Since the release of Spiderman: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has become one of the most awaited Marvel films. The teaser trailer for the film was shown as the second post-credit scene for No Way Home and has earned a lot of hype since that time. Before heading further, you need not worry about spoilers, as this is a spoiler-free review and I won’t mention anything to spoil your experience.
From the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, each and every film has had something common in between them. All these films have mostly followed the same, Marvel formula which now seems to start boring a lot of people. We haven’t really seen anything being done differently to their films, until now. Unlike other Marvel films, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness follows a very different approach and is a good attempt at trying to do something different.
From what I feel, the change to the overall theme of the film largely comes from the change in the director. After Marvel Studios announced that Sam Raimi would be directing this film, I personally got excited to watch the film. As we haven’t really seen Sam Raimi direct a superhero film in a long time. In fact, the last superhero film he directed was Spiderman 3, back in 2007. This film may not be something a lot of people enjoy because of the changes it brings to the table. However, the Raimi fans are in for a ride as the film does have his personal touches to it.
Story of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness starts right after the events of Spiderman: No Way Home. Just after the intro sequence, we see Doctor Strange waking up from a nightmare. He is later seen trying to protect America Chavez, who is a new entry into the MCU. America has the power to travel across the multiverse just by opening portals. But she can’t use those powers at any time because she doesn’t know how to control them yet.
On the other hand, Scarlet Witch’s story starts sometime after the events of the TV series Wanda Vision. Doctor Strange goes to seek her help, however, later discovers that she is the one trying to take America’s Power. She is mainly doing this to meet her kids by traveling to the Multiverse, hence the film name says, “Multiverse of Madness”.
This film feels a lot like Wanda Vision Season 2 just because of how crucial the role Wanda plays in the film. It also means that before watching this film, one would need to watch the Disney+ show as there’s little to no information given about what happened previously.
Breaking the Marvel Formula
The film looks very good visually, it has great sound design and a very good score from Danny Elfman. Just like every Raimi film, this film also has his iconic close-up eye shots multiple times. Because of the camera work, the action scenes are done incredibly well too. Most of the fight scenes have incredible sounds in the background which add more intensity to the scenes.
Last year, fans complained a lot about the VFX Work on films like Black Widow and Spiderman: No Way Home. However, this film does improve it as all the Portals, Magic, and Spells being shown in the film look good. There’s even a scene in the film where we see both America and Doctor Strange travel the multiverse.
Just like I said before, this film is very different, as the overall setting is much darker. Unlike the other Marvel films, the environments and a few characters also feel very creepy. There are also a few horror elements added to this film too, they tend to blend in really well. While those horror elements aren’t really scary, there also are a few jump scares added. While those horror elements feel like a nice addition, in a very few places, it feels like they’ve just overdone it and they weren’t required at all.
The Cast
The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Rachel McAdams. While Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange gets the most screentime, Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda also plays a vital role in this film.
Co-star Xochitl Gomez has also done a good job as America Chavez. We haven’t seen her character in the MCU before but she does portray the character of America Chavez well. Elizabeth Olsen really is the standout here, as her performance as Wanda is amazing. Her character seems to be in a lot of pain while also being angry, she does an incredible job at portraying the same. Meanwhile, Benedict Cumberbatch has also done great work, we do see multiple variants of his character too.
Verdict
In the end, all I wanna say is that this film is not perfect. While yes, the story was paced well, the visuals were amazing, along with the camera work. However, the implementation wasn’t done well and could have been much better. Since the film is basically a sequel to the TV series Wanda Vision, it means to even get the basic knowledge about the film, one would need to watch the entire show. This is one of the major flaws of this film, and it could have been fixed if the film somehow managed to recap the previous events, as there’s already a lot to cover for first-time watchers.
Other than that, people expecting a lot of cameos might be fairly disappointed. Early leaks had set very high and unreal expectations for this film, but, it is very different from what those leaks suggested. If you’re going in just to watch Sam Raimi’s work, then you’ll be very impressed however this film is not for people expecting fan service like Spiderman No Way Home.
Well with that said, what do you think about our Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Review? Do let us know your thoughts by dropping a comment down below!
