Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness Review: Sam Raimi’s Masterpiece

It’s just over a week now that Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness hit the theatres. The internet is still not done with the theories that this movie has left has wondering about. Here’s my review for the same.

Director: Sam Raimi

Writers: Michael Waldron

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Rachel McAdams, Jett Klyne, Julian Hilliard, Michael Stuhlbarg, Hayley Atwell, Anson Mount, Lashana Lynch, John Krasinski, Patrick Stewart, Charlize Theron, Bruce Campbell

Music: Danny Elfman

Budget:  $200 Million USD

Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Superhero, Horror

Synopsis: Every night Doctor Strange has been having dreams about him in different world. There’s uneasiness in his mind. One day he sees the same kid he saw in his latest dream. Hells broke loose when he comes to know that Wanda is the one who’s after the kid named America Chavez. Strange must stop Wanda to keep the balance of the universe.

Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness Review:

The movie starts with Doctor Strange Supreme and America Chavez trying to get the book of Vishanti. A couple of scene later we directly see Gargantos chasing America Chavez. The plot of this movie gets onto the point quickly because just withing a few minutes we’re already wondering about the multiverse.

The plot for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is very strong overall and keeps you indulged throughout the movie. The character development is strong for both Doctor Strange and Wanda Maximoff.

Everything is going smooth until the climax which is high on emotions rather than action. Now, this makes sense, as there was really no way of stopping The Scarlet Witch because of the way she’s developed. This tends to happen when you want your villain to be more strong than hero but still want your villain to lose.

Coming to the multiverse, which was the point of this movie, Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness fails to explore it. Kevin Feige already agreed that the trailers and TV featurettes revealed too much of the movie. Hence, the only scene which explore the multiverse is what we already saw in the featurette. There aren’t any other universes explored other than Earth – 838.

The other point which Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness wanted to establish was the fact that everything canon to Marvel can happen in the MCU. But MCU will always be focused on Earth – 616.

This was strongly emphasized when The Scarlet Witch made sure that The Illuminati couldn’t exist.

Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness – Character Development 

Doctor Strange

The character development for Doctor Strange is pretty solid. Although, the plot of this movie makes him stronger in the end, we see him struggling in bits throughout the movie. We also see a mature Doctor Strange which makes sense and is very opposite to the what we saw in Spiderman: No Way Home. The way this movie sets Doctor Strange up, it was a major downgrade for him in Spiderman NWH.

Doctor Strange doesn’t lose his calm & always comes up new tricks. In fact, there’s always one last trick up his sleeve which nobody has seen. This kind of character development is perfect for a sequel. Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness also explores Strange’s relationship with Christine Palmer which is a small variation to what Marvel did in What If.

It fair to say that Doctor Strange is powerless throughout the movie and is on the run from Wanda. But despite that his wit enables him to survive and in the end defeat Wanda.

The Scarlet Witch

Although we see Doctor Strange referring to her as Wanda, what we for the major part in Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness is The Scarlet Witch. This movie makes WandaVision commendable to watch. I love it when Marvel makes use of previous projects to define the current project.

The reason why we’re getting Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness is because of what happened to Wanda in WandaVision. The events of WandaVision took place because of Avengers: Infinity War and so on. This is what Marvel is best at.

The Scarlet Witch wants to find Billy and Tommy. So everything what she does in the movie is under the influence of Darkhold. Wanda’s desire to be with her kids is fueled by the Darkhold.

Despite being an antagonist, Wanda totally owns the movie with her screen presence. No one is a match for her and it’s her own guilt that defeats her in the end.

America Chavez

Her character is no different from the comics and MCU kept her story same. I think that was just lousy writing on their part. We’ve seen standalone superhero movies providing this kind of explanation for the hero’s powers.

Marvel could have given a proper explanation rather than explaining that her powers were controlled by her emotions.

The Illuminati

The Illuminati we see in this movie is the one from Earth – 838. So, we may or we may not get The Illuminati on Earth – 616. Even if we do get them, it’s possible that the members are different.

But even for a short amount of time that we do get to see them in the movie, every Illuminati character has a deep impact. Even with this little time, The Illuminati does get cheers from the audience and manages to stay a centre of attraction of the Internet.

Marvel only wanted to tease us with The Illuminati and this was a pure showcase that anything is possible in the MCU.

Music  

The background music and sound effects are on point for this movie.

Cinematography 

The cinematography for this movie is absolutely fantastic. The camera movement was great for all the scenes and the way the scenes were shot added more depth to the movie.

Direction 

The direction for this movie is beautiful. Sam Raimi totally owned each and every scene for Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness. The only thing where this movie loses is on surprises. The multiple TV spots and featurettes which I think were released impulsively set the bar of expectations pretty high. To add to the misfortune, Marvel decided to remove 40 minutes of footage from the movie.

This left Doctor Strange’s sequel with a mere 126 minutes; a rather average length for such an important movie.

Screenplay 

The script was strong, so was the plot. It developed Doctor Strange well put Wanda in an extremely strong position. This establishes the fact that how dangerous ‘The Darkhold’ can be. The script follows the 3 act structure perfectly.

Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness Action/Effects 

All the action scenes in this movie were actually effects and yes they were good. All the colors and filters were on point and used perfectly.

Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness surely makes Doctor Strange stronger and leaves us guessing about Wanda’s future in the MCU. For those who are wondering about her, she’s definitely not dead.

I was really expecting major Kang or Avenger level easter eggs in the post credit scenes but this movie doesn’t explore that side yet. Let’s see what the future holds.