Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness Review — Dimension-Hopping Horrors
Mason Downey
4 min read
Doctor Strange has been a busy guy in the MCU, despite his only solo outing happening six years ago, a massive gap in the usually tightly scheduled coordination of these superhero stories. Still, even with the gap in his resume Strange has certainly not been absent from the movies as a whole, with major parts other outings to keep him growing and changing. With that said, it’s easy to see how Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness would have a lot of plates to keep spinning, serving not only as a sequel to Doctor Strange proper, but as a sequel to multiple Avengers movies and more recently, Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Thankfully, veteran superhero director Sam Raimi stepped up to the plate, and, despite some stumbling blocks, delivers a solid and unique Phase 4 movie–at least, for the most part. Multiverse of Madness sends Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) on a horror-flavored jaunt through the recently cracked open MCU multiverse alongside newcomer America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) who has the ability to hope between universes, much to the chagrin of some apparently demonic forces that would like to take her power for themselves. Also returning are Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), fresh off her traumatic experience in the Disney+ TV show, WandaVision, Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who hasn’t been around since Strange 1, Wong (Benedict Wong), the put upon Sorcerer Supreme, and Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) Strange’s ex.
Multiverse of Madness excels when Raimi’s voice is the loudest one in the room. Multiple sequences nostalgically harken back to the stylistic influences in his pre-MCU Spider-Man days while others dip deeply (sometimes even shockingly) into true horror. This actually may be the least kid-friendly Marvel has ever allowed one of their movies to get while still remaining safely in the PG-13 rating zone. There is blood, some light gore, and multiple graphic death scenes that all feel deeply subversive and interesting. Interestingly, these sequences also feature some of the movie’s cleanest and most organic looking visual effects, which are otherwise wildly uneven in quality throughout the rest of the film. It’s not hard to tell which parts were Raimi’s darlings, and which were being handled with the most care and consideration.
Meanwhile, the same cannot be said for large swaths of the movie outside of these moments. Many of the effects and CGI set pieces border on distracting in their uncanniness and the trading of real actors for digital ragdolls in fight scenes is glaringly obvious. Around the halfway point, shortly after one of the movie’s most interesting and most shocking fight scenes, the flow of the story begins to go largely off the rails, and begins feeling like a flip book of randomly taped together ideas. It just can’t quite keep up with every character it wants to juggle and never really recovers its momentum for the back half.
Thankfully, even for these pacing and plot-based stumbling points, the cast is anchored by both Cumberbatch and Olsen giving some of their best MCU work to date. Olsen in particular shines in this new take on Wanda, though there is something to be said about retreading the same ground and the same arc we’ve already seen her take this character on in WandaVision–though, ironically, cranking the WandaVision beats up to 11 and condensing the story into a 2 hour movie only seems to have helped it stick the landing. To elaborate too much further would definitely get into spoiler territory but suffice to say, Olsen’s fully unleashed rendition of Wanda is both a joy and a terror to behold. In the same vein, Cumberbatch is able to finally take Stephen Strange to unexplored territory, delivering up an introspective and sympathetic look at the regularly snarky, scoffing sorcerer.
While Olsen and Cumberbatch get the most screen time, Xochitl Gomez gamely steps up to the task of introducing the MCU’s America Chavez, who undoubtedly has a bright future ahead of her in the franchise–though more than once during the movie she feels deliberately hammered down into a walking, talking MacGuffin to drive the plot forward. With any luck, Gomez’s next MCU outing with America will allow her to exist in the spotlight more thoroughly.
All told, despite the unevenness in the presentation, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a fun, fresh take for the MCU and, with any luck, a hopeful indication of things to come in the future. While Phase 4 has certainly not been shy about taking risks and playing with styles and genres thus far, Multiverse of Madness represents Marvel’s most extreme persion from the mold in some key ways (while, unfortunately, being deeply beholden to the formula in others.) It feels exciting to think that the MCU may be getting less precious with its toys and allowing more directors to start pulling at the seams.
Related News & Content
-
How to optimize ‘select found_rows()’ query? Several ‘high load average’ alerts daily
How to optimize 'select found_rows()' query? Several 'high load average' alerts daily,I have 5,000 regular posts, 6,000 posts in one post type and 2,000 posts in another post type. Needless to say, that has made the wp_posts table quite large. Not to mention, I have custom taxonomie... -
How to Use JSON With AJAX?
How to Use JSON With AJAX?,I've defined a PHP callback function to handle the communication between server-side and client-side: function json_render_modal_body() { check_ajax_referer( THEME_PREFIX . '-modals', 'nonce'... -
Filtering context for render_block function
Filtering context for render_block function,I am trying to use render_block within a function called from the WP admin via AJAX The render_block returns null/empty however if I run my function using the wp hook returns the rendered HTML for ... -
How do I hide submenus from the top menu bar?
How do I hide submenus from the top menu bar?,My website is wiki-style and has a lot of pages that should only be reached through links on other pages. Having these all accessible from the top menu bar under their respective headings leads you... -
Register users without confirmation
Register users without confirmation,I'm looking to register users without requiring confirmation of their emails (and even better, no password when they register). Basically, I want them to subscribe their mails using wp registration -
How to use AJAX in wordpress front end?
How to use AJAX in wordpress front end?,I have two inputs in an HTML Widget block on a post. What I need to do: send the inputs (from the html widget) value to AJAX, construct and execute a query, render a table with the results back on ... -
Display posts from Custom Post Type, group by term, arrange term groups and arrange items within groups by menu order
Display posts from Custom Post Type, group by term, arrange term groups and arrange items within groups by menu order,I have a Custom Post Type 'my_cpt' and a custom taxonomy 'types' which has several terms, all of which have posts. I want to do is be able to control both the order of the groups (terms from my cus... -
How do I know if the custom theme is a child theme or a full-custom theme?
How do I know if the custom theme is a child theme or a full-custom theme?,Inherited a custom built WordPress site. How do I know if the theme it uses is a child theme or a full-custom theme? I would like to delete the unused themes for security and to free up space, but ... -
getEntityRecords/useEntityRecords: How to use CPT metadata?
getEntityRecords/useEntityRecords: How to use CPT metadata?,I use getEntityRecords as described in the official data API tutorial (https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson/retrieving-wordpress-data-records/). I.e.: const [searchTerm, setSearchTerm] = useState... -
Carol Kirkwood stuns in figure-hugging dress amid BBC Breakfast technical chaos
Carol Kirkwood stuns in figure-hugging dress amid BBC Breakfast technical chaos,CAROL Kirkwood stunned in a figure-hugging dress amid a technical blunder. BBC Breakfast was flung into chaos this morning after a string of sound issues. However Carol, 61, was all smiles as she p… -
Families ‘to sue prison’ where loud inmates ‘terrorise kids’ with screaming
Families 'to sue prison' where loud inmates 'terrorise kids' with screaming,Residents living next door to a new prison who say their kids have to sleep wearing headphones and some leave during weekends due to the racket are threatening to sue the prison service -
Doctor Strange’s Secret Wars Role May Be More Important Than You Thought – Looper
Doctor Strange's Secret Wars Role May Be More Important Than You Thought - Looper,According to entertainment leaker Alex Perez, Doctor Strange will find himself confronting his inner struggles as he headlines "Avengers: Secret Wars." -
I’m a clown for not trying Korean beauty secret for glowy skin sooner – don’t worry, I’m not putting cheese on my face
I’m a clown for not trying Korean beauty secret for glowy skin sooner – don’t worry, I’m not putting cheese on my face,A BEAUTY influencer has regrets about not trying out Korean beauty advice for glowy skin sooner. Although the trick can look a little strange at first, she assured viewers that she was not putting … -
“Not every artist deserves to be rich”: Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows on Spotify revenue and why Web3 is the future
“Not every artist deserves to be rich”: Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows on Spotify revenue and why Web3 is the future,Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows has shared his opinion on the difficulty of making money through streaming platforms as an artist, arguing that “not every artist deserves to be rich”. -
‘We are at risk’ – health expert in urgent warning for Irish people over Easter
‘We are at risk’ - health expert in urgent warning for Irish people over Easter,AN URGENT warning has been released to those jetting off over the Easter break. With measles already on the rise, there is an increased risk of a more widespread outbreak in the coming weeks. Trave… -
Black Holes Are Even Weirder Than You Imagined
Black Holes Are Even Weirder Than You Imagined,It’s now thought that they could illuminate fundamental questions in physics, settle questions about Einstein’s theories, and even help explain the universe. -
The odd history of on-hold music
The odd history of on-hold music,We've all been put on hold when we've tried to reach someone. Have you ever thought about the music that plays while you wait? -
‘What Jennifer Did’: Netflix doc explores shocking Ont. murder-for-hire case
'What Jennifer Did': Netflix doc explores shocking Ont. murder-for-hire case,Most of Jennifer Pan's entire life was made up of lies. When her parents began to catch on, she decided to bring in hired hitmen. -
Carlo and Charlie’s real-life chemistry sparks in Third World Romance
Carlo and Charlie’s real-life chemistry sparks in Third World Romance,Real-life sweethearts Carlo Aquino and Charlie Dizon make their much-anticipated film debut together as they topbill the Black Sheep and Anima’s romantic movie, Third World Romance, which serves as the closing film at the Cinemalaya 2023. -
Stray Kids' Album '5-STAR' Attains Highest 1st-Week Sales in Hanteo, Surpasses THIS 3rd-Gen K-pop Group | KpopStarz
Stray Kids' Album '5-STAR' Attains Highest 1st-Week Sales in Hanteo, Surpasses THIS 3rd-Gen K-pop Group | KpopStarz,Stray Kids have reached another milestone in their career with third full-length album "★★★★★ (5-STAR)." They have also surpassed THIS third-gen K-pop group.#StrayKids #5STAR #Hyunjin #Felix #BangChan #LeeKnow #IN #Han #Changbin #Seungmin #JYPEntertainment
