- DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS
- Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen and Xochiti Gomez
- Directed by: Sam Raimi
- Rated: PG-13
- Running time: 2 hrs 6 mins
- Walt Disney Pictures
Let me preface this review by stating that, while I have seen a majority of the MCU films, I have not seen “Doctor Strange” or the “WandaVision” series. I say this because “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” is the first film I’ve watched from the MCU where I think having seen previous adventures would have been helpful in discerning the story. That being said, I found “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” both dark and intriguing.
Time has passed since Spider-man found his way into the Multiverse. We are quickly drawn into a horrible scene involving our hero (an excellent Cumberbatch) trying to save a young girl (Gomez) from a pretty scary creature. Try as he might, he cannot get the upper hand. WHOA! Thank goodness it was only a dream. Right?
Full of everything that makes the MCU one of the best made, and received, film series in history, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” is a roller-coaster ride of action and emotion. The girl in the dream, with the great character name of America Chavez, has been searching for her family, jumping from Multiverse to Multiverse without incident. Everyone in these films has a superpower of some sort and America’s is being able to move through the Multiverse without incident. There are 862 Multiverses, she tells Doctor Strange, all of them very similar. And different. When the Scarlet Witch (Olsen) pops by on a mission of her own, things get a little hectic for our heroes.
The one thing I dislike about reviewing a film like this is that, as much as you’d like to, it would be a betrayal to the reader to spoil key scenes or characters that arise. That being said, if you’ve seen the television spots for this film, you know at least one new face shows up in the MCU.
The script is an excellent combination of action and humor, with Cumberbatch in great form as the pompous Doctor. Olsen is equally strong in a role that shouldn’t play as sympathetic but, thanks to her performance, does. And young Miss Gomez holds her own on screen against these two talented performers.
So great to see Sam Raimi, the director of the first Spider-man series with Tobey Maquire, back at the helm of a superhero film and he puts his trademark eye for pacing and character development on full display.
All in all, even without a lot of background on the good Doctor, I found “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” amazingly good.
