I know this Multiverse of Madness review is quite late, but now that it’s available on Disney Plus I figure most people who were going to watch it have seen it, and I can now safely spoil this movie.
As per usual, this Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness review will contain spoilers. Continue reading at your own risk if you haven’t seen the film yet.
Breaking Expectations
Like many other Marvel fans, I was expecting a lot from a film that quite literally had the word “multiverse” in the title. I wanted to see lots of cameos and the broader implications of having a multiversal incident occurring. I was almost expecting this to be a team-centric movie within a solo film, similar to the way Captain America: Civil War was practically an Avengers movie.
Now, I know many of you may point to the scene with the Illuminati and say “but we did get those “What If?” characters!!”. You’re correct, we got Captain Carter, Black Bolt, Captain Marvel, even freaking FINALLY got Professor X in the MCU, as WELL AS FINALLY seeing John Krasinski as Mr. Fantastic!!!
I was over the moon at the beginning of that scene. Truly, I was so extremely excited to have these characters in the MCU and on the screen in front of me. And then, it was ruined for me. Yes, I know due to the multiverse it means they all exist somewhere else too. But to watch as these characters I’d wanted to see for so long get ripped away from me one by one, after I had finally gotten them, was disappointing.
Marvel Meets Horror
Even as someone who is a self-proclaimed scaredy-cat I’m familiar with Sam Raimi’s work, and not just from the Spider-Man films of my childhood. I’ve seen both Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2, which comes as a shock to everyone who knows me. While many people (including quite a few of my friends) adored seeing Raimi’s style applied to a film in the MCU, I just couldn’t vibe with it.
I appreciated some of the horror elements visually, but when you put it all together, it felt like a corny mishmash of superhero action and cheesy horror, unfortunately not in a good way. The horror moments ultimately felt predictable- Wanda crawling in to snap Professor X’s neck may have been more shocking if we hadn’t known it was coming. Or what should have been a cool body horror moment with Black Bolt’s mouth disappearing became predictable and disappointing when he met his end. I literally remember thinking “why would you say “with one word from his mouth? Because now you’re gonna die” and then “ah yes. The “I have no mouth, and I must scream” trope is going to be fulfilled and he’s going to die because of his power.”
The Problem With Wanda
I adore Wanda. She had so much potential headed into this- I’m not necessarily mad they made her the villain, I’m upset and regretful over how they handled her. It felt like they reduced her character greatly and she lost the complexity that WandaVision showed us. Although a driving factor for Wanda was always going to be getting her children back, it felt like Multiverse of Madness reduced her to a mother and nothing else. Not the traumatized woman who had lost her parents, her brother, the love of her life, AND her children all while coming to terms with her own powers.
I was so unsatisfied with the ending they gave Wanda. They “shelved” her instead of committing to either killing off her character or letting her live. If they were to kill off that version of the character, it would have been deeply satisfying for me to see her lose to another Wanda. Showing the only person who can defeat Wanda, is Wanda.
Multiverse of Madness: Final Thoughts
I’ve said before: there’s an audience for every film, and sometimes you’re not part of it- even if you wanted to be. While I’m glad many others enjoyed this film (it’s currently sitting at an audience score of X on Rotten Tomatoes), I simply did not vibe with it.
While it served as the introduction to America Chavez’s character and gave us a glimpse into the multiverse, it left me unfulfilled and even disappointed with what we didn’t get or what we could have gotten but didn’t.
If you’re a fan of Sam Raimi’s style, you may find you’ll enjoy this film much more than I did. The Bruce Campbell cameo was fun, but the second post-credits scene with him didn’t leave a wonderful taste in my mouth after saying “who the hell is that?” after the first post-credits scene (which I suppose goes back to the origin of the post-credits scene, when it was originally meant for comic fans).
If you expected this story to span across the vast multiverse of the MCU and include beloved characters (or expected to see oh I don’t know, Spider-Man) you may walk away disappointed, as I did. This is a Doctor Strange story at its heart, which would have been better if I had not gone in with the expectation of it being a team story.