Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: A Wild Ride Through Universes

Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) awakens from a nightmare: in the dream, he saves a young girl from a monster and dies in the fight. Wiping the cold sweat from his face, Steve nonchalantly dons a tuxedo and heads to his ex’s wedding. At the celebration, in addition to confronting the love of his life, the surgeon has to put on his cloak again to save the city from evil. Fending off a one-eyed demon, he meets the girl from his dream: she turns out to be America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) — the future Miss America, who has not yet learned to cope with her superpower. It turns out that Strange’s nightmare was not a nightmare at all, but a window into a multiverse where evil forces have prevailed. America herself opens the portals, but how is not yet known. One thing the girl knows for sure: a much more experienced sorceress, Wanda, also known as the Scarlet Witch (the inimitable Elizabeth Olsen), is hunting her and her power. The latter urgently needs to get into the dimension where she has children and she lives her best life, and not all these traumas and grief. Doctor Strange, of course, must intervene and prevent the Scarlet Witch from killing America Chavez, as well as restore order in the multiverses.

A Sequel with a Twist

The sequel to “Doctor Strange” is not so simple. The director of the previous film, Scott Derrickson, worked on the script, but first the pandemic intervened, then there were creative differences with the studio. When Scott dropped out of the project, Sam Raimi came in his place — the creator of everyone’s favorite “Spider-Man” with Tobey Maguire and a specialist in the living dead (“Evil Dead”, “Drag Me to Hell”). The psychedelic entourage was replaced by horror motifs, but it never grew into a full-fledged horror film — it’s still a family movie. Sam Raimi understood the task, in principle, and fit into the niche between “WandaVision” and the latest “Spider-Man”: however, he did not immerse those who lagged behind the stream of Marvel content in the context, so not every viewer will understand the frustration of the same Scarlet Witch, destroying universes for the sake of reuniting with fictional children.

Family Values or Tired Tropes?

Strangely enough, the film’s narrative promotes family values, which pop culture abandoned back in 2014. Wanda, the most powerful witch and, in general, a promising girl, literally sweeps everything in her path for the sake of the ghostly opportunity to sit at home with her children and read them bedtime stories. The anti-heroine, who can crush the Illuminati into dust and potentially become one of the greatest movie villains, turns out to be trapped in the trope of a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It seems that when Sam Raimi revived corpses in the film, he accidentally dug up the grave of old clichés — which, to put it mildly, does not benefit the film. Doctor Strange, also a great magician, quite self-sufficient, believes that he cannot find happiness without his beloved. How many films have been released in recent years, breaking the spell of Disney and 90s rom-coms about the healing power of phantom love, Sam Raimi still decided to roll back and bet on old songs about the main thing.

Multiverse Exploration: A Missed Opportunity?

As for the fascinating journey through the multiverse, it is surprising how a blockbuster worth $200 million can give way to the modest auteur film “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, whose budget is exactly ten times less than Strange’s adventures. The Daniels (Kwan and Scheinert) managed to create a much more fascinating and terrifying excursion into the multiverses inside the stuffy spaces of the tax office and laundry, bringing viewers to hysterics and rethinking relationships with their parents, while the sweeping blockbuster offered only a quickly forgotten attraction, smashing New York to pieces for the thousandth time.

A Treat for Marvel Fans

Nevertheless, Marvel fans and admirers of Sam Raimi’s work will still be satisfied: and this is not bad at all — the studio knows its target audience and always tries to please it as much as possible. “Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness” offers a huge amount of fan service: squeal-inducing cameos, blood-stirring Easter eggs, intriguing post-credits scenes, and references to the work of the invited star director. It’s all one huge fun ride on a roller coaster through the multiverses, leading to collective ecstasy. If, of course, you are deeply immersed in the context of Marvel films. If not, catch up on the plan, this universe continues to grow at a tremendous speed and it is unlikely that anything can stop it.