Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness Personal Highlights

For a little while now I’ve been contemplating about whether or not I wanted to do any type of review for this movie. This is one of those rare instances where I‘d rather just listen to other people gush over and analyze as a particular movie as opposed to me doing much discussing myself. However, considering how special of a comic book movie this is due to the various elements that make it prominently stand out within its larger franchise, I did want to have something archived on my blog regarding a few things that stood out to me. But keep in mind that this isn’t so much of a review but more of a checklist of sorts. So without further ado, here are some of my personal highlights from Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness.

 

A Notable Soundtrack

During the scene where Wanda is shown to be dream walking as Mordo explains the Scarlet Witch's ability, this was the first time in history that a comic book movie musically surprised me. I was sitting in the theaters fully engaged in what the characters were discussing when all of a sudden this absolutely badass guitar riff, drum beat, and baseline kicks in, I felt like I was immediately transported into a 90’s supernatural horror or dark thriller film with 70’s cinematic influences. It's a phenomenally atmospheric track that perfectly carries the scene's darker ideas and trippy imagery. To be honest, once it was over, I kept hoping we'd get more tracks similar in tone following the rest of the movie. This type of music is almost completely absent from mainstream comic book adapted properties now, so this really caught me off guard in the best way. It invoked part of my childhood bringing to mind films like The Crow while perfectly displaying the Scarlet Witch character in the most eeriest yet strangely alluring manner yet. A beautiful fever dream of sorts.

The track, titled “Cup of Tea” on the official OST has quickly now become one of my favorite pieces of music in any MCU movie to date and a reminder that this franchise still has a few surprises up its production sleeves. I suppose it doesn't hurt to get Danny Elfman in the booth when making a new superhero movie. There was also the WandaVision theme from the 2nd episode opening (my favorite track of that series) that pops in as we transition to Wanda's introduction in the movie. I definitely geeked out a little hearing that musical cue in the theaters primarily because of how satisfying it was to see an MCU TV/Streaming series being canonically solidified in a movie. And of course, there’s the brief use of the 90’s animated X-Men theme when Charles Xavier shows up which got a huge cheer from this longtime fan.

Amazing Standout Visuals

Despite initially being one of the weaker entries of the MCU back then in my opinion, one of the things that I’ve always praised about the first Doctor Strange movie was its visuals. Whether it be the mirror dimension scenes or Stephen’s cosmic awakening trip, there was certainly some artistically inspired choices made to dazzle the audience. Well, here enters The Multiverse of Madness which takes what its predecessor did and kicks things up a notch higher once America Chavez and Stephen gets thrown through a multiversal portal. This scene was cosmic science-fiction eye candy at its finest worthy of pausing and analyzing each frame in obsessive detail. It’s one of the most visually entertaining and exhilarating scenes that I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing on the big screen. The creative direction being put upon display with each individually unique universal pit stop was simply extraordinary. There’s one that appears to be cell shaded animated (a What If reference?), one that’s pure colorful paint animation, some intriguing futuristic looking ones, an old WWII era world where Hydra apparently won, a hellscape setting that might be connected to Surtur (or Mephisto), and several more. The entire universe traveling montage was delightfully insane and beautifully highlighted the “Madness” element of the movie's title.

There’s also some excellent supernatural and comic horror imagery littered throughout (thank you Sam Raimi) making this truly the first horror inspired MCU movie. The Incursion obliterated universe that Stephen and Christine wanders into was such a breathtaking sight to soak in especially once we eventually reach the eerily desolated mansion stairway of Sinister Strange’s home. It's not often that I get to say this with comic book movies but Doctor Strange 2 offers up a few legitimately poster worthy shots that I could easily see being hung up in an art gallery. Aside from some of the creature scenes, I also loved the imaginative display of powers presented like the two Doctor Strange variants using magical music theory to counter each another's attacks. And, this being a Sam Raimi movie, the supernatural horror/Evil Dead inspired sequences of Scarlet Witch’s attacks and possessions were pretty fantastic at times. Whether it’s the first person POV shots invoking the deadites from the Evil Dead franchise or the eerie environmental changes and transitional editing when Scarlet Witch is about to possess 838’s Wanda, there’s a fantastic sense of creative vision felt here that I deeply admired.

Geek Out Worthy Fan Service

The term “fan service” always seem to get a negative reputation when it comes to big franchise projects (be it comic book properties, Star Wars, etc.). However, I’ve always been of the mindset that fan service is like any other part of filmmaking or general storytelling. There’s a good way to use it and another way to abuse it. In the case of Doctor Strange 2, I felt that it was used rather well in that it never distracted from the overarching story and only helped expanded the world in a fun, cheer worthy fashion. Guys, I can’t tell you how many times my “no cursing” rule slipped up during my reaction of the Illuminati introduction scene. The moment the members of the organization made themselves known to Stephen, I probably accidentally cursed out loud in sheer excitement more times than I could count. First off, the Ultron bots being their security force was an awesome appetizer for what's to come for two reasons. One being that I’ve hoped for the MCU to bring a better version of Ultron back into live action for years now and the other being that it immediately made me think of the What If series version potentially being referenced.

And then…the members show up. Captain Marvel as a Maria Rambeau variant pops into frame (getting the least exciting one out of the way honestly). Captain Carter shows up which made me cheer in my seat considering that she was one of my personal wishlist picks from the What If show to be adapted to the movies. Now yes, this isn’t "thee exact Peggy Carter being inserted in" but it is a highly similar version of her which was cool enough for me. Reed "Freakin!" Richards played by John Krasinski shows up and sends the entire theater (including me) yelling out of sheer shock and hype (this was a fan casting dream come true). Then you have a similar guest appearance situation like Charlie Cox's Daredevil showing up in No Way Home where some of the audience cheers while the others confusingly looks around wondering if they missed something. This being Black Bolt's appearance which I'm 90% sure no one but me in the theater had a reaction to. Just the fact that it was the same actor from the failed Inhumans series being embraced in this huge film was honestly the most shocking thing for me. It was so awesome getting this little redemption for the actor and character in question.

And of course, the big man himself that surprised absolutely no one thanks to the not so stealthy marketing, Charles Xavier shows up with an awesome nostalgic visual and musical homepage to the 90’s X-men cartoon. This entire scene felt like pure candy store opening fan service and I was completely onboard enjoying every bit of it. But this wasn’t just some brief series of cameos with one liners to just show up and leave just to get a cheap excitement boost for the story. Instead, we get this really intriguing scene showing how this universe’s Illuminati (who I’m guessing is sort of like the Avengers of this world?) straight up defeated and killed Thanos on Titan. This was the scene that shook me and perfectly invoked the What If series and adapted the multiversal concept in a live action prism. Just seeing this completely altered superhero team having a trial and execution of their Doctor Strange on an alien planet while a corpse of Thanos is hanging to the side on his own blade was profound to say the least. And just when I thought that such a scene like that would be the peak of craziness, Scarlet Witch then shows up and reminds us why she was chosen to the be the villain in this movie.

The Illuminati’s pompous arrogance towards disregarding Wanda as a threat is ironically met with the MCU’s most brutal and twisted deaths ever portrayed in live action. This entire scene shocked both myself and the theater audience that I siting beside and boy did it feed on my love for horror. The way she handled Blackbolt by erasing his mouth like Neo from the Matrix causing him to scream blast his own head out was visceral. The Reed Richards death showing him be physically unraveled visually reminded a little of Thanos turning Mantis into silly string-like material (only worst since this isn’t reality shifting but a physical mutilation of the body). 

Captain Carter then tragically gets severed in half by her own shield paralleling another What If series concept with Bucky severing Zombie Captain America the same way. Yikes!! Captain Marvel…actually I don’t remember…crushed by debris? Okay, if there is a nitpick to be found here is that everyone gets a spotlight worthy creative death scene until we get to Captain Marvel who I'm pretty sure just got covered by rubble.

Professor X however gets the most fascinating death. I loved the cinematic direction given to him tapping into the Scarlet Witch’s mind to reach the victimized Wanda in a white room. It reminded me a little of Legion’s white room mindscape in the Marvel FX Network TV series. Just the visual detail of the Sokovia home ruin debris and old school TV connecting to WandaVision was great. Charles trying to reach out to save Wanda while the Scarlet Witch shows up behind out of a red mist to snap his neck was utterly terrifying. Again, the supernatural-horror imagery in this movie is something to be admired with how far they take some of it. Seeing the Illuminati here makes me hope that our mainline universe may adapt a similar team only less arrogant. Perhaps this whole scene can also be seen as a teasing cautionary tale for what could happen to our new Avengers roster. Hmmm.

Fan service of course doesn’t just comprise of comic book related stuff as we are talking about a Sam Raimi movie after all. Some of you guys may know that I’m something of an Evil Dead fan myself so seeing Bruce Campbell show up as the pizza popper vendor was such a fun treat. The first cameo was honestly just serviceable at best (if only just to see him show up and have a slapstick scene beating himself up). However, it’s that post credits scene that really got me when he’s still exhaustingly punching himself Evil Dead 2 style. The moment Doctor Strange’s curse lifts and he happily turns to the camera and yells “It’s over!”, I was laughing out like a complete idiot in the theaters. Thank you Doctor Strange 2 for giving me the closest thing to a Bruce Campbell Ash Vs Evil Dead follow up that I’ll probably ever get. Also, and maybe I was just hungry at the time, I’d really love to try one of those pizza poppers.

Story & Character

Something that I really admired about Multiverse of Madness was its boldness of both narrative scope and franchise connectivity. The fact that this movie essentially acts as both a sequel to Doctor Strange as well as Season 1 of WandaVision was one of the big hook factor points for me. Marvel approaches this MCU entry with sheer confidence that everyone in attendance at the theaters did indeed watch WandaVision at some point to understand one of its pivotal character's conflict and lore expansion and I give them full props for it. Now the actual execution regarding how this movie acts as a follow up is however up for debate in terms of storytelling. For one thing, I was relieved to see that the unnerving ending of WandaVision was actually being approached here in terms of the morally questionable way in which our hero just left a town full of people that she brainwashed. The follow up in this movie? Wanda (the Scarlet Witch) is indeed a full blown villain from early on and almost carries that antagonistic position all the way through to the end. This felt appropriate in connecting to where the show left things.

I was nervous that this sequel would just disregard the fact that she literally warped an entire town out of her own emotional anguish, but instead the movie says “Oh trust us…we know what she did. Here's how we shine a spotlight on it”. I also like the fact that it’s not just Wanda turning evil because she desperately wants a family (a villain motivation that wouldn't have sat well with me at all), but instead the Darkhold book itself being at the center of everything. Much like how I wanted the WandaVision series to reveal some sinister evil behind the scenes, Doctor Strange 2 reveals the Darkhold as the true villain here. I think Wanda’s story is fascinating in that we’re essentially watching an emotionally and mentally corrupted hero fully unleashing themselves as one of the franchise’s most powerful and certainly most terrifying villains yet. All of this leads to an intriguing conclusion with her eventual defeat not being one of some generic superhero battle but a perspective changing revelation. The moment America Chavez uses her power not to banish Wanda but instead to send her to the universe that she possessed an innocent variant of hers to emotionally confront herself, I was touched.

That scene of her watching a version of her children be deeply terrified at her presence causing her to fall to her knees in shame was something that I’m honestly not sure we’ve ever seen conceptually tackled in the MCU before. The big bad villain legitimately seeing the wrongs of their actions and deciding to entirely drop down in defeat followed by making the decision to undo it all. The other Wanda that was possessed who had every right to fight her off in some big climactic witch fight instead forgives and comforts her which again just felt delightfully profound. I was honestly moved by the boldness of this direction. Now on a side note, after listening to other people speak about the movie now, I will agree with one criticism being Vision’s bizarre absence as well as the lack of fleshing out the Darkhold itself. I actually did my own rewrite on how Multiverse of Madness could have really take the Darkhold corruption element and highlight in a narratively and genre enriching fashion. Check out that article whenever you have a chance as I personally feel it could've greatly benefited this movie.

As for Doctor Strange’s story, here’s where things felt a bit mixed for me. The one main negative for me with this sequel is ironically the same issue that I had with the previous solo Doctor Strange ventures. That being an emotionally lacking attachment to the overall narrative. To be completely honest, Doctor Strange feels like a vehicle for lore expansion more than a dramatically compelling character story in its own right. The Christine romantic drama background plot has never quite made an impact on me with any of the movie or shows exploring it. The same can be said for his arrogance causing collateral damage which, has always intrigued me in concept and scope, but never as a character arc to connect to. Stephen just comes off as someone who seems to be on the verge of changing for the better only to throw away his redemption in the next project. For me personally, I just don't find that type of character to be compelling enough to attach myself to (or at least not how they've handled it in the MCU). As for the evil Doctor Strange showing up in the movie, again, great concept, lacking execution.

That being said, this movie does introduce something dramatically interesting. There’s brief mention of a sister that Strange lost to a drowning incident in a frozen lake. This alone felt like it would’ve made for a better story to explore throughout his journey. Instead of some dull love story with no sense of a fulfilling end goal whatsoever, we could’ve had the story of a man dealing with a tragic family death that drove his ambitions to conquer the cosmic laws of existence causing his morale compass to gradually shatter and deteriorate. Now that sounds like a story worth diving into. Still, I do have to point out that it is because of Doctor Strange's involvement that we’re given some of the MCU’s most fascinating mythology building. I absolutely loved the lore chatter surrounding magic and the supernatural powers of this expansive universe. Seeing these mystical powers in action while also getting an idea of the mythology behind them has always been a visual feast to enjoy and makes up some of the franchise’s greatest cinematic moments.

But putting the spectacle to the side for a moment, the pacing of the film feels like it’s trying to quickly introduce as many supernatural lore expansion elements as possible but frequently sacrifices space and time for the audience to organically connect with the character’s situations. Sure, I understand the mission at hand and it is indeed conceptually intriguing, but that doesn’t mean that I feel emotionally immersed in it. There’s a lot happening onscreen and I’m genuinely fascinated and at awe by all of it, but there’s also a hollow feeling at the center of the story itself that makes this almost feel…forgettable. If this was a Phase 1 or 2 movie then I would’ve given a small pass if only to be dazzled by what I was seeing. But with this being a Phase Four title, especially considering the strong effort given to character writing on the Disney+ shows and even recent movies like Shang Chi’s villain, I expect more than just “arrogant hero continues to learn the same lesson in every universe”. That being said, just so people don’t get the wrong idea, I still very much enjoyed the movie overall with all of its crazy visuals and deeply intriguing concepts explored.

Rating: 8/10