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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Poster
Imdb

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Synopsis:
Journey into the unknown with Doctor Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.

A new threat emerges that threatens the multiverse in . When an interdimensional threat arrives in New York City, Doctor Stephen Strange () comes into contact with America Chavez (), a young woman with the ability to travel between universes. This sets the stage for a battle for control of the multiverse, which involves the current Sorcerer Supreme Wong (), the Scarlet Witch Wanda Maximoff (), Strange's ex-girlfriend Dr. Christine Palmer () and his old adversary Baron Karl Mordo ().

Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spider-Man) takes the reins for the latest film of Phase IV of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and acts as both a direct follow-up to last year's Spider-Man: No Way Home, as well as the Disney+ series WandaVision. Since it is going to be hard delving into the rest of the film without spoilers, I'm going to summarize my thoughts on the film by saying that I thought that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ended up being a solid mix of action, horror, and surprise cameos. The rest of the review will now go into SPOILER territory, so you have been warned.

SPOILERS from this point forward

Probably one of the more surprising early plot developments in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is that it is revealed that Wanda Maximoff is the film's villain, having been corrupted by Darkhold, a book of spells acquired towards the end of WandaVision, and becoming the fabled Scarlet Witch. Wanda wants to steal America Chavez's multiverse traversing powers in order to be reunited with her sons Billy (Julian Hilliard) and Tommy (Jett Klyne). It is during a confrontation with Wanda, that Stephen Strange finds himself traversing through the multiverse with America Chavez, ending up in Earth-838. It is there, where Strange comes in contact with a group of heroes known as the Illuminati and a variant of Christine Palmer, who is an expert in the multiverse.

Since I want to retain some of the surprises of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, I'm going to refrain from revealing the members of the Illuminati, even though they include some fan-service cameos. That said, it is almost a disappointment that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness didn't feature more in that regard, since I am sure there are those going into this film expecting a similar experience to Spider-Man: No Way Home.

I'd be remiss writing about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness without mentioning the film's initial description of the MCU's horror film. While it's unknown how the original director Scott Derrickson would have injected horror into the film, I do have to say that Sam Raimi does a good job at incorporating horror elements into the plot. While the film never becomes a full-out horror film, there are certain horror setpieces, particularly one that sees the Scarlet Witch “dream walking” towards a variant of Wanda. Also, the film probably pushes the PG-13 rating to its limit when it comes to the level of violence in the film.

While the film is probably not as game-changing as some were expecting it to be, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness still ends up being an entertaining funhouse ride that only Sam Raimi can deliver.

Trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

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Sean Patrick Kelly
Sean Patrick Kelly
Sean Patrick Kelly is a freelance film critic and blogger based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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