Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness – Horror Entry to the Marvel Cinematic World
Director: Sam Raimi
Writer: Michael Waldron (Screenplay) Stan Lee, Steve Ditko (Comics)
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg, Rachel McAdams
Plot: Dr. Stephen Strange casts a forbidden spell that opens the doorway to the multiverse, including alternate versions of himself, whose threat to humanity is too great for the combined forces of Strange, Wong, and Wanda Maximoff.
Tagline – Enter a new dimension of Strange.
Runtime: 2 Hours 6 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness starts as Doctor Stephen Strange (Cumberbatch) finds himself getting back into defending the innocent saving America Chavez (Gomez) from a monster.
As Strange looks to find out where and what the monster wants, he will turn to an old friend Wanda Maximoff (Olsen) hoping to find answers when it comes to helping America learn about her powers, sending them on a trip through the multiverse.
Thoughts on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Characters & Performances – Doctor Stephen Strange has been dealing with the consequences of his actions in the past, seeing his love move on with her life, before needing to battle his own past in hopes of clearing his conscience, trying to save a teenage girl with an unknown power. Strange will go through a string of different multiverses learning what could happen if he doesn’t control his powers. This might well be the best version of Dr Strange that Benedict Cumberbatch has done so far, because of the different versions of him he must perform. Wanda Maximoff is the powerful witch that Strange turns to for help, only to show her true nature and what she wants to from the teenager. She is determined to get what she wants and doesn’t care who gets in her way. The biggest problem with this character, is that you will need to have seen Wandavision to understand a lot of what happens. Elizabeth Olsen does well with most of the movie, her cold delivery makes her an interesting villain in this world. America Chavez is a teenage girl with the power to jump through multiverses, she turns to Strange for help, knowing how difficult it has been to elude the demon chasing her. Xochitl Gomez does a great job in this role, where she will get laughs along the way, with the painful memory moment well. We do get some returning characters, with Christine Palmer getting a much bigger part, being involved in more of what we see, Wong is always good for laughs and determined fighter. Nobody does bad in this film, everyone will embrace their character well.
Story – The story here will see Dr Strange needing to find his way through the multiverse with a teenager he is trying to save from someone who wants her dead. This is a story that will dive into the bigger horror elements of what could happen to someone who gets involved with multiverses and learning certain spells, leading to the strongest part of the movie. The problems with the story comes from needing to have seen Wandavision to understand most of Wanda’s arc in the story. The idea that we are tackling the aftermath of the Thanos battle does seem like it is late to the party, because Dr Strange was recently involved in breaking rules in No Way Home, which doesn’t seem to get referenced, even though it could have been an easy gateway into why he is being tested. The other universes are interesting, being places we would like to explore more too. This does feel like a story we could try to break down for a while to get through everything.
Themes – Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness gives us an action horror for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where the action is everything we have seen, which is fine, we know what we are getting. The best parts of the film come from the horror side of things, with one battle involved music being brilliant, another battle between heroes going darker than anything we have seen in these movies before. When it comes to the traveling through the multiverses, the effects are amazing too, with certain ones being terrifying to see. The effects team on this movie are brilliant too, each different moment comes across great, right up there with the best in the universe.
Final Thoughts – Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness gives us plenty of horror, but seems to forget too many previous recent movies.
Starrin