Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022) Review (HUGE SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!!!!)

Hello guys and welcome back for another round of movie reviews with Movie Nerd, a place where you can be nerdy about movies!

Finally, we have arrived here, at this point in the multiverse guys, with Doctor Strange and friends, some old, some new faces as well and with a friend turned foe to spice things up a bit and to give us a real madness to enjoy. When I first saw the teaser trailer for this movie as a post credit scene at the end of Spider Man No Way Home, I was so looking forward to seeing it. By the time the second trailer arrived, I was even more excited and intrigued by the possibilities and curious where the MCU will be heading next. Plus, with Sam Raimi at the helm, I was really looking forward for the horror and the creepiness of it. Did the movie really delivered on the expectations that I had or on the expectations of everybody else? Was it worth the hype and the excitement? Was it really a multiverse of madness or just the expectation of one? Was the madness really madness or just some crazy shit that happened?

I will tell you my thoughts and my honest opinion about the movie but, first, a little synopsis for you guys, that haven't already seen the movie:

• In Marvel Studios’ “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” the MCU unlocks the Multiverse and pushes its boundaries further than ever before. Journey into the unknown with Doctor Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.

So, although I put a SPOILER ALERT in the title of the review I will issue a second SPOILER ALERT here because I am going to give out some things that are really important and, if you haven't seen the movie yet and you reached this point in the review, I would suggest for you to stop scrolling, go watch the movie and then come back and safely read my own opinions on it.

HUGE SPOILER ALERT AFTER THIS POINT!!!!

Like I said in the intro, I was so hyped for this movie and very curious where Doctor Strange will end up next after the events of No Way Home. My expectations were pretty high when I went into the movie but, when I came out, my expectations were met but, like, not 100%. Don't get me wrong here, I really enjoyed the movie, the movie did not suck, not in the slightest but there where some things that really did not work or weren't really done correctly or in their entirety.

First of all, the visuals. The movie looks amazing, the visual effects are stunning and it looks very differently than most of the Marvel movies that came before it. The CGI looks really good but, unfortunately, almost the whole, if not even all of the movie, has CGI but, nonetheless, it looks really good. The camera shots and the style of Raimi's filming and directing are so mind bending that you cannot look away. The movie is shot really well and Raimi's style is in every corner of the screen, with the tilted camera shots and the spinning camera shots really immersing you into the movie.

Second of all, the sound design and the soundtrack. The sound design and sound effects in this movie elevate the horror elements, making it very creepy, unsettling and downright terrifying. Plus, Danny Elfman's score really adds to the creepiness, creating that horror atmosphere that, really, only Danny Elfman could. Amazing sound effects and an amazing score, one of my favourite parts of the movie.

Thirdly, the performances were very good, Cumberbatch, Olsen, McAdams, Wong, Ejiofor bringing they're A game to the play and really selling it, with multiples levels of emotions with every single variant that they played. Also, I cannot say very good performances, without mentioning Xochitl Gomes, the girl who plays America Chavez, the new comer into the MCU, who really held her own amongst these amazing actors. A well acted performance and I really am curious where the actress and her character will end up next.

The action is great, the fight sequences are well constructed, especially the attack on Kamar Taj, when Wanda kills almost all of the sorcerer's to get Chavez and, my favourite of them all, the fight between Strange and Sinister Strange, doing a musical duel. A short lived but an amazing fight sequence nonetheless, visually appealing and a treat to experience.

I really enjoyed that they continued the story of Wanda from WandaVision, definitely need to watch that show to really understand this movie, plus a few others like Infinity War, Endgame, some of the X-Men movies, the Fantastic Four movies or, at least, have some knowledge about these characters that are new for the MCU. Also, some episodes of What If... season 1, the ones with Captain Carter, the Strange episode and, possibly, the final episode of season 1. Also, that is the problem with this movie, that it was made for Marvel fans and comic books fans and, if you don't have knowledge of any of these characters, this movie will seem confusing to you and you will not understand some of the plot points of it.

Speaking of Captain Carter, it's time to talk cameos. We already knew that Patrick Stewart will return as Xavier but the appearance was something else because he plays the X-Men animated series version from the 90's, with the yellow hover chair and the green suit and it was amazing to see that in live action. Plus, we got Hayley Atwell as live action version of Captain Carter, Maria Rambeau as a version of Captain Marvel, with the actress from the 2019 movie reprising the role, Anson Mount as Black Bolt, from the Inhumans short lived 1 season series and, the fan casting that everybody wanted, John Krasinsky as Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, leader of the Fantastic Four. Although these members of the Illuminati are killed by Wanda, I really hope that these actors and these versions of the characters will still appear in Marvel movies or future Disney+ series.

With all of those cameos, I really hoped for a few more so I was a little bit disappointed because of that. Also, because the movie's length is just a little over 2 hours, there isn't that much of character development and emotionally involved moments, just up until the end, when you really feel Wanda's pain and suffering and what she went through. I also felt that Strange was a bit of a side character in his own movie, the focus being on Wanda and Chavez but, still, we still got a fairly amount of Doctor Strange. Also, the way that Wanda sacrifices herself, or at least, the 616 version of Wanda, was similar like how Doc Ock sacrificed himself in the second Raimi Spider Man movie, because, as Doc Ock only cared about his experiment and his machine towards the end, Wanda also only cared about being with her children, just up until the end, when her children really see the real her. After the events of No Way Home though, I am not really sure Doc Ock really still dies.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie, it was satisfying enough for me, it is a horror movie from start to finish, Raimi's style is everywhere, the humor is very good, it works really well and it's similar to a Taika or a Shane Black humor, a bit more physical and a bit more slapstick than others. Great visuals, amazing score and sound design, creepy and unsettling atmosphere, bloody and much more violent than expected, with some gore and body horror that I did not see coming, some Evil Dead vibes and Bruce Campbell funny cameo. A bit to short, with little to none character development and with a cameo that really gave the wow factor in the post credit scene, with freaking Charlize Theron playing Dormammu's neese, which was so unexpected. A good and enjoyable movie, some crazy shit happening but lacking the real madness from the title. 7.8/10

OK guys, that was my review for this one. Next up, maybe the second Sonic movie but, I will have a very busy week next week so, I am not sure that I will be able to post that review next week. Until then, take care, stay safe and keep on reviewing!