Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (4 Stars)

Disney Wednesday #9

I know I said this in my last review, but I'll repeat myself: the Multiverse is nothing bad in itself. It's not something dangerous. In fact, the Multiverse doesn't even exist, except as a concept. There are countless alternate realities. In the standard Marvel comics reality, usually called Earth-616, there are super-powered beings. In our reality, Earth-1218, there are no superheroes. Does that make our reality in some way more dangerous? On the contrary, our reality is harmless in comparison to the so-called Marvel universe. Of the hundreds, thousands or even millions of alternate realities, most are harmless in themselves. The Multiverse is just a word to describe the assortment of realities.

Now let's say something about this film, the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). After watching it today on Disney Plus I've given it a higher rating. Maybe my positive bias in favour of Sam Raimi has kicked in. Maybe I just slept well last night. Either way, I now view it more positively. In a way, it's normal. I'm disappointed with most Marvel films on first viewing and don't give them a fair rating until the second time round. My first reaction is to compare the films with the comics. They never come up to the level of the comics, although Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" came close. The only way to match the quality of the comics is to stick closely to the original stories. That's something the MCU screenwriters have never understood.

Doctor Strange comes to the aid of America Chavez, a young girl who has the power to open portals to other realities in the Multiverse. She's a singularity, i.e. only one of her exists, unlike normal people, of whom there's an alternate version in each reality. A demon has sent creatures to capture her and steal her power. Doctor Strange recognises the demonic power as witchcraft, so he goes to Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch for aid. What he doesn't know is that it isn't a demon who's sent the creatures, it's Wanda herself. Wanda wants to travel to another reality where her children exist. (Those who've seen the television series "Wandavision" will understand this. I haven't reviewed it. Sorry). Wanda could just have asked nicely and said please to America, but instead of this she wants to steal America's powers for herself, even though this will result in America's death.

And so there's a battle across the Multiverse. We see different realities. It begins in the MCU reality, incorrectly called Earth-616, but most of the action takes place in Earth-838, a universe where Doctor Strange died battling Thanos. (I always considered Thanos to be a singularity as well, but let's not discuss it here).

The film uses a lot of CGI, but it's necessary. Magical worlds need good CGI, and it's well crafted. Look at the screenshot above. The beautiful Ditko-esque monster could never have been created without CGI.

My remarks in my last review about Doctor Strange looking more like an action hero than a Master of the Mystic Arts were unfair. He fights with magic. This is portrayed in the film to the best of Sam Raimi's abilities. In the battle scenes it's obvious that Doctor Strange is using magic, not just firing power blasts from his wrists.

What really annoys me in the film is the presence of Doctor Strange's ex-girlfriend Christine. There are characters in other films with ex-wives and ex-lovers, such as Ant-Man and Venom. They're always annoying. Did any character in the comics ever have his ex tagging along? I don't think so. Maybe they had ex-girlfriends, such as the Human Torch's ex-girlfriend Dorrie Evans, but she didn't stick around comic after comic. We just saw her briefly, then she was gone.

I'll watch the film again soon. It deserves a third chance. I doubt I'll ever upvote it to five stars, but it has its rightful place in the MCU.

And it stars Bruce Campbell. Hooray!

Success Rate:  + 2.8

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