Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Sam Raimi is BACK, baby

For a guy named Stephen Strange, the former Sorcerer Supreme is actually a pretty normal person with at least some normal problems: He’s bad at relationships and only a little better with kids, and he’s kind of a prick. We noted this in the spoiler-free film review. Doctor Strange, in the Multiverse of Madness isn’t really out to change viewers’ minds about the guy. Doctor Strange can be used, just like in comics, as a guide for places and creatures not found elsewhere.

Multiverse of Madness Although it is quite successful in this regard, its emphasis on bizarre new worlds eventually means that there are only two stars competing to be noticed. Multiverse of MadnessThey are not Doctor Strange. First, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is the piece-by-piece puzzle that Marvel fans have extended access to whenever a movie comes out. Director Sam Raimi returns from nearly a decade of absence to cinema and delivers the most disturbing film in the MCU. There’s nothing wrong with viewers showing up for Multiverse of Madness for the former reason, to continue the MCU story and see what it’s offering this time. Raimi is however the film’s star.

[Ed. note: Basic plot setup spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness follow, but one of those plot setup elements goes beyond what’s seen in the trailers.]

Raimi’s much-loved, wildly successful Spider-Man trilogy movies are by far the most popular entries in his filmography. But before he helped invent the modern era of superhero cinema, Raimi’s calling card was in horror. The Evil Dead Trilogy and the 2009 throwback Drag Me To HellHis unique vision as a director has helped him to establish his distinctive sensibilities. The movies are funny and gross and have just the right amount sexiness. Yet in a career that spans more than 40 years, Raimi’s horror stylings have largely been confined to low-budget fare. He’s never had the opportunity to graft his take on horror cinema onto a blockbuster, or get his hands on a blockbuster horror budget. Doctor Strange, in the Multiverse of Madness, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe it’s set in, are perhaps the unlikeliest place to look for Raimi-style gonzo horror, but it’s absolutely here.

Image: Marvel Studios

Marketing has made it difficult to see the true villain. Doctor Strange, in the Multiverse of Madness, but after about 20 minutes of swift setup, the film’s real threat becomes clear: Wanda Maximoff, now fully embracing her role as the Scarlet Witch. Following the events of Disney Plus’ MCU series WandaVision, Wanda has obtained the Darkhold, a grimoire of dark magic, and intends to use it to travel to a universe where her children — fiction conjured by her grief in WandaVision — are real. To do so, she seeks to seize the power from America Chavez (a girl from another universe who is capable of traveling the whole multiverse). Trouble is, she can’t control it, and for the bulk of Multiverse of MadnessAmerica, Doctor Strange, and America run across other universes as Wanda follows them.

Wanda can be made into a multiversal boogeyman, which is where Sam Raimi shines. Doctor Strange, in the Multiverse of MadnessIt is one of the MCU’s most exciting films. Raimi’s trademark flourishes seep onto the screen: Disembodied hands appear from unlikely places, the camera takes on the perspective of ghostly specters, the dead walk again, and ghouls nip at our heroes’ heels.

The scenes that go full Raimi are powerful reminders of how much fun the Marvel Cinematic Universe can be whenever its filmmakers’ idiosyncrasies are allowed to shine through. Multiverse of Madness isn’t a full-on Sam Raimi film — Michael Waldron’s script has a LotMCU legends to be absorbed, there is more MCU magic lasers firing at each others than horror fan might enjoy. Raimi’s style brings a refreshing break from the flying CG magic explosions and establishes the characters. Wanda Maximoff isn’t just capable of crimson energy blasts and mass illusion: She genuinely has mastery of the most disturbing powers in the multiverse. Doctor Strange doesn’t just conjure orange versions of physical weapons, he harnesses forbidden, arguably immoral forces to try and save the day.

Photo: Jay Maidment/Marvel Studios

Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness is ultimately too swift and shallow a film to fully wrestle with the implications of Wanda’s powers. The substance of Doctor Strange’s conflict with her is why her use of forbidden arts is villainy, while his is necessary, but the movie loses interest in that question the moment after it poses it. Still, Raimi’s display of those powers, and the forces that rise in response to them, makes it among the most thrillingly comic book-style efforts in the MCU. It’s odd, colorful, and spooky enough to frighten children, in the way a budding comics fan might be frightened by a comic they had no way of knowing they aren’t ready for.

This is not intended to reduce the multiversal fun of the story. But all the surprises and cameos are sweet. It’s delightful to see every guest appearance Multiverse of Madnessnot only has in store for them, but also has an outbuilt feature to handle any surprise that may appear onscreen. Everything, except America Chavez. Multiverse of Madness introduces winds up being used in a way that’s clearly meant to carry forward into the MCU’s future. Anyone approaching this film from the perspective that it’s meant to be a monumental, status quo-shattering installment in the MCU mega-story may be disappointed.

Anyone who’s just here to see Raimi turn his usual ghoulish spookshows and gleeful body horror into a big-budget spectacle, on the other hand, will get the payoff they’re waiting for. It’s the Madness that is important here and not the multiverse. And we’re so very lucky that’s the part that Sam Raimi excels at.

Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of MadnessIt is now in theatres