Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (2022).
The Stage.
America Chavez is a teenager with the ability to traverse the multiverse. She becomes the target of the Scarlett Witch, who wants to absorb her powers in order to travel to a universe in which her kids are real.
Spoilers incoming. Proceed at your own risk.
The Review.
It’s fun to watch a film and think, “What could I have done here.” when you see filmmakers kind of write themselves into a corner. On one hand, you have Doctor Strange and Wong, two people who control magic and for all intents and purposes, are the most powerful magicians in the Marvel universe called the 616. On the other hand, you have Wanda, the Scarlett Witch, the most powerful witch in the 616. So as a screenwriter, what do you do with this?
Unfortunately, in the case of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, the writers decided to go a familiar route, making these all-powerful characters selectively use their powers when it’s convenient for the plot. Take Wanda, in just one example. She finds herself going up against the all-powerful Illuminati, comprised of universe 838’s Reed Richards, Captain Marvel, Black Bolt, and Peggy Carter. From the onset, she gains the upper hand making Black Bolt’s mouth disappear in a horrifying (and frankly, awesome) scene that sees him blow his own brain out in panic. From this point on, we know that she can simply erase body parts…so…why not just do that to everyone. Hey, Reed Richards, now you have no brain. Doctor Strange, I’ll go ahead and just make your heart disappear. Instead, she does the typical, “Now I’m going to fight the rest of you with my red bolt hands!” move, because…movie.
And don’t even get me started on the travesty that Wong is in this movie. The sorcerer supreme, a man who can teleport (unless the movie puts a stupid anti-magic rule in place on one mountain, because if they didn’t, he wouldn’t be stuck on a ledge for the better part of an hour, even though others do use magic on that mountain later on). He warns of the power of the Darkhold being combined with the powers of America Chavez, and says that if the Scarlett Witch had both, she could enslave the entire universe…but then gives up exactly where the Darkhold is after she threatens four of his low level soldiers. It was a pathetic moment, which is made even more awful after, later in the film, he suggests that Doctor Strange kills America Chavez by taking her powers because, in his words, “It’s the only way.” If you NEED to have Wong give up that information, make him strong. Allow her to kill the four unnamed soldiers and then allow her to have a battle of minds with him that she, after a struggle, WINS. He just gave the fate of the universe up for the lives of four seasonal hires.
America Chavez is also a weak point in the film. She’s just not that interesting - the angsty teenage character has already been done in a much better way with the Spider-Man franchise. And the fact that she doesn’t know how to control her power until a short pep-talk is ridiculous.
“I can’t do it.”
“Yes you can.”
“Oh, yeah, I guess I can lol”
And the fight with music notes may be one of the worst things I’ve seen in a Marvel film yet.
You want a good way to end this film? You instead have America Chavez bring the 838 Scarlett Witch into the 616 and reveal the evil witch’s desire to kill her and take over as the mother of her children…at which point, the good Wanda rips the evil version in half. That’s how you end this threat. That’s how a Wanda looking to protect her children would act.
There were two aspects to the film I enjoyed. I liked the Illuminati moment and the cool reveals both in characters and actors. I loved that Reed Richards was arrogant to the point of stupidity, as it fits his character. I also really liked the horror aspects in the film. This is the scariest Marvel film to date with nods to several horror franchises from Frankenstein to the Ring. It’s got some horrifying imagery and several deaths that, with a drop of blood, could have easily been rated R. I’m wondering what Sam Raimi, director of the Evil Dead franchise, ended up cutting out. I hope we get to see an unrated cut, but even then, I may fast forward through the rest of the movie to get to the new stuff.
The End.
I did not like this film. With all of the fantastic possibilities of a multiverse, we got saddled with a cold, CGI mess that, yet again, puts the fate of humanity in the grip of people who just use their unlimited power when convenient. With so many interesting settings that we could end up in, how did this film feel so bland? There’s a better story to be told here. On top of that, Danny Elfman, of all people, mailed in a forgettable score.
In the stinger, we see Clea introduced as she brings Doctor Strange into the Dark Dimension, but to be honest, I’m not really interested in where they’re going.
