Reviewing: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (***1/2)
The MCU’s most horrifying instalment yet is jam-packed with incredibly fun cameos and spectacular visuals – but it’s Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch that steals the show.
I didn’t love the first Doctor Strange film, as much as I appreciated the psychedelic splendour of its action sequences. The mystic world of sorcery didn’t appeal to me as much as Iron Man’s tech-savviness or Captain America’s all-heart persona. I also didn’t love how Rachel McAdam’s character didn’t have a whole lot to do the first time around. But most importantly, I felt back in 2016 that Doctor Strange was just too reminiscent of Tony Stark – a mega-rich cocky jerk who decides to turn his life around after a horrible accident.
Although not all of my issues with the original film were resolved, The Multiverse of Madness is a noticeable improvement – and that’s largely thanks to the characters that round out the cast. First and foremost, Wanda Maximoff is the beating heart of the film. She’s what makes it all work. Coming hot off the heels of Disney+’s WandaVision, Olsen gives us a masterful performance that balances the character’s vindictive villainy, motherly menace, and haunted ex-hero-ness. There are moments where you feel so badly for Wanda and all that she’s lost, moments where she seems on the cusp of switching sides, and then so many moments where she’s a terrifying opponent to reckon with. Her action sequence against the Illuminati ends with our heroes scrambling through a tunnel as she stumbles, zombie-like, after them with blood smeared across her face. She’s positively horrifying, and it’s glorious how wide Olsen’s range has been since her introduction into the MCU in 2015.
What was so fun about including Olsen in the film was how rewarding it felt for my wife and I to have our experience watching WandaVision acknowledged in cinema. Where the first three phases of the MCU never once referenced their television counterparts (except for a throwaway line in The Winter Soldier that might not even count), the fact that we had seen Wanda’s show deepened our understanding of the lore of the film and heightened our appreciation for the stakes of her character. It also felt like a natural follow-up to the show; while Wanda had in some way processed her grief of losing Vision, we knew by the end of WandaVision that she had really only traded it for an obsession with the children she had dreamed into reality. This movie was all about the consequences of that tradeoff, and I loved that.
The other appearances that really excited me were John Krasinski as Mr. Fantastic, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, and Hayley Atwell’s return to the MCU as the variant Captain Carter. All three were great, and it’s a shame their role in the film was so small. Each of them gets barely a handful of minutes of screentime, but it’s definitely enough to leave you wanting more. Rumours have been circulating about Krasinski and his wife Emily Blunt being cast as Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman for a long time, and this seems to indicate that this is indeed the direction the MCU heads are going. Strictly speaking, Krasinski might not be Mr. Fantastic down the road. After all, this is a Mr. Fantastic from a different universe, and we’ve already seen in No Way Home that different universes sometimes mean different actors play the same character. All the same, I have a hard time believing they would drop something like this on us and then not follow through later. Here’s hoping we finally get a good Fantastic Four movie down the road!
Professor X and Captain Carter both get awesome (but brief) moments, and it’s almost more frustrating than fun to watch them leave as soon as they’ve arrived. I certainly hope this isn’t the last of Captain Carter in live-action – Hayley Atwell has proven her strength as a leading actress in the Agent Carter series, and her inclusion in the animated What If…? series has ignited even more interest in this version of her character. I think of these three characters, Xavier is the one least likely to return in the form of Patrick Stewart. It’s certainly possible, and I wouldn’t complain, but whenever they start to incorporate the X-Men into the MCU in a real way, my hunch is that they’ll want to start with entirely fresh blood. Only time will tell.
The multiverse is delved into in this film in a way that really hammers home that this is the direction of the MCU for the next little while. No Way Home, What If, and Loki have all addressed it to some extent, but given that this is a film and not TV, and given that it plunges us into the multiverse as opposed to simply borrowing from it as No Way Home did, I’d say we’d better get used to this idea of infinite versions of our various characters existing in the MCU. I’m all for it, just to be clear. I think it’s an exciting new direction with tons of opportunities for great storytelling. I particularly enjoyed the idea presented in this film that dreams are just a glimpse into the lives of our multiversal selves. It’s just hard to understand how the stakes can ever be that high when you can easily navigate a multiverse – if you’re ever fighting a bad guy that you can’t hope to defeat, just borrow some friends from a universe that’s uniquely equipped to beat him.
America Chavez was fine, though I can’t say she left a lasting impression on me compared to any of the characters I’ve previously mentioned. Rachel McAdams didn’t have too much relevance in this film once again, though I enjoyed the idea of a romance stretched across universes. The thing is, she still isn’t much of anything but a love interest for Strange – and historically in Hollywood, the love interest of a leading man can change from film to film.
The one thing that has me holding back from recommending this film to everyone is its leap into much darker magic than what we’ve seen before. Up until now, Strange has largely utilized spells that just make glowing weird shapes in the air or that plunge us into alternate dimensions where combat is supposedly easier. It’s been relatively family friendly, in other words. Here, Doctor Strange quite literally possesses a corpse version of himself before enslaving a squad of demons from hell in order to fight the villain. They do their best to keep this action scene light and fun, but there’s no way around it – Strange has gone off the deep end. There’s a common idea in storytelling that some things were never meant to be tampered with – necromancy being a classic example. Strange uses spells that even Harry Potter wouldn’t, and in the words of Jurassic Park’s Ian Malcolm, he wields this unspeakably evil power “like a kid that’s found his dad’s gun”. Admittedly, the film ends with a reminder that Strange has not used these powers without consequence, but this is the third time that Doctor Strange has used forbidden magic to save the day. There’s an arrogance to his actions that is essential to his character, but to that extent, that extends to the writers. Very few people in the audience (if there are any at all) really believe in the multiverse, but the idea of demons hits a lot closer to home for many – myself included. I can’t help but think that many Christians will take issue with this film specifically for its presentation of the idea that you can harness evil and use it for good. Again, the flawed nature of this thinking might be the exact reason the MCU writers are headed in this direction, but Strange has made it largely unscathed this far.
On the whole, though, MCU fans need to watch this film. It’s got stellar action, profoundly relevant character-driven progression, and it’s got Elizabeth-holy-cow-Olsen knocking it out of the park. Love it or hate it, we can all agree that things just got out of hand.
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