Miss Flicks

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Film Review

I’m not going to lie to you – Doctor Strange is my least favourite MCU character and I wasn’t all that taken by his 2016 standalone movie. However, I felt more excited about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness knowing that it also starred Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch after her incredible turn in WandaVision.

In this sequel, Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) has an encounter with America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), a teenager who is able to jump through multiverses. Unsurprisingly, there is a dark force who wants to kill America in order to acquire her power so Strange and Wong (Benedict Wong) go on a mission to save her.

I’ve kept the summary short to avoid spoilers but that is the movie in a nutshell. The plot is super simplistic and paper-thin and the dialogue isn’t particularly well written. There is a lot of boring exposition, it felt clunky in places and the pacing wasn’t quite right. I didn’t care for the story very much and never felt particularly excited by it, which is huge since I usually love Marvel movies. The only truly exciting moments were the cameos (no spoilers here) and it’s a sorry state of affairs that this is what the MCU has become.

Since the multiverse opened up in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the hype around the films are all about who is in them and what character will pop up rather than the story itself. The films have become an exercise in fan service, cameos and setting up the next instalment rather than making the one we’re watching at that moment the best it can be. If you remember, I wasn’t too sold on the story in Spider-Man but the cameos were more fun. The MCU films have always been that way to an extent but it feels more obvious since No Way Home and it seems people just care about the cameos now.

The film is directed by Sam Raimi, known for horror films like The Evil Dead and Drag Me To Hell (plus the original Spider-Man trilogy). His fingerprints are all over this and the film is quite scary in places. Young children will certainly be terrified. There is some violence, blood and gore but obviously, these horror elements have been watered down to make them still somewhat family-friendly. The darker tone and horror moments were my favourite thing about this new movie – they made this film feel different and more subversive than usual MCU fare.

The other highlights were Olsen and Gomez. I didn’t love Wanda’s storyline and would have preferred a smidge more nuance for her character (I want to drop a spoiler but I won’t) but she easily stole the show. She amazingly gives a layered, emotional performance despite being handed a lacking script. Newcomer Gomez is a good addition – she is endearing and appealing and I want to see more of her.

I know standalone Marvel movies will never reach the exciting heights of team-up films like Avengers but they can be awesome – think Spider-Man: Homecoming and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Doctor Strange 2 isn’t good enough – it is fine and it did what it needed to do and that’s it. Praying my man Taika Waititi restores my faith in the MCU with Thor: Love and Thunder soon!

In cinemas from Thursday 5th May