OnScreen Review: "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness"

Ken Jones, Chief Film Critic

I have had more and more questions about the future of the MCU the further away from Avengers: Endgame we have gotten. Given the Loki series on Disney+ and Spider-Man: No Way Home, Marvel has made it very clear that the multiverse, the existence of thousands of countless universes across multiple dimensions, was their next big thing. But that has felt increasingly cheap, like the multiverse can mean whatever they want it to mean, similar to the quantum realm, or the Convergence in Thor: The Dark World. When I reviewed Eternals, I said it felt like Marvel is an airplane waiting to take off with Phase IV of the MCU. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is not the plane taking off, but it may just be that the plane is now about to taxi onto the runway and prepare for takeoff.

Perhaps, though, we don’t need to get to a new “Avengers, assemble” moment right away. Perhaps, instead, these individual installments in the MCU can be used to strengthen their central figures that exist apart from the shared universe and the requisite sharing of screentime that accompanies such collaborations. The Multiverse of Madness, while having its fair share of guest appearances, some old and some new, is a chance to expand on the character of Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Strange crosses paths with a teenager names America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), who has the ability to jump between dimensions, but is unable to control it. It turns out that someone is attempting to acquire her power and use it for their own personal means. The film makes clear early on who the “villain” of the film is, as misguided and tormented as they may be by past trauma that is fueling them. In an attempt to prevent this from happening, Strange and America are set out across the multiverse in an attempt to acquire the Book of Vishanti, which can give Strange the power to counter their foe. It turns out, though, that Doctor Strange himself may be the most dangerous threat to the multiverse.

At the helm of the film is director Sam Raimi, returning to a Marvel property for the first time since Spider-Man 3. He assumed the helm of this ship when Scott Derrickson, who directed 2016’s Doctor Strange, stepped away due to creative differences. It takes a while, but Multiverse of Madness is definitely a Raimi film through and through, replete with his signature jump scares, scene transitions, books you probably shouldn’t read, and an obligatory Bruce Campbell cameo (Groovy). This film leans more into the realm of horror than the first Doctor Strange, as well as any other MCU film, so it is a welcome change of pace. Many of us will always wonder what Derrickson’s vision for this movie would have looked like, but Raimi was a perfect replacement because of his clear love for the source material and his competence and creativity as a filmmaker.

As the film travels through several multiverse dimensions, Strange encounters a few different versions of himself, and also people who have interacted with still other version of himself. He even buries one that is brought to his dimension, which ends up being the Zombie Strange seen in the trailer for the film; a Chekhov’s zombie that pays off in the final act in a delightfully unexpected, but entirely Raimi, way. There are also some creative flourishes of magic being used beyond what we’ve seen from previous appearances of Strange; my favorite was a fight Strange has with another version of himself involving musical notes as physical weapons, implementing the Danny Elfman score in a unique way. All of the action scenes are handled really well; they’re all distinct and do not feel repetitive. An early action scene with Strange and Wong (Benedict Wong) fighting an octopus demon is really entertaining and has the Raimi flair, especially in how it concludes.

Having the knowledge of where other versions of himself have failed, fallen short, and succumb to temptation, Strange is able to navigate some tricky waters in attempting to do what other versions of himself could not, which is to protect America and find an alternative way to defeat the threat that is coming for her that doesn’t involve taking her life so that the multiverse is saved from a potentially unstoppable power.

While there are known and unknown cameos in the film, Elizabeth Olsen is involved as Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, picking up where she left off in the Wandavision series on Disney+, still struggling with her grief over losing Vision and having had a taste of a more normal life with two sons. She also gets to play a few different versions of Wanda, who is a much more complicated character who has a better idea of just how powerful she is, and also how blinding grief can be, which is a continuation of some of the themes from Wandavision.

Rachel McAdams returns as Christine and there is more to their complicated relationship, which is, of course, complicated in nearly every dimension. Strange is asked repeatedly if he is happy throughout the film. The pursuit of happiness is a big theme in this movie, including with Wanda, who is tormented by what she caught a glimpse of and desperately wants rather than the reality she finds herself in. Strange puts on the brave face, but eventually must admit that even saving the universe from Thanos does not necessarily bring happiness. Raimi hits on some themes here that remind me of what he did in Spider-Man, about the responsibility of being a superhero and the need to protect those you love and whether protecting them means you can’t be with them or you are afraid to be with them.

A lot of fan talk is going to be devoted to geeking out about the cameos that happen, both during the film and a mid-credits scene, but Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness works enough to stand on its own as a wild trip of a sequel and an MCU entry. I still have a lot of questions about how the multiverse is going to be utilized long-term by Marvel, but it felt less like plot contrivance and slightly more concrete than it has up to this point. And given some of the developments in this film, I’m interested to see what the next entry in the MCU holds for the Master of the Mystical Arts who occupies the New York Sanctum at 177A Bleeker Street.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars