Director Sam Raimi (“Spider-Man”) returns to the superhero genre with his new film “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.”
The film was released in theaters on Friday and takes a deeper dive into the mind-bending world of Doctor Stephen Strange.
Raimi took a unique approach by including a horror element in the film which is vastly different from all the other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It is rated PG-13, but feels like an R-rated film when it comes to the brutal violence and uncharacteristically grim tone compared to other MCU films.
Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Imitation Game”) stars as Doctor Strange and brings his unique charisma on the journey which audiences have fallen in love with over the years.
Cumberbatch perfectly embodies the character and seems to have fun with it which makes it fun for the audience too.
Elizabeth Olsen (“Wind River”) steals the show as Wanda Maximoff, aka The Scarlet Witch.
It was intriguing whenever she was on the screen and made me want to see more of her whenever she wasn’t on.
The film takes place after the events of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “WandaVision” which leads to the plot of the film with Strange and Wanda getting caught into the multiverse.
The story focused on exploring the multiverse and the rules behind it, and the emotional portion of the movie struggled because of it.
It was interesting to learn what the multiverse is and how it works as it’s something viewers haven’t seen before and expands the MCU to new limits in terms of possible storylines.
Despite the exposition, there weren’t many attempts at emotional scenes and when the film tried to, it felt quick and shallow.
The action was amazing at times and felt lacking in other parts of the film. It’s cool to see the full display of what these characters can do with their powers because they can do more than previously imagined.
It was exhilarating to see Dr.Strange fight an enemy in a unique way such as using musical notes and instruments, but then it felt uninteresting seeing him fight with computer-generated imagery fireballs because it’s not as engaging.
There were great visuals throughout the film that allowed a view into the imagination of Raimi through the power of the characters.
Ultimately, it was the expectations of the film that brought it down because there was a lot of hype for it that came before the release and while it’s a fun action and adventure MCU film, it failed to meet the high expectations.
Overall, Raimi delivered a film that’s different for the MCU and it worked, presenting a refreshing superhero film.
While there are some creative highs, there are other times where it feels like it’s dragging and underwhelming.
It’s a good film, but certainly does not reach the top tier of other MCU movies like “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Avengers: Infinity War”.