A Marvel Multiverse Adventure That Mostly Works (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness review)

Here we are with the next chapter of Marvel’s Multiverse saga finally within arms reach in the form of a Doctor Strange sequel. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is anticipated to not only be the box office movie to start off a strong summer movie blowout that was almost hindered by two years of a pandemic but is meant to be followed up and be the continuation of themes and stories that were heavily tackled in Spider-Man No Way Home and Disney + series like Loki and WandaVision. With a bunch of familiar faces and a fresh new one in the mix, this Strange follow-up promises to be as bonkers as stated in the title.

The thing with Madness is that it does not feel or look like an MCU movie. Like Eternals being a god-centric drama that showed off Chloe Zhao's directorial style, Madness most definitely feels like the horror movie made by Sam Raimi. It does also deliver the promise Kevin Feige made back at Comic-Con in 2019. As a horror outing, It can only mean that it features horror-like imagery and one or two jump scares. Other than that, the film feels very much in touch with the rest of the MCU, especially parts of the franchise fans would not expect it to call back to.

The case of it being brutal, violent, or in any way, freaky is due to Raimi’s direction. Known for his contribution to revolutionizing horror and as well creating the iconic Spider-Man trilogy, his style whether it’s his camera work or creative choices, is very much utilized. For better or worse, Raimi fans should be satisfied. With this said, his perspective really works when it comes really showing off Strange’ abilities, paying tribute to specific comic panels and storylines especially when it comes to Jack Kirby’s contributions to the Doctor Strange world. The world-building elements show off Michael Waldron’s expertise at work at the writing-table. Reminiscence of Rick and Morty and of course, Loki is shown through the Illuminati scene but let’s not get into that for now. Despite his bold attempt at combining futurism and mysticism, Waldron's script is a tad underwhelming as if he was expecting the spectacle and action to be primarily focused on. This seems a little out of character since his resume is gushing with exposition and story beats. Here, even if it might not have been his call, the best explanation for this decision probably is due to what is already introduced in Loki and WandaVision but that doesn't mean we don't need mellow for story flow. 

Speaking of WandaVision, the Scarlet Witch’s inclusion in this Doctor Strange sequel is mind-blowing and something fans have been wanting since the first movie. With this dream come true, her involvement is brought in a way that we didn’t expect 6 years ago, but considering how the series finale left fans, we were almost sure that Wanda was going to be diving deep into her dark side. However, the film manages to villainize her the way we weren’t supposed to, according to our relatable feelings of being selfish enough to save or bring back the ones we truly love. In the miniseries, Wanda grieves over the loss of Vision and creates a literal bubble where she lives out her suburban life and we all know how that ended. In Madness, Wanda is truly treated like every other Marvel villain that has crossed paths with our long-known heroes. The only difference between the fellow villains that have graced our screens and died as soon as the hero ‘saves the day' by the end and Wanda is that her journey in the MCU since her first appearance has been leading up to this. WandaVision improved the character’s sidelined involvement in the franchise and fans, like myself, were hoping that due to the miniseries, things would be different. 

In a way, it was better. Wanda being her Chaos self was a horrifying delight. Elizabeth Olsen is Wanda through and through. She carries the role even better here especially when she attempts to scare audiences when she slyly breaks the fourth wall or when she walks down in a fearful manner. With her segue to being probably the most frightening villain in the franchise, the journey to going full-villain mode was fulfilling but felt unaddressed... or at least not well enough. Wanda left Westview on good terms even if she was still dealing with enslaving an entire town. It may have been more than a year later -- timeline-wise – but that shouldn’t have changed the character’s motivations and grievance as well as her sudden focus solely on her two sons as opposed to Vision. This particular abandonment of a character arc feels a bit like an ignorance towards the fan-favorite entry to the MCU. It should be easier to say that the Darkhold… well, had its hold on her mind and powers so, let’s stick with that for now.

To be reminded this is not a Wanda film, Doctor Strange leads this MCU adventure in a way we’ve needed since the predecessor. Strange has been part of an ensemble for most of his time in the franchise but unlike Wanda, he played bigger, pivotal roles in several of the franchise entries. There is a struggle with his motivations and choices in these particular movies which drove this movie from the get-go but a pinch of new character information is brought up in this sequel which attempted to provide more agency to his well-known characteristics. Instead, it felt more like a drop of information that should remind audiences of the way the Fast & Furious brings up family members we never knew existed in the characters’ lives. His variants, on the other hand, felt somewhat like the cameos that carried most of the mystery of this film. Luckily, Benedict Cumberbatch was also a delight as mainstay Strange, like he always is and it is still likely we are going to get more adventures with him. 

The cameos (who I will not mention by name) should be a crowd-pleaser to die-hard Marvel fans but unlike No Way Home, their inclusion lacked importance, treated as just cameos and nothing else. They do bring a particular significance to Strange's journey, shedding light on an event that is significant to the main plot point but that's about it. There is also another subtle nod to their scenes with yet another character but I cannot speak to that at length due to this being a non-spoiler review.

The side characters introduced in the previous movie like Benedict Wong and Rachel McAdams were definitely given much more to do and it was clear their lives were at stake in this narrative, especially with McAdams's Christine Palmer. The introduction of America Chavez was also a highlight of the film due to her bubbly yet driven inclusion not only in this sequel but in the wider MCU. Comic book fans will be taken aback as to how she is portrayed but this is her first appearance. We said the same thing with Wanda's arrival all those years ago so, I think we can leave this to rest for now and just be patient. 

There were a lot of aspects of this movie that we should have spent more time with which brings us full circle to the runtime problem. Everyone was worried when it was revealed that it would play for 2 hours and 6 minutes which left fans wondering how rushed this movie was going to be. For the most part, Madness was not bogged down by its short runtime until its final 6 minutes. As fun as this movie is, the third act is considerably tamer and less of an epic battle scene which isn't as problematic as one would imagine but the way this battle ends did feel anticlimactic. To add, the expectation of a satisfying epilogue is left to dust here by feeling too rushed, as if once everything was settled, it felt like a race to who can tie the bow the fastest. 

I was disappointed with the musical score of this film. As much as I love Danny Elfman's with certain movies but there's something about his work on superhero movies, excluding his iconic Spider-Man theme, that just does not bode well enough. His most recent MCU contribution on Age of Ultron was a whole other mess as he and Brian Tyler had both of their works competing with each other throughout the score like a Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston performance. The real example I can compare this Madness score with is his most recent contribution to 2017's Justice League soundtrack where nothing was memorable except for including past themes that were made iconic by somebody else. He may offer some melancholy horror notes here and there to provide a baseline for the freaky elements of the movie but that's about the only worthwhile offering you can hear throughout his bland themes. 

Basically, Madness comes with its list of pros and cons but thankfully, there are more things to relish rather than criticize. I would like to point out that even with most of the horror elements working, I do have to emphasize that Sam Raimi should not return to direct any other MCU from here onward. His style, although memorable and recognizable, is also one of the reasons why MCU as a franchise was considered an evolution from the Marvel productions including the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy. The same can be said with Morbius and it's almost unbelievable that I am mentioning it once again for an MCU outing, that is known for creating adaptations that work better for the current era. 

Without a doubt, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is still a great Marvel adventure that could be appreciated as time passes but it is probably going to earn the same amount of divisive treatment the Eternals had sparked last November. Still, this is a great Doctor Strange sequel and there are things I wouldn't want to be changed. It's more of a matter of what they could have added.