Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness. Deconstructed.

Title: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong, Elizabeth Olsen, Xochitl Gomez, Rachel McAdams

Screenplay: Michael Waldron

Direction: Sam Raimi

Run time: 126 minutes

After introducing the Multiverse in Spider Man: No way home, Doctor Strange’s second solo film throws the audience right into the centrifuge of madness; Marvel’s Multiverse, in all its glory.

Right from the opening frame, the action unfurls and throttles ahead with ferocity. A visibly different Doctor Strange (Sporting a ponytail) is running beseechingly towards the BOOK OF VISHANTI accompanied by a young girl. And moments before its mission accomplished, the Doctor Strange we know wakes up torridly.

As always, it is a dream. Only, it is not.

And the madness slowly unfolds.

The first film from the MCU to have an official horror genre, presents stunning visuals; equal parts spooky and exceptional. SAM RAIMI is in his element and his style of storytelling is evident in almost every shot. If Spider man 3 was a teaser, Doctor Strange 2 is the soap opera for Raimi’s fantasy superhero horror film. The screenplay by Michael Waldron is extremely tight wound and incites partial amnesia, but it is thoroughly enjoyable and quite a thrill ride. Add to it cheeky dialogue and the infamous camaraderie of Doctor Strange with Wong, and we have quite an enjoyable film.

But the highlight of the film, undoubtedly; is Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch. She is devious to the hilt and makes for a very powerful villain, out there doing whatever it takes to reunite with her made up children from Westview (WandaVision; Disney+); to steal America Chavez’s power to travel the multiverse in this case. America is the young girl in the dream Doctor Strange has. Only, it is not a dream. It is parallel reality. Wanda is not the good old Wanda anymore as the Darkhold has her. She is now the scarlet witch; an all-powerful witch capable of enslaving the entire multiverse; the way she sees fit. The Darkhold is dark sorcery, a glimpse of which we saw in the first Doctor Strange film.

Elizabeth Olsen is devastating and infinitely sinful as the scarlet witch. Her character is sinister to an extent that it gets the better of Doctor Strange every time; with him explicitly mentioning in one scene “I can’t beat Wanda”. You feel for the guy, and it is almost as if this is not a Marvel film as the hero is beat so fast every time. Hats off to Miss Olsen; she nails her part and makes Doctor Strange’s struggle well worth it.

Apart from the stellar special effects which are synonymous with the MCU, this film is unique as it presents action in a format that is intricately delicious, twisted out of wits and yet brilliant. A feast for the eyes and the mind. Combined with brilliant and effective background music (By Danny Elfman) that makes great use of silent notes, the action flips you over. One such scene that appealed to me involves two different Stranges’ from two different universes’ fighting it out using musical notes and sound generated by musical instruments. It is mind boggling and breath-taking to say the least. Sam Raimi in full Sam Raimi mode. Another scene features our twisted Doctor from Universe 616 (Our Universe) dream walking from another universe using his own corpse having the souls of the damned as his cape. Twisted. Convoluted. Evil. Funny. Delicious. Like Wong quips when he sees the dead corpse walking like a zombie: “I don’t even wanna know”. It is bewildering. Add all this tizzy with Benedict’s on point dialogue delivery and a charm only he exudes and its game set match.

As always, Marvel sticks to its good old formula of good vs evil where evil is simply a reflection of good. However, this film eventually becomes a story of evil vs evil by the end of it. And what follows in the forthcoming films is a hotly anticipated topic. The climax and the mid credit scene have surely fueled the curiosity of Strange Supreme (The most powerful Doctor Strange from the comics) making his large screen debut in the films to come.

At 126 minutes, the film feels just right. Neither too long nor short, it has a fitting screenplay directed to perfection with dark elements; a first for a Marvel film. There are a couple of scenes which seem to be taken right out of The Conjuring movies, but added to the Marvel mix, they create their own novel scares. And they fit the screenplay and the premise of the Darkhold seemingly well. Another unique addition which Marvel has made its own is several cameos by big ticket actors and returning characters from the MCU. And this film doesn’t fail to surprise. Not everybody would like it; nonetheless; it adds to the convoluted fabric of the film.

Discounting the little odd melodrama, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a thoroughly gratifying film, and it builds the character arc of Doctor Strange in a way that will probably make him the central character in the films to come. At the risk of giving away spoilers, DO NOT miss the mid credits and post credits scenes.

They are worth the thrill.

And yes, Sam Raimi fans rejoice: Doctor Strange gets to jump off the balcony of a New York high rise wielding his cape mid air and saving the day; a la Spider Man.

Nostalgic. Fun.

Do yourself a favor and watch it in IMAX. It will stay with you for weeks to come.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.