‘Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness’ Is a Multiverse-Hopping, Magically Good Time

Even though his films have ranged widely between genres, intended demographics, and tones, Sam Raimi films have many common elements that run like a thread throughout his oeuvre. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness carries many of these markers, feeling a lot like Evil Dead 4 and loaded with personality. It’s a little uneven in some aspects, but it remains an imaginative action-fest with well landed horror and comedy elements and some standout performances. It’s a great, mind-bending time at the box office.

In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Doctor Strange (yet again, Benedict Cumberbatch putting on a variety of hats as various variants) runs into a panicked America Chavez (Xochitl Gómez), a mysterious young woman being chased through the multiverse. He appeals to Wanda “Scarlet Witch” Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) for help, and discovers a powerful force is on the hunt for America while he finds himself universe-hopping and on the defensive.

Doctor Strange 2 is absolutely more Evil Dead 4 more than it is an MCU outing. It has a number of Raimi hallmarks—tortured souls, undead entities, rapid fly-about camera tricks in subjective POV, alternating horror and humor—it even has evil tomes that corrupt the user. It’s scary at times with a gallows humor at others. There’s a wonderful cameo by a Raimi mainstay, stunning visuals, and complex worldbuilding with deep in-world lore. As a lifelong Raimi fan, I had a blast.

Cumberbatch gives a great, multifaceted performance, while Olsen’s Scarlet Witch is here an intimidating powerhouse (it’s a blast to see her embrace her power in all its implications). One of my favorite elements is that Wong (Benedict Wong) finally gets the respect he deserves as a magical badass backed by a strong performance. It’s also nice to see Rachel McAdams be given a higher profile and more empowered turn here. From a script perspective, the various characters are well balanced—there’s a lot here that really works.

All this said, there are a number of things that didn’t quite land. When Raimi was at his best, it was a blast, but there was a clear juncture between scenes that felt like his and scenes that felt like boilerplate MCU inclusions… and the tones of the two kinds of scenes were jarring together and did not fit. Additionally, some major moments (including Chavez’ introduction and the set up for the villain) and edits between certain scenes felt all too quick. While all the tried-and-true Raimi characteristics were fun, some of the outlandish elements sometimes felt pretty goofy and abruptly changed or distracted from the film’s emotional momentum. Finally, at times it felt like two wildly different scripts shuffled together, and the tone of the ‘feel-good’ moments between Strange and Chavez often did not work.

In fact, Chavez was unfortunately one of the film’s weakest elements, and it’s mainly due to a very hit-and-miss performance from Xochitl Gómez. The young actress seems like she has a perfectly bright future, but here she faltered the longer or more emotional a scene was—many of her more complex line reads came as flat and hard to believe. It just didn’t work, and against more seasoned players it was easily clear what the weak link was in the scenes that failed to land.

There’s a lot to love about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It has Raimi’s distinctive blend of horror and humor that really work for the Doctor Strange corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s brash and imaginative. There are some surprises I won’t spoil, and they rock. The magical combat is engaging… it’s a big ol’ bright red magical blast. That said, it is uneven, sometimes oddly paced, and a major central performance seems flat and possibly ill-cast. Altogether, it’s still an engaging, action-packed, and mostly well-performed outing, and certainly one MCU fans will love.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness premieres on May 6th.