DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS – Review

“Tra la! It’s May! The lusty month of May!” sings Guenevere in Lerner and Lowe’s classic musical “CAMELOT”. Well, if that “lust’ is for big Summer blockbusters, then the song holds true for film fans. Ah, but for the last fourteen years, May also means Marvel, as the cinema season officially begins with another trip into the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). But it was in a later month, October, that Marvel’s master magician made his first big-screen appearance in a splashy solo outing/origin story. And can you believe that it was waaay back in 2016? Pretty long for a follow-up, though the good doc has been kept quite busy in the MCU, conferring with the Norse God in THOR: RAGNAROK, battling Thanos in the last two Avengers epics, and nearly six months ago he attempted to help Peter Parker in SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME with pretty calamitous consequences. Oh, but this one’s his “baby’ as he touches up the goatee (we saw that “coloring kit” in the basement), and irons his devoted cloak of levitation for DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS. Nuthin’ up his sleeves…

As that familiar logo fades out, the good doctor, Steven Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is right in the midst of a harrowing rescue mission, protecting a terrified young woman from a looming, vicious “beastie”. And things aren’t going well…until he awakens. What kind of late-night snack could’ve spawned that nightmare? Before we can find out, he’s on his way to a wedding involving his former hospital colleague Christine (Rachel McAdams). Of course, the reception is disrupted, as the sounds of mayhem alert Strange to an unknown and unseen destructive force (hurling cars, buses, the standard Kaiju stuff). With the wave of his hand his spiffy tux morphs into his familiar “work uniform”, and Strange leaps into the fray as his spells make the beast visible, a nasty one-eyed massive “land-octopus”. Oh, and that single orb is focused on a teenage woman, the same one from Strange’s dream. Luckily the current Sorceror Supreme, Wong (Benedict Wong) joins the battle royale and the young lady is rescued. The duo founds out her story at a nearby diner. She’s America Chavez ( Xochitl Gomez), who’s a visitor to the city. And this universe. It seems she has a “gift”: the ability to “cross over”, opening portals into different dimensions, a concept Strange dealt with in his team-up with Spidey. He believes that a powerful being used witchcraft to send the monster after her in order to exploit and perhaps steal her power. As Wong whisks her away to the mountain top magic fortress/training camp Kamar-Taj, Strange pays a visit to someone familiar with those dark arts. He finds Wanda Maximoff AKA the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), still in mourning at her secluded rural home. When the menace is revealed, a huge battle at the Taj sends Strange and Chavez on a wild multiverse trek, from “616” to “838” (not area codes), as they try to thwart a crazed masterplan that could destroy theirs and all the worlds.

Once again Cumberbatch reminds us of his “action hero” skills, though if he can be a self-loathing “cow-puncher, then the man can tackle any role. After his last three MCU exploits, he’s balancing the conjuring with an often dry, even brittle sense of humor, which offsets the deadly danger and often incredulous concepts. But here Cumberbatch shows us the good doctor’s somber side as he’s reminded of his life choices and ponders the “path not taken” (he’s caught off guard several times when asked, “Are you happy?”). Of course, he also conveys the doctor’s razor-sharp intelligence, even as he forgoes the “spells’ for some hand-to-hand battles. Matching his mystical methods is Olsen, fresh off her justly lauded work in the streaming series “Wandavision”, who delves further into the emotional depths to make Ms. Maximoff perhaps the MCU’s most conflicted character. She’s literally the “walking wounded”, haunted by the memories of the love she shared with her fantasy siblings (and Viz). But those sad eyes can turn icy cold when those “visions” are threatened, flipping the switch into “danger mode”. Olsen firmly establishes herself as one of the movies’ most talented and interesting talents. We also get another superb actress returning after the first DS epic, namely McAdams, who is given much more to do this time around as Strange’s “lost past love”, Christine. She projects that intense, still simmering passion for him, though it’s tempered by the heartbreaks of the past that remind her that they’re just “not in the cards”. Oh, and the film showcases a terrific new screen star in Gomez as Chavez, a teenager who’s much more than a “damsel in distress” or the prize in an epic “tig-of-war”. She’s dealing with intense guilt over her own past while forcing herself to move forward and find the solution within herself while being careful about the new version of familiar faces and not trusting too quickly. Wong as “Wong” is an excellent verbal sparring partner for the doctor, fighting to protect, but fast to deflate any bit of ego. And also returning from the 2016 flick is Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo, Strange’s “frenemy” then, but now perhaps a pillar of support in a multiverse variant that may be an aid in the fight, though Strange keeps his defenses “up”.

Earlier I provided a look into what’s really just the first act, or perhaps a prologue, of the film, to keep from spoiling any of the twists and surprises. Yes, it’s really action-packed, unlike many stories set in the “nether-realms”. And it charges right “out of the gate” at audiences, as though “shot out of a cannon” perhaps due to the new force at the “director’s chair’. But we could also call him a “seasoned” one as he’s new to the MCU, but a veteran of Marvel movies. I’m speaking of the masterful Sam Raimi who first brought Spidey to the cinemas twenty years ago (wow), along with two sequels for Sony (before Marvel started their own studio). Now he’s back, working directly for Marvel Studios on the other major “silver age of comics” creation from Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (and with his jet-black goatee and hair, with a side silver streak, Cumberbatch really looks like Ditko’s rendition in the flesh). Hard to believe that Raimi has been making movies for 40 years as he brings the energy and inventive spark of a recent film school grad to this superhero/ horror hybrid. Yes, there’s some truly scary stuff, so parents may want to check it out before deciding if their lil’ MCU fans can handle it. Oh, and Raimi brings much the same ferocity (as Stephen King said on the movie poster and ads) he used in the EVIL DEAD trilogy, the Spidey trilogy, and his pseudo-superhero DARKMAN with a pinch of the “gallows humor” of DRAG ME TO HELL. Plus he uses the new film tech as though he’s a kid in a candy store with swooping drone shots, twisty spiraling dreamscapes, and BEMs (bug-eyed monsters) who seem to have sprung from those Ditko-drawn Atlas comics of the late 50s. I’m most happy to report that he’s not merely “punching a time clock” doing “work for hire”. The wise execs in charge are letting Raimi be Raimi, complete with the signature camera shots and inside jokes and “running gags” that will warm his fans’ hearts. And it’s a blissful reunion with the music maestro behind many of his films, the great Danny Elfman who’s a big aid in a scene that’s a “music throw-down” mixing nods to FANTASIA and THE 5000 FINGERS OF DR. T (really). The screenplay from Michael Waldron provides a great “springboard’ for the fun, though the story’s highlight occurs prior to its third act with a “set piece’ that will make Marvel fans vibrate with glee (giddy doesn’t quite describe it). The MCU knows how to “reward” their fans (listen up, “Distinguished Competition”). But since that sequence is early, the film tends to drag a bit as it could use a bit of a trim (maybe five or six minutes to keep up the pace). And yes, the mid and post-credits bits are great, as this proves to be a most worthy successor to the recent Spidey spectacle. DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS is more movie magic from the “house (and studio) of ideas”! Somewhere Stan is flashing that sweet smile…

3.5 Out of 4

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS is now playing in theatres everywhere