Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
(Disney Streaming, June 2022) It’s been a few rough years for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following the climactic punctuation of Avengers: Endgame. While the Spider-Man movies have been generally well-received, other attempts to introduce new characters (or retrofit a Black Widow prequel) have been more yawn-inducing than anything else. Fortunately, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is more successful – both at presenting new adventures for a familiar character, but also in blending in a few new influences. It’s also, but not for the first time (considering the cinematic universe blending of Spider-Man: No Way Home) a Marvel Cinematic Universe film that pulls threads from previous entries and TV shows, meaning that you need to be conversant with material spanning a number of media formats in order to get the most of it. This is probably considered an asset for the MCU brain trust, who would love nothing more than to suck up all available entertainment time from their audiences, effectively transforming them from moviegoers to MCU-goers (or, specifically, Disney+ subscribers). But let’s move on from this, because there are a few interesting things to talk about in terms of character development and how self-confident the MCU can be at this point. The most notable aspect of this Multiverse of Madness, for instance, is how it’s willing to do some face-heel turns for a major character, and actively consider the possibility that its arrogant protagonist has extensive potential for self-serving evil. This plays out against a substantially more sombre tone than other films in the series – some marketing twaddle made much out of this being the MCU’s first horror film and while that typical overstatement (the Lovecraftian monster that opens up the film is cuddly enough to be plushable), there’s no denying that director Sam Raimi is pushing the envelope in less-than-desirable dimensions by suggesting a few gory deaths later on. There’s the usual number of winks and nods and portents of future adventures – I wasn’t a fan of the dark-universe Avengers, but if that suggests John Krasinski as Reed Richards, then I’m paying attention. Benedict Cumberbatch has a more interesting role (and film) this time around than in the first Doctor Strange film, while Xochitl Gomez has a much better introduction to a new character than many of the last few standalone films. The film’s last act even brings in Marvel Zombies in a relatively clever way, and there’s a terrific minute-long sequence in which dozens of parallel universes are glimpsed. The advantages of multiverses at this point of the MCU are obvious, and even outweigh the inevitable disappointment that we’re not exploring all of them. Still, in the end, and even subtracting points from the nagging feeling that the MCU is an unsustainable black hole of film dollars and attention, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a strong entry in the series, one that shows that there’s life after Endgame and that even stressing the film series with the comics’ anything-goes blend of technology, magic, fantasy, science fiction and parallel universes is a workable proposition.