Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Review!

Alright! Today I’m reviewing the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the 34th product off the Marvel Studios assembly line, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The first MCU film directed by an established director since, like, James Gunn in 2014, the movie is a multiverse hopping adventure that is often less than the sum of its parts.

The first and foremost issue with the film is that it’s not really a Doctor Strange movie. While the first movie was very much driven by the character and his drive to better himself, the second one is entirely driven by the plot. It happens because it does, not because Strange has a stake in it. The same story would happen to any hero who happened to stumble upon the living MacGuffin that is America Chavez. 

The film’s not a multiverse of madness either. They visit a grand total of two earths in the film and neither is particularly weird. They just kind of exist and you’re watching them. In that regard, the film is far less trippy than the first, which is a letdown considering the expansiveness of the multiverse where anything is possible. Alas, while the first one had Inception-worthy imagery and a finale that was surprisingly smart, this one is mostly typical New York landscapes and an over-the-top finale that’s okay at best. 

Speaking of the finale, it’s not particularly exciting. Things just kind of happen, and due to multiverse-hopping shenanigans, the conflict has a major disconnect that robs it of any interest. I’d rather have seen an Infinity War Strange v Thanos fight where tons of tricks are pulled by both reality-warping sides than what we got. Like, two Sorcerer Supremes and a super powerful dimension-punching MacGuffin versus the Scarlet Witch should be one of the coolest fights the MCU has ever done, but instead, we have a finale that can’t decide if it’s character-driven or an over-the-top Marvel spectacular. 

That “could have been cooler fights” thinking carries for most of the setpieces across the film. Aside from the superb first fight scene against Gargantos, Multiverse of Madness largely forgets its hero can wield magic or that its heroes have powers in general. There was one specific fight scene where two sorcerers fight each other… with swords… like, swords? C’mon, man. You have magic. Do something cool. None of the fights are as smart as the "I've come to bargain" scene nor visually intense as the Ancient One's introduction from the first Doctor Strange. 

The movie’s also not a horror movie. A lot of early reviews were praising the horror aspect of the film, but it's almost nonexistent. The film starts off with enough horror elements to be frightening, but soon after that the appropriation wears off and two jumpscares are left at best. If you’re expecting the work Sam Raimi put in for the birth of Doctor Octopus scene, well, prepare for disappointment. In the way that Spider-Man: Homecoming lost its high school comedy feeling during the over-the-top finale, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness loses its horror edge before the multiverse of madness is even introduced. 

Now, an important question must be asked: Is this a Sam Raimi film? The MCU rarely hires outside of indie directors with two films to their name, and even more rarely do they hire someone who might noticeably have a style (The exceptions being Joss Whedon, James Gunn, and Taiki Waititi). You can tell it’s Sam Raimi behind the camera occasionally. When you’re in Earth-616’s New York, the same sweepy shots and the beautiful yellow palette that appeared in his Spider-Man trilogy occur. However, when handling elements outside of our earth, the visual flair is mostly gone. Now, it never reaches Black Widow-levels of “made by a corporation” (It’s very much unique), but it’s never unique enough to deliver on the concept introduced - It’s not weird enough. 

The movie also barely has the theme from the first one (MCU! Stop it!), eschewing it almost entirely for a new score composed by Danny Elfman. It works, for the most part. It’s a good score and definitely upper-tier for the MCU (I especially enjoy the “Multiverse of Madness” track), but, again. The lack of the Doctor Strange theme in the Doctor Strange film is felt. 

The ending of the film is also weirdly abrupt. It has such a homey, movie-wrapping-up feeling until the last two seconds. It worked but it was really… strange… I also thought the message of the film was weird. Early on the film introduces the concept of “You break the rules and you become a hero. I do it and I become the villain. That doesn’t seem fair, does it?” and then proceeds to prove that concept right. Strange wins the fight by doing the exact same morally-frowned-upon acts that make the Scarlet Witch a villain. Shoot, demonic magic dementors or something come through to stop his defilement of nature, and instead he… harnesses them? It’s weird that they prove the villain right. 

Most of the characterization in the film is off. Strange’s arrogance is off and on, a few cameos are poorly executed, and, most of all, Wanda’s characterization is radically different from what WandaVision setup. My biggest issue with the film actually comes from WandaVision. You see, WandaVision tried to have its cake and eat it too by creating a great origin story for a villain and then fumbling the ending with a “They’ll never know what you did for them” heroic note courtesy Monica Rambeau. If WandaVision had just recognized that she’s a villain and ended with that turn, then her sudden shift here wouldn’t have been more jarring.

The movie also tries to cover for WandaVision’s failures by saying the Darkhold corrupted her, which is 1) lame, considering Strange himself uses the Darkhold to seemingly few evil side effects, and 2) a cop-out. Either go full-on with the villainy or don’t bother. Wanda Maximoff could have had an absolutely spectacular arc into villainy and been a major big bad for the MCU. Instead, she feels weirdly off-kilter, as if the movie can’t decide if she’s a good or bad guy. 

The one thing I can applaud the movie for is that it is more of a Lord of the Rings PG-13 than it is typical Marvel PG-13. Actual violence happens in the movie! Some of it even has blood! It’s not excessively violent or gory, it just has, like, violence that justifies a PG-13 rating. It’s probably the most violent MCU movie since, like, Iron Man in 2008. Ultimately, however, this is just another example of applauding the MCU for merely being up to standard. 

When you read articles on the Multiverse of Madness, none of them are going to be talking about the character arcs of Strange, Wanda, Chavez, or their future stories. They’re all going to be about the buzzy cameos and implications they have, and that’s fair. When I look back on this movie in the future, I’ll remember two things: 1) The opening was pretty sick, and 2) The Illuminati of cameos was pretty cool. And if those are the two biggest takeaways from a Doctor Strange movie, well, you failed. 

Overall, I give Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness a 7/10. “Overshadowed and outshined by buzzy cameos, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness lacks both Doctor Strange and Madness.”

SPOILERS

Alright, so those cameos. I really loved how the film handled the Illuminati - introducing all these fan-favorite characters that look good on the big screen and then killing them off almost immediately is a hilarious bit of trolling and truly feels like a Marvel elseworld, where they love killing off beloved heroes in randomly gruesome and shocking ways (Most of the time Spidey gets the worst of it). 

I loved seeing all those characters on screen, and I loved how, out of the entire Illuminati - Reed Richards, Professor X, Maria Rambeau’s Captain Marvel, Captain Carter, Black Bolt, and Karl Mordo - the only one Strange would have known on his earth would be Mordo. However, I’m unsure about the characterization of Reed Richards and Professor X. Like, if I just saw their lines on a piece of paper, I’m not sure I’d be able to connect them. 

While I love the idea of destroying the entire Illuminati, the movie goes about it simultaneously excellently and poorly. While Black Bolt’s death was perfect, the fact that the smartest man alive proceeds to try and slowly stretchy punch someone who erased his BFF’s mouth with her mind was kinda stupid. I would have rather he whips out some device or literally anything else rather than a slow stretchy punch. But it’s a blink-and-you'll-miss-it action and his subsequent turning into string cheese was well executed.

*slaps No Way Home* that’s how you introduce an iconic character with the appropriate music 

After those two deaths, any attempts to even make Captain Carter a legitimate threat to Wanda were just silly, but I liked how brutal her death was. Maria Rambeau’s death was fine, but the one that annoyed me the most was Professor X. Professor X is a level five mutant and one of the most powerful empaths in the Marvel universe. When he enters Wanda’s mind, there was a truly great chance for a beautiful scene where he makes a desperate plea to her sense of reason. You could have had an iconic Professor X and Wanda moment. Instead, he dies almost instantaneously. It’s borderline disrespectful that what is (likely) the last time we’ll see Patrick Stewart as Xavier he goes down so easily. He deserved better.