If you bring Sam Raimi into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you can bet you’ll get something different, and that’s definitely the case with his rather spooky take on the latest MCU entry, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness. Although Raimi is well versed in the world of Marvel comics, having directed the first Spider-Man trilogy, he is equally well known for many other genres, certainly his horror filmography, including The Evil Dead and Drag Me To Hell and much more Here he successfully and entertainingly manages to mix this kind of dark, terrifying storytelling with beloved established characters in the MCU.
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Benedict Cumberbatch plays Dr. Stephen Strange, a wizard and sorcerer and superhero who can conjure up all sorts of colorful magic spells to save the day, just like he did in his first standalone film of 2016 and again in MCU films like Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and, most recently, Spider-Man: No Way Home, his unique tour of parallel universes in a much lighter form. For this one, he travels through the multiverse and sort of meets different sides of key characters, including himself. Most notable, however, is the reunion with Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch, played by Elizabeth Olsen, who steals this film by any means necessary. No shock as she descends from her own Disney+ version of the character in WandaVision, which serves as a nice setup for what begins to happen here when Strange enlists Wanda to help him start dating a young girl named America Chavez (Yochitl Gomez) that it turns out she has a keen ability to traverse many multiverses, but doesn’t know how to control her powers.
When Strange suddenly leaves Christine Palmer’s (Rachel McAdams Returns) wedding to fight off a giant octopus creature called the Gargantos, who is chasing America through the city streets to capture her and usurp her powers, it’s fair the beginning of a beautiful and complicated relationship. America becomes the number one destination for the mesmerizing and dazzling Scarlet Witch, the evil side of Wanda, now trapped in another dimension, searching for her way back to motherhood and two young sons of whom she has visions in an alternate universe and a life very different from the recording-no-prisoners existence, in which she now uses her extraordinary powers to decimate anything and anyone that gets in her way. She needs to master America’s skills to return to her children — or so she thinks. She becomes the main nemesis for Strange and co. Given all of this, Mother’s Day weekend seems like the perfect release date that Disney picked to unleash that particular box office monster. And in terms of monsters, there are plenty of them to see as well.
Where it’s all going, the less said the better, because there are plenty of surprises too, and that includes numerous unbilled stars who showed up at Monday night’s press screening in Century City, and believe me, there’ll be plenty of raves about them, as well as those who appear in the obligatory end credits scenes where we are assured “Doctor Stranger Will Return”. After this very Raimified take, I hope Strange returns with this filmmaker, because with the help of screenwriter Michael Waldron (Loki), this feels like the most writer-driven Marvel film yet, at least one that’s not scared , deviating from the expected MCU march orders, but also fairly faithful to the comic book bible in keeping the story consistent with the overall arc of these intertwined things. It’s a win-win situation all round.
Cumberbatch has delicious fun in several Stephen Strange incarnations this time, including battling himself, and this actor unquestionably makes them all his own, even as Olsen rushes in with such violent force that she takes total command when she opens the screen is. McAdams has some happy moments, as does the ever-reliable Benedict Wong, who is now promoted to Supreme Sorcerer Wong for this sequel. Gomez is a great find like America. Chiwetel Ejiofor will reprise his role of the tightly laced Mordo a bit. and Michael Stuhlbarg as Strange’s ex-colleague, Dr. Nic West (they have a particularly funny scene early in church). It’s particularly heartening that so many women, including the wonderful Sheila Atim, come through so strongly in a film like this.
The film delivers on all fronts, including some terrific Danny Elfman score, and looks great, even if the overwhelming amount of psychedelic CGI imagery is a bit over the top. This thing rarely slows down to breathe in the 2+ hour runtime. Luckily, the reception for fans will not be affected, and they will inevitably flock in droves when it opens on Friday after Thursday night’s previews. The producer is of course Kevin Feige. Rest assured that while there’s plenty of gore, something Raimi is very good at pushing the limit, it’s some PG13 hard-handling here that stops before it gets too spasmodic for families.
Are you planning to see Doctor Strange in The Multiverse Of Madness? let us know what you think