Almost fifty-nine years ago (give or take a few months), Stan Lee and Steve Ditko introduced the world to one of the most foundational and significant characters in the Marvel comics canon, Doctor Stephen Strange. Twenty years ago (give or take a week), horror director extraordinaire Sam Raimi created one of the foundational texts of superhero cinema with his film Spider-Man. On the set of that film was an at the time little known production assistant by the name of Kevin Feige, who would go on to craft the Marvel Cinematic Universe, perhaps the most culturally dominant franchise of the modern era. Therefore it seems only fitting that when Feige and Co found themselves in need of a new director and direction for their sequel to 2016’s Doctor Strange, Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness, that they would turn to one of the key authors of modern superhero cinema to take on the character in the Marvel universe that most closely connects to his genre of choice.
Perhaps the highest compliment that I can pay to Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness is that having seen it, I cannot imagine the film being made by someone other than Sam Raimi. His distinctive flair and gleeful cruelty are all over this film and it is a better film for it. The film actively embraces the horror elements upon which Raimi built his career, resulting in a movie that pushes the tonal boundaries of the MCU about as far as they have ever been pushed to date. Whether it’s demons, zombies, haunted houses, multiversal monsters, or a sequence that can only be described as the closest we’ve gotten to a superhero slasher sequence, Raimi is having a blast introducing explicit horror to the MCU for the first time.
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His trademark glee with which he dispenses twisted imagery and extreme violence is felt throughout, and it’s honestly the best part of what is a truly great entry into the Marvel canon. Everything down to the plot itself, which repeatedly focuses on people mettling with forces beyond their reckoning, evokes his prior work. The blend of dread, horror, and humor that Raimi has mastered like few others gets plenty of time to shine and it serves as a reminder that he is still one of the best in the business.
It is basically impossible to discuss the plot of this film without spoilers, so I am not even going to attempt to. Suffice to say that Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) encounters the young America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), a teenage girl with the power to travel across the multiverse, as she flees a being that seeks her power for itself, and becomes swept up in a multiversal journey to save her.
This results in a host of amazing visuals as they travel throughout the multiverse, as well as some incredibly fun cameos as Strange and Chavez encounter the heroes of these worlds.
Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff comes along for the ride and the film would not be the same without her contributions.
The performances in this film are spectacular. Benedict Cumberbatch was born to be a Sam Raimi protagonist and it comes across in every scene. Gomez more than capably acquits herself in her first major feature film roll, holding her own in her scenes with her more experienced costars. And Olsen gives the performance of her MCU career, one that places her in the position of processing the repeated traumas of her character’s life, something she does with an impressive enthusiasm.
I would be remiss to not mention that this film is very much a feast for the eyes. Raimi built his reputation as a masterful visual storyteller always game to utilize the technology of his time to accentuate his stories and he takes full advantage of all of the tools at his disposal here. He truly gets the chance to flex his visual range and it is a treat for all involved. Bouncing between beautifully shot and choreographed hand to hand fight scenes, horrifying phantasmal visions in the minds of characters, strange abstract dimensions, and one of the more visually (and sonically) creative magical fights in recent history, he crafts a look for this film that merges what came before for the character with his own style in an immensely appealing fashion.
It’s been years since Sam Raimi was given a major project, and with this film he firmly shows how truly absurd that is. There’s little doubt that he is one of our greatest living filmmakers, and hopefully this will serve as a reminder to Hollywood and the world of that fact. He has breathed new life into a character and a franchise that I was already a fairly big fan of, and we can only hope that it in turn breathes new life into one of the most storied careers in cinema.
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After all, cinema could always use just a little bit of gleeful madness.
