It’s a mad world
THE DOCTOR’S MULTIVERSE RAMPAGE WILL LEAVE MARVEL FANS A LITTLE CONFUSED
DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (M)
Director: Sam Raimi (Evil Dead)
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Xochitl Gomez, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams
Rating: ★★★kk
Worlds colliding, but not cohering
Back in 2016, the first Doctor Strange movie unspooled a storytelling blueprint that would soon radically reconfigure everything within the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).
We’re talking here, of course, about the multiverse: a metaphysical constellation of parallel worlds, shifting dimensions and infinite realms. An ever-changing state where time is fluid, space is rubbery and anything is possible.
Don’t quite get it? Well, you’d better get along to the second Doctor Strange. If only to better understand the many awesome capabilities and niggling nuances of the multiverse as its continues its inevitable takeover of the MCU canon.
As a movie, it must be stated Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is uncharacteristically messy for a Marvel production.
There are so many sudden mood swings in play that the movie struggles to hold a balanced form for very long.
A number of genuinely jolting diversions into the horror genre will definitely surprise (and may also polarise) many viewers.
As all Marvel fans know, Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is never far away when the multiverse is rumbling ominously.
And it is not long before the surgeon-turned-super-sorcerer is once again diving through numerous portals and roaming several dimensions to get the better of a powerful foe (a figure well-known in MCU circles whose identity will not be revealed here).
Strange also has a fellow traveller for company on many of these dangerous adventures: America Chavez (played by rising star Xochitl Gomez), a teenager with an unprecedented gift for moving between worlds in ways that even Strange and his great friend Wong (Benedict Wong) are yet to learn.
Sensing someone is chasing America to relieve her of this unique talent, Strange turns to former Avenger Wanda “Scarlet Witch” Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) for some urgent insight as to what might be happening.
Without giving too much away, the elasticised laws of physics that govern the multiverse means that there will be occasions where multiple versions of the same person will be pursuing dangerously differing agendas.
You want two Doctor Stranges for the price of one? Believe me when I tell you The Multiverse of Madness will be delivering well above and beyond that number.
However, when either stacked alongside the game-changing achievements of the original Doctor Strange, or the wildly entertaining exploits of the most recent Marvel movie Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness comes up short of the mark.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opens in cinemas nationwide today
THE DROVER’S WIFE: THE LEGEND OF MOLLY JOHNSON (MA15+) Rating: ★★kkk General release
Actor, author and filmmaker Leah Purcell has already made a few passes at the 1892 Henry Lawson short story The Drover’s Wife. However, what met with acclaim on both the live stage and the printed page dies a slow and inconsequential death on the big screen. While the movie clearly has the most honourable motivations in reframing its turbulent and tragic story in an Indigenous feminist light, overly stylised performances and underwhelming writing and direction relegates the experience to a dull, dour grind. In addition to calling the shots from behind the camera, Purcell also takes the title role. Her Molly is a tough, no-bulldust woman of the bush, with many mouths to feed and no husband around to help out. With four children at her feet and another about to drop, the last thing Molly needs is the law nosing about her property, or unannounced visits from her absentee spouse’s drunken and abusive mates. Could there be any worse time for a wanted Aboriginal man (Rob Collins) to be hiding out at her farm? While Purcell’s narrative emits a fury and intent that are often palpable, some inelegant pacing, a needlessly distracting music score and inconsistent acting smothers all her good work.
PETIT MAMAN (PG) Rating: ★★★★j Selected cinemas
If you had the privilege of catching French director Celine Sciamma’s last remarkable movie (2019’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire) then you’ve definitely been hanging out for her next one. Well, it is finally here, and of the same refined, high calibre as before. In just 70 short minutes, Sciamma spins a compelling, confounding and utterly beautiful web of storytelling that most filmmakers would struggle to fit inside three long hours. See this exquisite light drama with as little advance knowledge as possible. All you really need to know is that a little 8year-old girl named Nelly (Josephine Sanz) is supposed to be helping her grieving mum get over a death in the family. Instead, a walk in some nearby woods introduces Nelly to Marion (Gabrielle Sanz), another 8-yearold girl who is virtually her mirror image (the two lead actors here are indeed identical twins). What follows is a profound, enigmatic and indescribably touching experience, quite unlike anything else you’re bound to see this year. Highly recommended.