It’s been a long time since a Marvel film has left me surprised, and in the case of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness I can gladly say that it not only completely subverted my expectations but also exceeded what I figured Marvel were capable of at this point. Since the start of Phase Four I feel that Disney and Marvel have really struggled to give the MCU some kind of identity and purpose. But with Multiverse of Madness, director Sam Raimi has managed to pull together multiple threads from throughout Phase Four to create something that genuinely feels like it’s taking the MCU in places that it’s never been before…even if it didn’t do it perfectly.
After rescuing a young woman, America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), from an interdimensional demon, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) discovers that Chavez has the ability to cross between universes, and that someone is after her power which threatens the stability of the multiverse. That’s really all I can say without giving away some of the big surprises that Multiverse of Madness has lined up for audiences, and I would say it’s worth going in as blind as you can. Even if you’ve watched the trailers for the film, I feel that Disney have done a good job at masking what the film is really about and how things are going to go down.
So, what can I say without revealing too much? Well, Multiverse of Madness is a straight up MCU horror film, and that makes me incredibly happy as a horror fan. It was revealed a while ago when Raimi took on the directorial role for the film that he would be introducing a number of horror elements into the MCU, but I figured that Disney would be too concerned about its family friendly image to allow for anything beyond some mildly scary imagery to be present in their films. But Multiverse of Madness genuinely feels like Sam Raimi took the template for an Evil Dead movie and weaved it into a superhero film.
There’s liberal use of blood, gory body horror, genuine jump scares, and a lot of slow building and eerie tension. Raimi has pushed the 12A rating basically as far as it can stretch, and I’m honestly surprised some of it got by censors without becoming a 15. Some particularly memorable deaths include someone’s brain exploding inside their skull and blood leaking out of their nose, and someone getting chopped in half. Despite being ‘family friendly’, this is something I would definitely advise against taking younger children to.
After rescuing a young woman, America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), from an interdimensional demon, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) discovers that Chavez has the ability to cross between universes, and that someone is after her power which threatens the stability of the multiverse. That’s really all I can say without giving away some of the big surprises that Multiverse of Madness has lined up for audiences, and I would say it’s worth going in as blind as you can. Even if you’ve watched the trailers for the film, I feel that Disney have done a good job at masking what the film is really about and how things are going to go down.
So, what can I say without revealing too much? Well, Multiverse of Madness is a straight up MCU horror film, and that makes me incredibly happy as a horror fan. It was revealed a while ago when Raimi took on the directorial role for the film that he would be introducing a number of horror elements into the MCU, but I figured that Disney would be too concerned about its family friendly image to allow for anything beyond some mildly scary imagery to be present in their films. But Multiverse of Madness genuinely feels like Sam Raimi took the template for an Evil Dead movie and weaved it into a superhero film.
There’s liberal use of blood, gory body horror, genuine jump scares, and a lot of slow building and eerie tension. Raimi has pushed the 12A rating basically as far as it can stretch, and I’m honestly surprised some of it got by censors without becoming a 15. Some particularly memorable deaths include someone’s brain exploding inside their skull and blood leaking out of their nose, and someone getting chopped in half. Despite being ‘family friendly’, this is something I would definitely advise against taking younger children to.
The pacing is a little slow at times and it makes me wonder whether some bits could have been cut out of the film to make it a little snappier. Though Raimi reportedly had a cut of the film that was almost forty minutes longer than what we got to see so I wonder whether some elements might have been leading somewhere in the original version. Knowing Disney, I doubt we’ll ever get to see the extended cut of the film but coming in at just over two hours Multiverse of Madness is one of the shorter MCU films as it is.
Despite this iffy pacing though the story is excellent. Cumberbatch is great as always and this film really allows us to get more depth into Strange as a person. Rachel McAdams returns as Christine and plays a significantly larger part than she did in the first film, giving us a peek behind the curtain at Strange’s complicated love life.
Chavez is an excellent addition to the ever growing roster of Marvel superheroes, and whilst I know nothing about her from the comics I feel she’s more than just a McGuffin in this film which I had concerns about in the opening few minutes.
But the real star of the show is Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda/Scarlett Witch. Picking her story up from the aftermath of WandaVision, her character goes through the biggest journey in the film and really is the emotional core of the whole thing. I know the film has Doctor Strange as the title character, but to me it was Wanda’s story and Olsen delivered an outstanding performance.
Multiverse of Madness is also the first film in a long time to really promote 3D in western territories. The original film was a special effects powerhouse and made great use of the then dying format, and whilst I didn’t watch this film in 3D I can imagine it utilises the medium well once again. Multiverse of Madness is a special effects machine with plenty of brain bending visual effects, particularly in sequences where characters are hopping between universes and each one has their own unique visual style.
Despite this iffy pacing though the story is excellent. Cumberbatch is great as always and this film really allows us to get more depth into Strange as a person. Rachel McAdams returns as Christine and plays a significantly larger part than she did in the first film, giving us a peek behind the curtain at Strange’s complicated love life.
Chavez is an excellent addition to the ever growing roster of Marvel superheroes, and whilst I know nothing about her from the comics I feel she’s more than just a McGuffin in this film which I had concerns about in the opening few minutes.
But the real star of the show is Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda/Scarlett Witch. Picking her story up from the aftermath of WandaVision, her character goes through the biggest journey in the film and really is the emotional core of the whole thing. I know the film has Doctor Strange as the title character, but to me it was Wanda’s story and Olsen delivered an outstanding performance.
Multiverse of Madness is also the first film in a long time to really promote 3D in western territories. The original film was a special effects powerhouse and made great use of the then dying format, and whilst I didn’t watch this film in 3D I can imagine it utilises the medium well once again. Multiverse of Madness is a special effects machine with plenty of brain bending visual effects, particularly in sequences where characters are hopping between universes and each one has their own unique visual style.
I’m going to drop into some spoilers now so be prepared, because there’s things I want to talk about but simply can’t without ruining some aspects of the film. I thought it was a nice touch to address the snap/blip in the way Multiverse of Madness does at Christine’s wedding. Strange having to defend his and the Avenger’s actions in allowing half the universe to disappear in order to win later on down the line is a different way of talking about the snap, and it’s good to see it still being brought up as I feel like a lot of the Phase Four stuff has either glossed over it entirely or done a really underwhelming job at addressing how the world has changed.
I also liked the explanation of how the multiverse functions, and I feel handled it significantly better than the likes of Loki did. What with dreams being windows into alternate universes, and Strange & Wanda’s magical abilities giving them the ability to possess alternate universe versions of themselves was a great way of being able to explore new ways of traversing the multiverse. I would like more explanation into how Chavez’s powers function, but I can live with the ambiguity for this film because of Strange & Wanda's abilities.
But the elephant in the room is Wanda as the villain of the story. This was something I was completely blindsided by and did not see coming in the slightest. She even gets going as the bad guy very quickly out of the gate. I might have liked a slower build to the reveal of her being the mastermind behind it all, but it still worked the way it was handled. I feel it’s a really great way to expand on the character post-WandaVision and having her grief over losing her children be the motivator for her wanting to crack open the multiverse and be reunited with them.
I felt the Illuminati were kind of underwhelming, and unfortunately, I had it spoiled as to who the members were, but then again getting to see Wanda completely obliterate an alternate universe version of the Avengers was pretty awesome. I also really appreciate that the way Wanda was defeated was by giving her exactly what she wanted and seeing her realise how much damage and pain that would cause. It was really great to see the MCU tackle something more mature and complex than just ‘bad guy is bad’ and turning one of your heroes into the villain alongside that makes Wanda one of, if not the best MCU villain to date.
On the whole, Multiverse of Madness was great. I can’t say that I’m in a rush to watch it again, primarily because of the pacing, but It’s great to see Marvel doing something new with the franchise. It wasn’t the film I was expecting it to be, but at the same time that’s perfectly ok. It took me a while to be completely on board with what was happening, but I feel like the risks, even if not all of them paid off, were worth it. I’d love to see the original cut of the film, but I doubt that’ll ever happen knowing Disney. But if Disney continue to handle the multiverse this way then I’m eager to see what happens next.
I also liked the explanation of how the multiverse functions, and I feel handled it significantly better than the likes of Loki did. What with dreams being windows into alternate universes, and Strange & Wanda’s magical abilities giving them the ability to possess alternate universe versions of themselves was a great way of being able to explore new ways of traversing the multiverse. I would like more explanation into how Chavez’s powers function, but I can live with the ambiguity for this film because of Strange & Wanda's abilities.
But the elephant in the room is Wanda as the villain of the story. This was something I was completely blindsided by and did not see coming in the slightest. She even gets going as the bad guy very quickly out of the gate. I might have liked a slower build to the reveal of her being the mastermind behind it all, but it still worked the way it was handled. I feel it’s a really great way to expand on the character post-WandaVision and having her grief over losing her children be the motivator for her wanting to crack open the multiverse and be reunited with them.
I felt the Illuminati were kind of underwhelming, and unfortunately, I had it spoiled as to who the members were, but then again getting to see Wanda completely obliterate an alternate universe version of the Avengers was pretty awesome. I also really appreciate that the way Wanda was defeated was by giving her exactly what she wanted and seeing her realise how much damage and pain that would cause. It was really great to see the MCU tackle something more mature and complex than just ‘bad guy is bad’ and turning one of your heroes into the villain alongside that makes Wanda one of, if not the best MCU villain to date.
On the whole, Multiverse of Madness was great. I can’t say that I’m in a rush to watch it again, primarily because of the pacing, but It’s great to see Marvel doing something new with the franchise. It wasn’t the film I was expecting it to be, but at the same time that’s perfectly ok. It took me a while to be completely on board with what was happening, but I feel like the risks, even if not all of them paid off, were worth it. I’d love to see the original cut of the film, but I doubt that’ll ever happen knowing Disney. But if Disney continue to handle the multiverse this way then I’m eager to see what happens next.