Doctor Strange and the Multi-Verse of Madness (2022)

(Slight spoilers about the film’s villain are included below)

To put my feelings about the newest Marvel movie into context, I need to first enunciate my relationship with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I’ve been struggling to start this review because beginning in something unrelated to this particular film feels awkward, but, hey: this is Marvel. There’s always a bit of context necessary before the movie begins. If anywhere it is appropriate, it’s here. 

On the whole, I have enjoyed the Marvel films from the past decade. I bagged comics at the card shop during high school and college but never read them, so every story was new to me and every character familiar-sounding but mostly unknown. I saw most of the films in theaters—including Infinity War and Endgame at their first, earliest shows—but not all of them. I’ve never made it through Age of Ultron or Doctor Strange without falling asleep and I consider Wandavision among my favorite MCU things but have barely watched or left unfinished the rest of their streaming shows.

This Marvel viewer resume suggests immediately that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness could be messy for me. I like Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange as a character but never clicked with his movie…but I loved Elizabeth Olson’s streaming show that this film closely connects to. Before the Marvel logo showed on-screen, there was already a battle raging in my head between these two elements. Which would win out? 

I’ll cease with the suspense: this didn’t do much for me. Despite some inventiveness and a distinctive style that comes through, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness never hooked me nor held my attention. With a convoluted story packed with both Macguffins and amorphous universal rules as well as underwhelming visual effects in multiple places, the film felt over-long and unnecessary. I never fell asleep, but hat tip to the laundry I was sorting and folding more than to the forgettable, bloated film on the screen. 

The film opens with a ponytailed, Spanish-speaking Doctor Strange (Cumberbatch) racing through a dream-like world. Alongside him is a teenage girl named America (Xochitl Gomez); in hot pursuit of them is a hellish creature. America narrowly escapes; Doctor Strange does not…but, surprise: that was a different Strange from a different universe! We learn this because America is uniquely able to navigate the multiverse and lands in our MCU itself where Strange is attending the wedding of his former girlfriend Christine (Rachel McAdams, whose role in the original Doctor Strange I do not recall in the slightest). A ferocious octopus creature appears there, Strange and Wong (Benedict Wong) take it down, and then they begin to investigate why America is in such demand. This takes Strange to Wanda AKA the Scarlet Witch (Olson) who, it turns out, was a terrible choice of confidante: she is the malevolent force after America, trying to steal the teen’s powers to settle herself in a universe where her fictional children from Wandavision actually exist. Universe-hopping and multiple large-scale battles with generic CGI-baddies ensue. 

From the very start, that story alienated me. I had no investment in nor recollection of Doctor Strange’s personal life and I loved the emotional nuance of Wandavision. While the Scarlet Witch certainly makes a formidable foe, a part of me really didn’t want to watch a grieving mother whom I’d invested in become a force of evil, particularly against a character to whom I feel such minimal allegiance. With my resistance activated, the other elements needed to really purr for me to invest. 

And they did not, starting with the effects. I’m used to the Marvel movies popping visually, every impossible scene brought to incredible life, but I noticed flaws here. The texture of the octopus monster seemed separate from the scene, green screen effects were obvious and unconvincing with an aura of fuzziness seemed to surround Gomez while her character ran in the early going. Audiences are always aware of the effects in these films, but this is the first time I can remember them standing out in a negative way.

When America and Dr. Strange begin traveling through the Multiverse, things get more interesting, although the visuals for much of that felt like pale approximations of Into the Spiderverse’s creative visuals. Speaking of arachnids, this film also tries to weave a web of excitement with extended unexpected cameos just like Spider-Man: No Way Home did and…yeah, it’s a fun idea but the execution and characters chosen did little for me. After an initial “Wow, that one is here?”, the film does little of substance with them. They are sprinkles to add a splash of IP-related color. 

Adding to the gripe-fest are two additional frustrations (then maybe I’ll praise something). The first is story-based: I will cut fantastical movies a lot of slack but this is the second Marvel film in a row that tested my patience there. No Way Home had the ridiculous opening decision by Doctor Strange; this one had the lunacy of magic and relics that seemed to shift to meet the demands of the plot over and over. Hopping through multiverses? No complaints; that feels governed by rules in the film. But magic fortress strongholds fall instantly, powerful unreachable tomes are found with minimal struggle, and evil artifacts are at varying points nowhere to be found but then everywhere in every universe…but then vanquished in a Thanos-like snap when the film needs to wrap up. None of it is consistent or sensical; every time the rules seemingly shifted, I grew more frustrated. I can handle the MCU when it features cool characters using unique skills to fight evil, but when it becomes uncompelling characters finding previously unknown Macguffins that perfectly provide whatever the plot requires to move, the illusion shatters. I can see the seams and the stitching in the movie’s crafting.

Despite my distaste for it, the film isn’t without redeeming elements. I liked the new character of America, whom Gomez gave sufficient pluck without losing the kid energy that allows Doctor Strange to become a mentor of sorts to her. If you’re someone who loved the Tony Stark and Peter Parker relationship, I think you’ll respond to this in its earliest stages. Both characters had familiar but well-done arcs that gave the film some direction amid all the chaos. There’s also a distinctive style here that I’m told is Sam Raimi’s; I don’t know all his movies but I could definitely pick out shots that evoked both Drag Me To Hell and the original Spider-Man trilogy. I liked that personalized flair. Along those same lines, I’ll also commend the film for featuring many horror elements that gave me something to enjoy, including an awesome chase scene in a tunnel that was delightfully suspenseful but also a zombie-adjacent situation that managed to convey some epic intensity, creepy body horror, and comedy all at once. The latter part of the film features all of this and is much more engaging for it, almost as though the Marvel stuff and set-up had to be dispensed with to finally earn the right to make the movie Raimi’s team envisioned. Dessert was better than the appetizers and meal, if you will. 

At the end of the day, though, I just never summoned an ability to care about the happenings in the film. The Wandavision connection didn’t hook me, the new America character and some cool stylistic elements weren’t enough, and, despite liking Cumberbatch plenty, there were too many sloppy elements that took me out of a movie I already wasn’t dying to see. This is not terrible by any stretch, but I’m convinced that Doctor Strange’s solo ventures just must not be for me.