Mad, mad worlds
Director Sam Raimi saves the latest Marvel instalment.
DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS directed by Sam Raimi
Yes, it really is six years between the first Doctor Strange movie and this sequel. It likely feels shorter because neurosurgeon-turnedsorcerer Stephen Strange (the ubiquitous Benedict
Cumberbatch) keeps jumping out of orange sparkly portals all over the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Avengers:
Infinity War and Endgame, and the No 1 box office film of 2021, Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
just five months after No Way
Home means a ready-made audience familiar with the Marvel multiverse concept. Our friendly neighbourhood superheroes occupy just one of an infinite number of universes, where endless variations of themselves exist – or don’t – along with a variety of histories and outcomes.
Viewing No Way Home isn’t necessary to quickly connect the dots, thanks to an adrenalin-pumping opening where an alternate ponytailed Strange and a newcomer teen superhero, America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), battle a demon between universes for a sought-after sacred book.
Alternate Strange is killed and his body transported with Chavez to our Dr Strange universe. Chavez can move across the multiverse – a rare ability immediately sought by Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), aka the Scarlet Witch. If you’ve seen Marvel’s creatively ambitious streaming series
WandaVision, you won’t be surprised that here she wants to move to a universe where her two young sons actually exist.
Despite multiple universes at stake, it can be a struggle to care what happens to Chavez. Her character is
underdeveloped at the expense of screen time for Maximoff, Strange, his unrequited love Dr Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), supreme sorcerer Wong (Benedict Wong) and old nemesis Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor). What ultimately saves Madness from becoming assembly-line filler
until the next Marvel movie is director Sam Raimi. He injects his trademark frenetic energy, ingenious camera angles and slapstick at every opportunity, and even a dash of Grand Guignol-level gore. The humour is as sharp and self-aware as his landmark Spider-Man trilogy, and Raimi also pays homage to his groundbreaking The Evil
Dead, Army of Darkness and Darkman in moments that had me chuckling in the dark.
Elsewhere, cameo appearances by various Marvel characters elicited cheers from the audience at my screening.
Madness isn’t a platinum Marvel instalment – for a 2022 Marvel occult adventure of real depth, try the new series Moon
Knight – but with Raimi at the helm, it’s still a rollicking twohour escape from the madness we endure every day in our own universe.
IN CINEMAS NOW
Tom Cardy