Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness

Nearly twenty years to the date of his first Marvel-based project Spider-Man (2002), director Sam Raimi, who didn’t direct a superhero movie since 2007’s Spider-Man 3, returned behind the lens to helm Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

The film — which releases Friday, May 6 — seemed to spar with a multiversal variant of itself for much of its two-hour, six-minute runtime. On one hand, you have Raimi at his best — thrilling, spooking, and stunning with visual effects, costumes and action sporting his patented ghastly look and feel.

On the other hand, the movie too often stepped on and sometimes crossed the line separating what we’ve come to expect from Marvel films and Raimi’s own signature horror flicks. You can probably rule out the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Disney ride…

It didn’t have to be much lighter in material and dialogue, but the cameos and surprises we’ve come to expect from Marvel needed to be bigger after what the studio, along with Sony Pictures, was able to pull off with Spider-Man: No Way Home if Strange 2 wanted to wow audiences anywhere near the way the third highest-grossing film of all time did.

With longer runtimes that pack more bang for your buck lately in the genre and from the particular studio — three hours and one minute for Avengers: Endgame (2019) and nearly two-and-a-half hours for No Way Home — the Strange sequel left more to be desired when the credits rolled and the post-credit scenes concluded.

Trying to measure the success and audience reaction of the latest Spidey flick wasn’t going to be a winning battle for Marvel, but it feels like a greater effort could have been made.

Outside of Raimi’s fingerprints and swing back into directing Marvel characters, the performances were certainly a big positive as well.

Xochitl Gomez, an MCU newcomer, more than held her own in the big budget project opposite veteran talent as America Chavez, who has the power to transport to different multiverses in the movie. Gomez was poised throughout the picture and impressed in several action sequences to boot.

Benedict Wong deservingly got more screen time in this one as Wong. The new Sorcerer Supreme provided more big moments and big emotions in this project compared to being a vessel for comic relief as he was in the past.

As for the stars, Benedict Cumberbatch shines as the usually confident and sometimes smug Strange and even dives deeper into the emotions and intentions beneath the hero in this installment.

Elizabeth Olsen paired magnificently with Cumberbatch. The Scarlet Witch went scorched Earth and Olsen’s performance, synched with Raimi’s vision, were a force to be reckoned with.

Another positive proved to be how Olsen’s uniquely fantastic Wandavision series proved Marvel’s Disney+ series can effectively set up films.

Marvel President Kevin Feige and co. deserve credit for a couple very minor, but masterful, details in the film that seemed to pledge the studio will get the X-Men right in the future, more on this soon.

Similar to Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield returning for a curtain call and redemption after questionable sequels (Spider-Man 3, 2014’s Amazing Spider-Man 2, respectively) in No Way Home, the same could be said for Raimi. His last Marvel project fell short of expectations and he had unfinished business with Marvel-based heroes. It was uplifting to see the director run with this opportunity and do it his way.

Grade: B+