After the sheer joy of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness feels like a second-rate carny ride. Sure, it’s sporadically fun, but in the end you wish you’d saved your money for a better attraction.
The plot’s surprisingly basic. Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) wants to live in the alternate reality in which she’s still the mom of the two adorable boys from Disney+’s hugely entertaining WandaVision. To do so she must steal the multiverse-hopping powers of America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez as Marvel’s first queer LatinX superhero).
Our Earth’s Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) gets pulled into the battle when America Chavez calls on another version of the cloak-wearing magic man for help. Over the course of two hours, Doctor Strange attempts to keep America out of Scarlet Witch’s grasp, while the rage-filled Scarlet Witch proves why she should never be allowed around children.
Much has been made of Sam Raimi’s return to costumed superheroes and there are a few scenes in which the filmmaker recaptures some of his Spider-Man magic. However, those bursts of rekindled magic are few and far between. A few well-kept surprise cameos tease a better film buried somewhere beneath layers of CGI.
Even committed performances by Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen can’t nudge this overly long, frequently gory, unnecessarily dark, entry in the MCU to life. Olsen’s Wanda deserved better than this after WandaVision so brilliantly delved into the character’s heartbreak over the loss of Vision (played by Paul Bettany) and allowed Wanda to grow and evolve as she went through the grieving process. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness destroys the character growth that was established in WandaVision in one fell swoop.
Sam Raimi serves up a zombified Doctor Strange and other truly disturbing creatures for this disappointing addition to the MCU. To borrow from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The effects overshadow the characters and the plot isn’t all that impressive.
GRADE: C
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for frightening images, action, intense sequences of violence, and some language
Running Time: 2 hours 6 minutes
Release Date: May 6, 2022
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Xochitl Gomez, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, and Rachel McAdams
