**Editor’s note: To properly review “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness,” you have to tread into the basic plot, and the basic plot has been kept secret from audiences and withheld from the trailers. Thus, this review will have to get into *some* basic spoilers, so if you want to be totally spoiler-free, we encourage you to read this review after you’ve seen the film. While we will refrain from the deeper spoilers within, you’ve been warned.**
“The multiverse is a concept about which we know frighteningly little,” Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) gravely warned in the past. And those infinite possibilities— mindboggling, dangerous, and terrifying— are explored to their nth degree in Marvel’s aptly titled “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness,” for better and for worse. For better, if you’re looking to investigate the frighteningly vast nature of the universe and look inward at our true core nature—our worst selves and what we’re truly capable of if pushed to the edge—if Scott Derrickson isn’t available, Sam Raimi is actually a perfect pick to craft a scary, visceral thrill ride where the stakes feel high and horrible outcomes seem truly possible. For worse, if you’re looking for good characterization, emotion, and feels, you might have come to the wrong place.
For better and for worse, ‘Multiverse of Madness’ starts at a breakneck pace, rushing from big set action set piece to the next before even properly jumpstarting the story. Many of these elements could be bliss for the Marvel fan who doesn’t want to f*ck around. For the more casual viewer who needs a coherent story to frame around the bedlam of it all, this may be increasingly frustrating (and if you haven’t seen “WandaVision” or some of the recent Marvel stories, you will be utterly lost). At its simplest— and by trying to spoil as little as possible— ‘Multiverse of Madness’ begins with a dream of another dimension and the bittersweet wedding of Strange’s former love Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), which gives way to the introduction of the character America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), a young teenager with the power to cross through different universes. Unfortunately for the young adolescent, she can’t control her abilities, and some kind of higher influence—manifested via various monsters—is trying to steal her power for their own manipulative means.
Having had a brush with this evil— a significant action set piece featuring Strange, Chavez, and Wong (Benedict Wong)—and understanding its power is dark magic in nature, Strange goes to seek council from Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). Wanda is still in self-imposed exile, reeling from the events at the end of “WandaVision,” the death of Vision, the destruction of her carefully composed self-deluding Westview reality, and all the damage she caused. Strange isn’t looking for recrimination; however, he just wants help and answers, and this is where it all gets tricky. *Get ready for some unavoidable spoilers*
The reality of it all is, revealed with ruthless haste, is that it’s Wanda behind the evil creatures trying to capture America Chavez and steal her dimension traveling powers, and this is where the deep, dark madness sets in. Having had a taste of the children she created in “WandaVision”— Billy (Julian Hilliard) and Tommy (Jett Klyne)— Wanda’s mind has become seemingly warped. She knows her boys exist somewhere else in the Multiverse because she dreams about them constantly. And thus, Wanda, no, the Scarlet Witch— really a darkened and twisted version of the character we know— has succumbed to the madness of her nightmares. She gives Strange an ultimatum: hand over America Chavez so the Witch can appropriate her powers and be reunited with her children or face her full distraught wrath. Wanda’s sick rationale is a sacrifice: one teenage child for the sake of the greater good, but this corrosive logic isn’t something Strange can abide by.
What ensues is a dark, often violent, vicious and frightening battle for America Chavez, who unfortunately is reduced to not more than a MacGuffin plot device that Wanda is desperate for, while Strange, Wong and the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj try and defend her. Eventually, as this struggle for Chavez’s powers becomes more expansive, characters become splintered and hurtled all over different corners of the multiverse, which is both kaleidoscopic and headache-inducing for those who might now want a confusing, ping-ponging plot.
Through the various dark, forbidden chaos magics with innumerable ramifications (the Darkhold), Wanda can possess multiple versions of herself across the multiverse, and thus no matter what universe Strange and Chavez travel to, no one is safe. In those multiverses, there are familiar faces, but many of them are not the versions you know, thus, trust becomes a dicey engage-at-your-own-risk proposition.
Written seemingly with dark, devilish delight by Michael Waldron (“Loki”)—seemingly relishing the more wicked parts of the narrative—‘Multiverse Of Madness’ is ambitious, convoluted, and sometimes even shocking. Full of mumbo jumbo devices to explain various aspects of multiverse travel or consequence—”dream walking,” “gap spaces,” “incursions,” blah blah, etc.— and numerous variant iterations of most prominent characters—including at least four versions of Doctor Strange—the dizzying, entertaining, maximalist picture can get a little exhausting at times.
Yes, there are big fun cameos that we will not spoil here, but they are simultaneously less jam-packed than expected, enjoyable, fan-service-y, ridiculous, and quite well subverted.
With all its sprints to jump into a new dimension, ‘Multiverse Of Madness’ can be maddeningly frenetic, with little room for character development or growth. Still, at its best, it’s a movie about our desperate need for control and how desperately we spin out when we can’t control our destiny. Strange is no stranger to rewriting futures, tampering with reality, and the dangers of playing god, so much of this works well thematically. ‘Strange 2’ is also about the various ways we self-deceive ourselves to cope, the consequences of our choices, and a myriad number of dubious moral justification for questionable actions. When Strange breaks the rules, he’s a hero, and when Wanda bends the playbook, she’s the pariah, and this unfair hypocrisy is definitely unpacked.
Yet, despite all this seemingly rich thematic texture, ‘Multiverse Of Madness’ never feels particularly deep, inspired, or profound (especially when juxtaposed to the far superior, recently released multiverse movie “Everything All At Once,” which should be the gold standard of all blockbusters trying to be funny, meaningful, moving and visually spectacular). It’s got great momentum, energy, jump scares, and shocking moments to keep you engaged—Wanda as a murderous, relentless, Terminator-like psycho mom is certainly a twist you didn’t see coming—but it often does add up to much beyond the frightening rollercoaster moment. As Marvel’s scariest movie and the closest they’ve ever come to horror, Raimi is a great choice, and the sense of menace he injects into the movie is ace, but he’s never been particularly affecting with character instances and a few critically gutting moments kind of fall flat.
The less said about the glib final moments and its superficial post-credits, the better. For all its emotional horrors—witnessing the worst of ourselves and hoping for the best versions of ourselves eventually triumph over our inherent faults—‘Multiverse of Madness’ is arguably lacking the humanity, the heart, and soul of Marvel that works so well when balanced with humor and spectacle. It’s not a total wash, however, and to this viewer, much better than the shallow fan service of “Spider-Man: No Way Home”—the fan service here is arguably a sly meta-commentary on fan service and how to treat it— but it would be nice if concepts of which we know so little about could inspire a little awe, wonder and emotion in us for a change too beyond just dread. [B-]
