'Multiverse of Madness' requires work, still satisfies

'WandaVision,' 'What If ...?' tie into movie

Kirk Boxleitner | May 12, 20220

Courtesy photo count

Benedict Cumberbatch, Xochitl Gomez and Rachel McAdams navigate the "Multiverse of Madness" in the "Doctor Strange" sequel.

As I'd anticipated, "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" was well exceeded by "Everything Everywhere All at Once" as a free-for-all romp across multiple universes, but what I suspect surprised a lot of moviegoers over the weekend is the "Multiverse of Madness" pales even in comparison to "Spider-Man: No Way Home," which benefited from focusing more on fan service than on fan homework.

While I'd still defend the "Doctor Strange" sequel as a solidly entertaining and well-made Marvel Cinematic Universe film, it is also very much an MCU film, which means it exists in small part to move the chess pieces of Marvel's status quo forward.

When I say the "Multiverse of Madness" focuses on fan homework, it's not just that MCU fans will need to see this film to make sense of the overarching Marvel mythos to follow, but also that viewers need to be caught up on their tie-in media before they even sit down in their theater seats, which means "WandaVision" and "What If...?" on Disney+ are mandatory viewing.

Even though Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange is the ostensible (and titular) protagonist, the film feels weirdly perfunctory in how it addresses his relationships with his ex-girlfriend (Rachel McAdams) and his former mentor turned replacement as the Sorcerer Supreme (Benedict Wong).

Xochitl Gomez brings an endearing spirit to her role as the universe-hopping America Chavez, while the Illuminati of Marvel Comics are represented by two Starfleet captains returning as leaders of not-quite-human factions, plus a Captain Marvel and a patriotic shield-slinging super-soldier captain from World War II, albeit not the ones we've met in "our" Marvel universe (officially designated as number 616 by universe-cataloging scientists).

But much like "Avengers: Infinity War" was largely the story of Josh Brolin's Mad Titan Thanos, so too does Elizabeth Olsen own the "Multiverse of Madness" as Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, who is significantly less emotionally recovered or morally rehabilitated than the conclusion of "WandaVision" might have led us to believe.

With magic, witchcraft, bodily possession and corpse reanimation figuring heavily into the various characters' ensuing schemes, it helps to have this film directed by "Evil Dead" creator Sam Raimi, who not only loves a good jump-scare, but also excels at portraying the physical effects of supernatural spiritual corruption, as previously salvageable people are twisted into grotesque parodies of humanity.

At the risk of spoiling too much, let me spare you some unnecessary disappointments: Tom Cruise does not appear as an alternate Tony Stark, although another Marvel big-brain makes his MCU debut, minus his teammates to back him up.

And while an impressively diverse succession of alternate realities is suggested by this film's visually saturated, info-dense transitions, it's far more constrained in its ability to explore those divergent possibilities in depth than either "Everything Everywhere All at Once" or "No Way Home," the latter of which reveled in its license to simply hang out with three big-screen Spider-Men and their respective foes.

As much fun as it was to see a certain psychic professor finally riding the hoverchair he sported in his 1990s fox cartoon, he and his fellow Illuminati suffer truncated fates when pitted against the film's Big Bad, albeit as a function of how insanely overpowered that spoiler character has become, to the point that I have no idea how they can be brought back after this.

"Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" is a film with a mission, but it's best enjoyed by basking in its hauntingly surreal, nightmarish atmosphere, and by appreciating the Easter egg cameos we do get, rather than lamenting those we don't.

Because it's an MCU film, we get a significant midcredits scene and a silly post-credits scene, and because it's a Raimi film, we get brief appearances by his good-luck charm, Bruce Campbell (and on a note that I swear is related, the film's "pizza balls" look surprisingly delicious).