Doctor Strange 2 review: spoiler-free thoughts on a multiverse of madness

In the hallowed halls of Marvel Comics, Dr. Stephen Strange is a much more consistent visitor in other heroes’ stories than a star in his own. His immense power and his remove from the ordinary world of heroing make him something of an abstraction in the Marvel universe — mostly useful when other heroes run afoul of his marvelous, perilous world of magic, and drop in on him for help and explanations.

And the good doctor’s usefulness as a secondary character has translated to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, too. Strange’s obligatory origin film was in 2016 and Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch), has enjoyed a richer cinematic experience in supporting roles. As a magician with wisdom words for beleaguered characters, he is now more memorable. Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity WarAnd Spider-Man, There’s No Way Home. His return to the top billing Doctor Strange, in the Multiverse of MadnessDirector Sam Raimi, Spider-Man director Michael Waldron, the screenwriter for The Evil Dead Trilogy and trilogy),Rick and Morty, LokiThis is how ) came up with a solution.

This means that the story should include as many characters as possible as soon as the story is finished. You have the chance to make a movie that covers the entire Marvel Cinematic Multiverse. Lots of characters — and a lot of references designed to thrill comics fans and MCU obsessives alike. No matter how many universes there are, they will always be the same. Multiverse of Madness leaps through, it can’t escape the fact that its hero is Stephen Strange. The strength of Strange’s personal evolution is only accentuated by his solid supporting cast.

Image: Marvel Studios

Doctor Strange, in the Multiverse of MadnessAssembling the cast, they navigate through their openings and launch them on adventures to seek out MacGuffins. America Chavez (XochitlGomez), a character new to the MCU, is one of the most friendly and talkative MacGuffins. She faces a formidable magical enemy. Naturally, her escape runs her right into the path of Stephen Strange, who seeks help from old allies like Benedict Wong’s Wong, and new ones like Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch.

Olsen definitely gives the film’s most arresting performance, and after the Disney Plus TV series WandaVision, that shouldn’t surprise anyone. Gomez is charming as America — her central role and overall storyline seem destined to set up a solo Disney Plus series of her own, and this movie makes that prospect particularly appealing.

Just like in his first film and in the comics, the star of a Doctor Strange story isn’t Stephen himself. His personality is still egotistical and pompous. It’s clear that he’s unlikable in all universes, to greater or lesser degrees. In reality, he is our true hero. Multiverse of Madness isn’t a person; it’s the visuals — particularly the way Raimi and his team depict mind-rending magical abilities, ones that obey no wands or Harry Potter-like pig-Latin incantations. Scott Derrickson, Director of the Film Company, emphasized shifting kaleidoscope universes. InceptionFor the original, see this collection of -esque landscapes Doctor Strange. But once a single sequence nodding at that film’s fractal magic visuals is out of the way, Multiverse of Madness completes a full transformation into Sam Raimi’s House of Magical Spooks and Monsters.

Tentacles vibrate, specters scream and skeletons taunt. Eldritch hands search, grab, pull, and seek out tentacles in this film. Goofy body-horror deaths — a tasting menu’s worth — play to delighted gasps. At least twice, characters stare straight at the camera and attempt eye contact with the viewers. As the camera moves through scenes, it takes POV shots from all sorts of objects and then transitions seamlessly from one sequence to another. The entire magic duel was captured through animated musical notes. Danny Elfman’s work is especially memorable.

Multiverse of MadnessThe film joins an emerging, but rapidly growing world of action cinema that is based on the concept of a parallel universe. The multiverse in DC and Marvel is a result of a nostalgic and capitalistic desire to keep all the versions of characters fans like, securing them against time, plot holes, editorial mandate, paradox, and other ravages. The multiverse is used in films for different reasons.

Image: Marvel Studios

To Spider-Man: Into the Spider-VerseThe infinite worlds serve as a proof ground for how everyone can be a hero. To All You Need at One Time, they’re a chance to see the meaning in every potential lifetime. They are a chance to see the meaning in every possible lifetime. Multiverse of MadnessMultiverse can be seen as a tool to make the connections between heroes and their stories into another Marvel event.

Raimi’s cinematic wizardry lends loads of dazzle to the pack of references and callbacks that make up a large part of the film’s middle. If you take all of the sparks out, however, Multiverse of Madness is simply leaning on the same cross-referential thrill-of-recognition joy-button that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been frantically pressing for more than a decade now, designed to elicit huge gasps from die-hard fans, while sending everyone else to the Google search bar on their phones.

Eventually, though, Multiverse of Madnessmust leave the world of infinite parallel Earths to return to its wizard. Strange, in all Marvel Universe versions, is a twist of Faust. He discovers the ultimate cosmic shortcut. Waldron’s script hammers home the ways in which the power to tell the laws of physics to sit down and shut up has not solved any of Stephen’s real problems. He’s still a man of self-inflicted isolation and bottomless ego, and while he may have evolved from helping people for the glory of being the world’s greatest surgeon to helping them because they need him, he hasn’t rid himself of his god complex.

Multiverse of Madness repeatedly invites Stephen Strange to learn that he isn’t always right, and that all magic comes with a price. It suggests that he’s foolish to be so certain that the dark paths that have corrupted others won’t also corrupt him. It feints at the evolution he needs if he’s ever going to be a hero, rather than a particularly flashy, fancy detail in other people’s stories. But the film’s thoughts on Doctor Strange’s deals with devils (metaphorical ones, at least) remain open, and its refusal to answer its own questions remains frustrating. In the end, it’s his name on the poster, so he gets to break all the rules and still claim hero status. What will happen to him when the consequences hit? That is the answer. Multiverse of MadnessThis is the MCU’s second button: Listen next time!

Doctor Strange, in the Multiverse of MadnessPremieres at the theaters May 6.