Movie Review: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Review – Sam Raimi Redeems Himself…sort of (SPOILER FREE)

While Sam Raimi is known for doing movies such as Evil Dead, and the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy films, it is safe to say that after directing Spider-Man 3, we didn’t want Sam Raimi to touch another superhero film again.

However, 15 years later, he redeems himself with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness…to a degree. With this movie, it seems like Disney/Marvel are less hesitant and are slowly embracing more darker themes, as some of the scenes are a bit more violent/darker than what we are used to in traditional Marvel movies. While the movie is cinematically appealing with a combination of both vibrant and dark sequences, the story line falls just a bit flat on making any kind of big impact on the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

This movie gives a more in depth look in the Marvel Multiverse in compared to Spider-Man No Way Home, introducing more characters from the iconic Marvel comics while also hosting some returning characters from the MCU. In the beginning you may get a bit lost as to what universe they are in, but if you focus on some of the ongoing details, then it is easier to follow which universe(s) they are on.

Doctor Strange finds himself facing a former ally, and now-turned enemy, the Scarlett Witch (Wanda Maximoff) who is on a mission to reunite with her non-existing children by going to other universes and possessing the bodies of multiverse versions of herself. This is her main motive to reign destruction across all universes, and while I understand that is a driven point for someone of her caliber to do to reunite with her “Children”, I felt as though it was too much of a focus point and should have served as a sub-plot instead.

The movie at times does get a bit sloppy though. Due to the movie juggling traveling through the multiverse, Scarlett Witch trying to reunite with her non-existent children, and introducing a new group of heroes, it feels like at times the scenes are just thrown in a blender and leaving us to figure out what sequence is the focus there.

The fight sequences in the beginning of the movie were great and used a nice combination of Sorcery and Witchcraft, but the fight sequences towards the end of the movie made absolutely no sense. It consisted of manipulating certain pieces of the environment that show cased abilities that were non-existent at any part of the movie leading up to the final fight scenes.

We also get introduced to a new MCU character, America Chavez, who can travel through the multiverse, though she does not know how to control that ability on her own. In traditional MCU Manner, she finally discovers how to control that ability towards the end of the movie. While her overall purpose in the movie is supposed to be significant, I felt as though she was just a side kick that served no benefit until the very end of the movie.

Overall, the movie is visually entertaining to watch. It is a nice combination of the Twilight Zone meets Inception with the traditional MCU plot templates. Benedict Cumberbatch proves that he is here to stay as Doctor Strange for years/movies to come. While this movie feels as though it makes no big impact on upcoming MCU movies, if you were to ignore that, then it is a movie that holds well on its own.

Final Verdict: 7.5/10