Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Doctor Strange, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.

  • Released: 2022-05-04
  • Runtime: 126 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
  • Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Michael Stuhlbarg, Adam Hugill, Bruce Campbell, Patrick Stewart, Julia Piaton, Topo Wresniwiro, Ashley Olsen, Julian Hilliard, Jett Klyne, Mark Anthony Brighton, Patrick Stewart, Hayley Atwell, Lashana Lynch, Keenan Moore, John Krasinski, Anson Mount, Sheila Atim, John Krasinski, Charlize Theron, Ross Marquand, Andy Bale, Ako Mitchell, Momo Yeung, Daniel Swain, Eden Nathenson, Vinny Moli, Charlie Norton, Aliyah Camacho, Ruth Livier, Chess Lopez, David Tse, Yasmin Chadwick, Anthony Knight, Nuakai Aru, Victoria Grove, Joshua Peace, Nina Jalava, Joshmaine Joseph, Yenifer Molina, Kevin Dalton, Orphee Sidibe, Gregory Fung, Cecilia Appiah, Victoria Sterling, Jordan Alexandra, Bobbie Little, Gabriella Cooper-Parsons, André Layne, Michael Waldron, Bridget Hoffman, Scott Spiegel, Jessica Pennington, Andrew Morgado, Audrey Wasilewski, Christian Rummel, Richie Palmer
  • Director: Sam Raimi
 Comments
  • louis-170 - 23 May 2024
    Multiverse of what?
    I've read comics. Many of them. I still read when I can. Plus I can say I watched all of marvel films. All of them. I was excited when heard he will direct this film. He stays on his roots as a director. He has some style. But overall this film is a mess. Acting is average, cameos are really bad, Chavez person is annoying with weak acting abilities, Dr. Strange is the same as always, even he plays multiple characters here, Wong as usually is awesome, but mainly film is saved because of Wanda character. She is beautiful as always, strong facial expressions, very good movement. Very good actress. Madness.
  • kn_chambless - 25 April 2024
    Horrible movie
    I am a huge Dr. Strange fan and this movie made me want to puke. A more poorly written movie would be hard to find. Apparently if you have enough special effects you don't have to worry about basic logic, a decent story or decent dialog.

    Here we have the very powerful Dr. Strange, who was trained in a Tibetan monastery for God knows how long and defeats a undefeatable entity. He is bested magically by a untrained high school teenager. Really? Then you go on this tour of the multiverse where my hero, Bruce Campbell, has a stupid cameo. Really? This whole movie is like ten people writing ten different parts of a movie with no communication or cooperation with each other just to have another person put it all together ignoring any issues of continuity, logic or common sense.

    Unfortunately I will never go to the theater to watch a Dr. Strange movie again. Ill do it for free from my home.
  • fernandoschiavi - 5 January 2024
    Generic superhero film, but Sam Raimi manages to balance different tones, being chilling and tense, morbid humor, humor and a lot of dramatic substance in a fun enterteinment
    The script, written here by the person responsible for the "Loki" series, Michael Waldron, shows Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in search of protection for América Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), a young woman from another universe who has the ability to travel between realities. The Avenger seeks help from Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), but ends up realizing that a greater evil is behind the hunt for Chavez, which makes him travel through countless worlds in order to save the girl and, at the same time, try to understand the reasons why he himself became someone who alienates loved ones and loses great powers - after all, he is not with the love of his life, Dr. Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), nor is he the Supreme Wizard - Wong (Benedict Wong) took over the post.

    Just like Strange, Raimi sees himself in a world full of possibilities and takes advantage of each one of them. The hero becomes, just like Spider-Man, a reflection of the director's aspirations on screen. There are no limitations to where these powers can go, or how they can be used. The director and protagonist duo take advantage of this to exercise their creativity, taking the audience on a journey as psychedelic and fun as the character's craziest comics. Raimi mixes realities as if he were uniting genres, bringing a little of the comic horror of "Death of the Demon", a lot of the adventure of "Spider-Man" and a good handful of "Darkman".

    The moral and emotional dilemmas present in this film place Strange in complicated positions that force him to make important decisions for the stability of the multiverse and the survival of all beings and their versions. However, the entire feeling of "Multiverse of Madness" is found in Wanda's arc. The countless traumas of someone who lost her brother, husband (several times) and, more recently, her own children lead Wanda down evil paths, ending up "transforming" into the great villain, the Scarlet Witch. This is where the series helps to develop this character deeply, adding her to the debate of best villains in the entire MCU. Wanda's motivations are surrounded by devastating grief and an immense desire to reunite with her family. The multiple obstacles that arise to stop her mission are annihilated with such brutality and lack of mercy that any viewer will be left awestruck by the witch's invincible power. The entire cast delivers excellent performances, but Cumberbatch and especially Olsen are on another level. The actor demonstrates his versatile talent by playing several different versions of his character, while the latest proves that he is one of the best actresses in Hollywood today.

    But what is more generic about "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness"? The plot is made up of small tasks (as in procedural series) that accumulate new features. Within this, the feeling of a guided tour exceeds acceptable limits at certain times. There is always someone on stage willing to "chew" the circumstances so the viewer doesn't have to think; in each different place there is always someone willing to tell you where everyone is, how they got there and how to reach a possible exit; Whenever a person does something emphasized as important to the whole, someone immediately explains in detail what happened to a conveniently unsuspecting colleague (he's explaining it to the viewer, in fact). The battle scenes are dynamic, but many are not exciting because they are limited to magic duels that place actors and actresses at a distance, making faces and mouths, while digital effects materialize the enchantments. In this sense, the feature film does not have as much physicality, being basically hostage to the sumptuousness that post-production conjures. As Strange and America flee from the Enchantress, we better understand how the multiverse works, what are the powerful sources of wizards and sorcerers, and what artifacts guarantee the success of good in the face of evil. It works, but it could be less common, more exciting and vigorous.

    But perhaps the production's best choice, besides hiring Raimi, is Michael Waldron's simple and lean script, even with all the observations already mentioned. It's a film that could easily fall into a complex narrative with many explanations about the multiverse, want to close loose ends from previous MCU works to the detriment of the story itself, and, of course, become an empty bath of fan service as happened in the last one Spider-Man film, but the text is very uncomplicated. The screenwriter is more interested in providing a basis for Raimi's sense of spectacle than making the work a nerdy orgasm of theories and nostalgia. In fact, the film only has a single situation that I would consider fan service for fans to applaud, and even in this the film knows how to use references organically in the story, as part of the crazy narrative, still subverting nostalgia with a comedic horror ending. Unexpected and completely hilarious.

    There is even a certain disregard for mythology in the film. The multiverse is basically an allegory without explanations or rules; the story has a million Macguffins (starting with America Chavez herself and ending with mystical books); and the narrative has some didacticisms (even boring ones at the beginning of the film) to quickly go through contextualization, going straight to the central point of the story: Raimi's genre exercise, mixing heroism with horror. The filmmaker is very inspired, using and abusing vertiginous zooms, Dutch angles, wild scene transitions, superimposed editing, extreme close-ups, sparse and well-composed jumpscares, quick shots that enlarge or narrow environments, and his characteristic shots from the point of view of the characters. His camera is basically a character, chasing, grabbing, flipping, slamming and flying between dimensions. All of this to the sound of a grunge soundtrack and strange riffs that outline the 80s horror atmosphere.

    The highly anticipated cameos in trailers and leaked news are nothing more than just that: introductions to new characters or variations of known ones, the latter of which were probably just a flash in the pan. On the one hand, it is to be applauded the fact that they were not enchanted by the success of "Sem Volta a Casa" and filled "Multiverse da Madness" with endless cameos and fan-service. On the other hand, there is literally only one sequence where they deliver everything at once, which is partially disappointing and dangerous for the future. The intention, obviously, was to show Wanda's impressive power without restrictions, but Raimi loses control of this specific situation, not by giving too much value to Wanda, but by belittling other heroes, who are defeated extremely easily (it's of course, the male heroes go first, leaving the female heroes to actually try to fight Wanda... Not to mention the fact that America has two mothers and other agendas inserted more discreetly to please Hollywood's political militancy).

    The best moments in the production are when the director breaks Marvel conventions. Wanda running after the good guys covered in blood, dragging her leg through the maze corridors is an image clearly evocative of horror tradition; the villain's fight against a team of superheroes formed in another universe - their revelation is the plot's biggest surprise - has ingredients of violence that are uncommon in current blockbusters; finally, the circumstance involving the emergence of a zombie Avenger. That's right: zombie. It is probably the most stylish and out-of-the-box image of the studio's recent productions. In part, Sam Raimi fulfills his promise to make the first horror film in the Marvel Universe that currently also includes television narratives. The director displays his personal signature in key moments and even takes the plot out of a comfortable commonplace in certain very good passages. But, despite this, it does not avoid certain recurrences that have become clichés in Marvel films, given the transformation of the spectator into a passive agent who expects to receive more of the same as a reward for loyalty.

    It's also remarkable how Raimi controls the chaos. Each scene composition is very careful, ranging from moments of suspense and tension (especially in domestic environments), to the anarchic situations of the villain's pursuits who, little by little, are transformed into a kind of demon in the excellent use of body horror and presence constant, urgent and omnipresent character. At times it is a monster masterpiece straight out of B movies, at other times it is dreamlike and surreal in its kaleidoscopic sequences (much more imaginative and constant than in the first film). All this diversity and creativity perfectly reflects the story that crosses infinite alternative realms, with zombies, hauntings, and so on. There is plenty of praise for the production design, the photography that transitions naturally between explosions of color and dark moments, and especially the CGI that adds to the experience, unlike the dark and generic special effects of other recent blockbusters. In fact, there is a scene in which Strange battles with musical notes that is a dazzling sight to the eyes and ears, an unbelievable visual symphony.

    In the midst of insanity, Sam Raimi manages to balance different tones. At times the film is chilling and tense, containing morbid humor, but at other times there is a silly comedic feel (in the best sense of the word), and also a lot of dramatic substance. Raimi evokes themes similar to his Spider-Man trilogy, such as responsibility, power and selfishness, featuring several touching moments in a multiverse full of internal reflections and character possibilities.
  • thewalkingpuns - 1 January 2023
    A good marvel film, but not great
    As the mcu movies continue to grow and expand the universe things can get a little complicated. This was a good marvel film, but it was not nessercerrily a great one and I think one reason for that is down to disney plus. If it was not for the wandervision tv series, that many may have not seen. Then certain eleements of this movie can make no sense what so ever and that actually makes this movie a little bad and not good as a standalone, unlike shang chi which was awesome. The one good thing about this was that we are introduced to america chavez. She is played by xochitl gomez and stands out on her own. She has some interesting powers and id like to see where they go. Overall this movie had some alright fight scenes and a pretty surprising cast. But gets lost along the way unfortunatly.
  • karlsson-per - 17 December 2022
    End of the road.
    Having spent the last 10 years watching the MCU together with my children, building a tradition that year by year only grew stronger and stronger, this was a surreal experience. My son left the cinema muttering under his breath that it was the worst film he had ever seen, my daughter was equally disappointed. They have since stopped watching anything marvel related. The tradition destroyed, this marks the end of innocence.

    I didn't know this was the end objective?

    Why do something like this?! I realize that the world we live in doesn't have magic. I understand heroes are dreams of naive children. But why force them to grow up too quickly?
  • HafizhMaulana21 - 1 December 2022
    Not much talk about the madness of the multiverse... The appearance of the "Horror" story is quite a la Raimi and Marvel
    A mysterious teenage girl suddenly arrives with a monster. Doctor Strange and Wong then realize that the girl is from a different universe. Doctor Strange and Wong help the girl to escape from a mysterious enemy and chase the girl.

    If we follow the trailer given from the beginning to the screening of the film, of course we will be very enthusiastic about this film by presenting a different universe appearance. However, none of that was as we expected. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness is a slightly disappointing film to feature a title and story concept that illustrates how vast and crazy the universe is that in fact does not match what is in the movie. By presenting the title "Multiverse of Madness", not many universes are discussed and explained to the fullest. There are only two universes that are the main points of this film. The rest is just a fleeting view of the universe.

    Apart from this, this film also feels lacking in terms of story plot. Instead of presenting a different universe story with the enemies faced, it will also be much stronger, in fact, this film focuses too much on Wanda or Scarlet Witch as the main enemy. Conflict is built on Wanda's personal problems who feel sad about the loss of a loved one (if you follow the WandaVision series, of course, you know). Therefore, the main focus that led to Wanda's conflict became a boomerang for this film to be able to explore the concept of the universe that she wanted to present.

    Overall, I'm satisfied with the film despite the many flaws in it. The presence of America Chavez's character is a refresher and a regeneration event to feature young members of the Avengers. Likewise, featuring the Illuminati group in this film adds its own charm. Moreover, the cast for the Illuminati members is the most anticipated cast by fans, such as John Krasinki and Sir Patrick Stewart. Charlize Theron, who also enlivens at the end of the film, becomes an unexpected part.

    Just like the previous film, the second film from Doctor Strange still gives a good and beautiful visual appearance. Directed by Sam Raimi, this film does not present a much better and cooler visual appearance a la Sam Raimi. In addition to the visual appearance, the shooting technique of this film is also commendable. Sam Raimi really gives his trademark into this film.
  • spidermonkeycoleman - 18 November 2022
    Definitely weaker than the first Dr. Strange
    Is it bad? No. However, it's not far from it.

    To start, the main issue in this movie is the CGI. I know COVID effected the film hard, having been filmed at the height of the pandemic, but wow it doesn't look great. You can tell every time they use a green screen and for some reason they don't have many practical sets here which really hurts it more. It's disappointing too, seeing how the Illuminati HQ looked was such a shame. It could've been a great visual scene but instead it just wasn't.

    As for the writing....

    I'll say this, in the Assembled episode for MoM, Michael Waldron said he had about a month or so to rewrite the entire script. The ENTIRE movie in less than a month. That's almost impossible to do well, and that really shows in the movie. He also says in the episode that the Illuminati stuff only happened because he didn't know what to do with the middle portion of the film, which explains a lot.

    The plot itself is a mess. It's too rushed, too unfocused, the tone is all over the place and none of it blends together well.

    I've seen a lot of people complain about America Chavez being a plot device but to be honest she's a plot device in the comics too so I don't see it as much of an issue.

    It also doesn't really live up to its name. It's subtitle is, "Multiverse of Madness", yet we don't see any of the madness. Sure, we see a world destroyed from an Incursion and whatever the place is called that has the Book of Vishanti, but the movie never dives into the multiverse in the epic ways we know Marvel is capable of. I would even go as far as saying that Spider-Man: No Way Home managed the multiverse better.

    The soundtrack was pretty good though, I did enjoy it a bit.

    The acting isn't bad but it's a step down from the first Dr. Strange.

    Overall the movie has some pros and some cons but regardless it's still entertaining and I can still have fun watching it.