Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

Sam Raimi returns to the director’s chair after his last movie was released in 2013. He does it with a smile, with power and a trippy destination that over exceeds expectations to land its plot to thrust the characters into a familiar setting. A scene that both seems heartfelt just as it does justice to the character honestly.  Instead of having an external villain just like Ultron, Thanos or even Whiplash, they used a character that the audience has been with for a long time. The story unravels once they reveal the main villain in a satisfying yet unworthy way. The setting brings on a different trippy ordeal. Even more than the first one. As this is the one that truly introduces the multiverse in a new fresh way. We were first informed of it when Loki was released on DisneyPlus. As trustworthy as that series was in how the approach was conducted.

You might even say they go all the way with Doctor Strange in all kinds of variants. The struggle where he tries to learn a new reality and multiple dimensions seem real to him in certain aspects. Doctor Strange is a mystic figure in many aspects as his films are not very emotional. It’s hard to get connected to the character. His love for Rachel McAdam’s Christine becomes an obsession in many regards and even a little tedious and repetitive during the long runtime. We get some fun cameos, that are awaited but they’re meaningless to devour the fans eager for a fetish-like universe with old superheroes just like Patrick Stewart. The raw brutality of a Strange debut in the Illuminati group becomes a difficult thing to accept for many of these brutal killings when it at the same time creates a parodic version of the characters.

This might be not the best in Marvel’s catalogue. The outcome seems to be easy even if the end seems sensible. I struggle here to connect to the film, within the predictability the film depicts, it also provides some really trippy scenes. Benedict Cumberbatch is steady right through the film, making the story entertaining even if he’s lost in some scenes; he knows how to manage his Doctor Strange. Elizabeth Olsen is instead the big name for the film, who rages through several emotions and delivers a cast of intuitions to destroy team Strange to bits. Here it helps to watch WandaVision understand Wanda Maximoffs journey to this film.

Sam Raimi is famous for his movies for the creativity, the characters and the adventure-horror feeling. What he’s not famous for is the making of good and realistic special effects, and adjusting to the scenes. This film has many good qualities but the special effects are not one of them. It feels amateurish and doesn’t rank among better-made effects that the long-run film series has prior contributed. Hell, even Iron Man (2008) is better.