Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (2022): Movie Review
What do you get when you take a legendary horror director and pair him with arguably the best actor in the MCU, Danny Elfman, and a script that feels like it was written in 1 day?
A real disappointment.
Let’s discuss…
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness—JESUS CHRIST this title!—is an urban fantasy / science fiction / super hero / horror film brought to us by writer Michael Waldron and Director Sam “Evil Dead” Raimi. It’s MCU movie 3,280. It’s also the first sequel to the original Doctor Strange.
ANNNNND we all know how the MCU likes to ruin the second movie in their infinitely running franchises.
COUGH—Iron Man 2
SNEEZE—Avengers: Age of Ultron
POOT—Guardians of the Galaxy 2. No, don’t you at me. It was a self indulgent-three hour mess of a film from James Gunn that was more concerned with working in as many celebrity cameos than it was a meaningful story. I love James Gunn, but Jesus Christ the parent / daddy issues storylines really need to be tossed aside.
ARRGH—Thor 2: The Dark World—GAG-BLERRRGH
If not for the Russo Brothers, there wouldn’t be a good sequel in the bunch. Captain America: Winter Soldier is the only great second film in any of the MCU series. It’s not even a contest. Scarlett Johansson was allowed to actually act and she and Chris Evans finally got to showcase their incredible chemistry that started with The Perfect Score back in 2004. Oh, and they perfectly told one of the greatest comic stories of all time without ruining it with modern political preaching.
Seriously, have a baby you two.
Anyway, add another dud to that list.
The film focuses on Doctor Strange as he copes with his life after returning from the snap. (Yes, you need to watch every single MCU tv show and movie to understand anything going on in this movie.) Coping with the loss of his sorcerer supreme mantle and of the love of his life, he finds himself a drift. That is until a giant cosmic monster runs by chasing a girl with the ultimate power. Now thrust into a harrowing race against time and space, Doctor Stephen Strange must decide if he’s willing to do what must be done to save the multiverse or if he’ll let it all just fade away.
I was really excited for this. Really fucking excited. Anyone who knows me, or has met me, or has been inside one of my homes—knows my love of Sam Raimi. I ordered an original Italian Lobby Card poster of Army of Darkness from Milan, we’re talking I’m a real fan here. Ash vs. The Evil Dead is one of my top 5 tv series of all time. I think Drag Me to Hell might be the best horror film of the 2000’s and definitely the best effort for a director mainly known for one specific series.
I loved you in Indian Summer, Sam!
I also loved Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of Doctor Strange. I feel that he really understood the character from the late 90’s to Earth X and embodied him perfectly. He wasn’t just Sherlock in a cape. He was a nuanced, pain man. A man out of time not by birth, but by circumstance. The first Doctor Strange movie, though an Iron Man clone story-wise, was a perfect visual embodiment of what Doctor Strange should be = Inception on Acid.
So, it was a no brainer that this follow-up pairing these two together with the special effects might of Marvel Studios would produce an incredible urban fantasy horror film, especially considering the crazy villains they have to choose from in Strange’s catalog.
Right?
…right?
Let me just start with a positive. Benedict Cumberbatch was better than ever. His pained portrayal of a man feeling the guilt of ruining half the lives in the galaxy by making the only choice he thought he could make was poignant for the first hour. His performance overall considering the shortcomings of the script (shortcomings is a generous term), was incredible as was the performance of new comer Xochitl Gomez. Her charisma and chemistry with Cumberbatch was palpable.
I also don’t think this was Raimi’s fault, not entirely. As we’ve learned from the MCU vs. Edgar Wright fiasco, Marvel doesn’t like directors to be innovative. They need to paint within Marvel’s lines.
Kevin Fiege is the Stalin of that totalitarian regime and I think the reason why the second sequels almost always suck. Every movie has to set-up 5 TV shows, 7 other movies, and sell as many lunch boxes as possible.
Sam Raimi is a great visual storyteller and as we learned from Drag Me to Hell an innovative director, but this movie felt like he was brought in and just forced to regurgitate items from The Conjuring and Evil Dead. There’s scene for scene ripoffs of camera angles and chase scenes. Monster movements and character designs are lifted from Army of Darkness. There’s sequences that are so telegraphed for jump scares, there’s no jump left by the time the climax comes. There’s so surprise or big reveal in this movie. There’s really no tension at all as it’s the MCU and you know that there are no consequences.
And it looks CHEAP.
The special effects go from stellar to Matrix Revolutions in seconds. It’s like they spent their money on a couple of the set pieces and had to send out to Wish.com for the rest.
It’s an uneven mess that should have been incredible, but I can’t say much more without…
S——P—-O—I—L—E—R—S
S——P—-O—I—L—E—R—S
S——P—-O—I—L—E—R—S
S——P—-O—I—L—E—R—S
S——P—-O—I—L—E—R—S
S——P—-O—I—L—E—R—S
S——P—-O—I—L—E—R—S
Seriously, what the actual fuck? You have villains in Strange’s comics like Shuma Gorath, Nightmare, Mephisto, Kaluu, and Mister Misery! Hell, Doctor Doom even challenged him for the status of Sorcerer Supreme at one point.
But nooooooo
We have to shoehorn in the Scarlet Witch, the biggest failure of a character both in the MCU and in the comics. A character so broken they just had to blink her out of existence after House of M. A character that, as a mutant, should have never been in the MCU in the first place. Well, Marvel realized that and decided, we’re gonna take the plot from the Kaluu / Darkhold storyline from the comics and make Wanda Kaluu or and we’ll give her Nightmare’s powers. Everyone will be expecting Nightmare to appear—you know, one of the coolest villains in Marvel or even Mephisto, but then it’ll just be the Scarlet Witch. People will love it.
No, no they won’t.
I was hoping there would be a big reveal here, but instead all we get is more of Elizabeth Olsen’s weepy, one note acting where she tries to be sinister while limping around like a deadite from Evil Dead 2. Her character and motivation would have made sense if there was another villain influencing her… Ala Mephisto who, in the comics, is the master influencer.
Oh and the fucking pandering.
ooooo the Illuminati show up in a different universe. Oooo it’s the What If? Captain Carter and Reed Richards. Oooo now their dead, aren’t you sad?
No, you cowards. Make a Captain Carter movie on its own.
And give Lashana Lynch the mantle of Monica Rambeau’s Captain Marvel like you should have done in the first place. You try to be woke, but you go with a white Captain Marvel in the wooden “talent” of Bree Olsen when you could have had the Monica Rambeau storyline with this incredible actress all along. I’m not a woke person, but I’m a comics fan and a fan of diversity at all levels of life, so—Screw you Marvel.
Other than getting to see Lashana Lynch play the real Captain Marvel, the best part of the movie is Patrick Stewart in the Animated Series hover chair, with the animated series theme song being played. I teared up seeing this.
I know, I’m a nerd, but Jesus Christ—all I’ve wanted is to see Patrick Stewart in the hover chair before he dies. So in that respect, well played Marvel.
I polled my friends on this one and got about a dozen responses. I have to say this is the most split any of them have ever been on an MCU project. A third said they enjoyed it, another third just shrugged, and the final third hated it.
For context, all 12 loved Shang Chi (because it’s awesome), all 12 loved the original Doctor Strange, and all 12 hated Age of Ultron and Thor 2: The Dark World.
If you want to see this film, it’s streaming free on Disney+ currently.
I wouldn’t recommend it.
