Synopsis: Dr Stephen Strange casts a forbidden spell that opens a portal to the multiverse. However, a threat emerges that may be too big for his team to handle
Review:
Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness is going to introduce a lot of kids to the horror genre this weekend, and it’s the perfect MCU for Sam Raimi to take his talents back to the superhero genre. All the things you miss from his original Spider-Man trilogy are there with the emotional depth that has driven Phase 4 past the previous phases of the MCU, where they focused more on the bigger picture and world-building.
Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of Doctor Strange has become iconic ever since Avengers: Infinity War, with the now-famous line “This is the only way”. He’s somewhat becoming the new Iron Man in the MCU after Endgame and the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, being a mentor to Peter Parker’s character there. As we see here early on in this sequel, he is willing to do anything in his power to make sacrifices that are for the greater good of the multiverse.
Elisabeth Olsen is also in peak form for her immersed performance of The Scarlet Witch, I will be interested to see how the audiences react to the powerhouse performance she gives in Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness. Knowing how many people gave up on her criminally underrated series Wandavision, some of me wonders if people dislike phase 4 of this far because of the absence of Iron Man and Captain America which is a darn shame because phase 4 has been wonderful.
At the end of the day, Doctor Strange 2 will restore people’s faith in big-budgeted superhero films if the MCU has lost you in recent years, and will make die-hard fans happy for it is the most rewatchable film in the saga in a while. I could see this a couple more times in the theaters and have a blast in different formats.
Overall Grade: 5/5 stars
