanced and heartfelt story.
The horror elements mean this is still worth watching, as they add something unique and creative to what has become a reasonably bland superhero landscape, but otherwise this is a cookie-cutter spinoff that doesn’t do anything new or noteworthy.
Rating: 7.5/10