We say it immediately, without mincing words and without frills: long live Sam Raimi. Because Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, more than a great superhero blockbuster, even before it can be defined as a Kevin Feige production or another intriguing piece of the gigantic Marvel Cinematic Universe, it is above all a splendid cinecomic by Sam Raimi. A film entirely by him, adhering in every fiber to the Raiminian cinema: anarchic, disconcerting, powerful. In a word, as fully fitting his intricate Multiverse, insane.
The Multiverse is here again
On the other hand, without frills is also the narration that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness puts us in front of: sent, straight to the point, immediately in the heart of events (but above all of the Multiverse itself) since its very first sequences. An incipit that immediately clarifies the role of America Chavezbut also of a specific variant of Stephen, and in general of the evolutionary path that the new MCU film wants to put in front of its protagonist.
That of a powerful and calculating entity, but also imperfect and fallible, which in the prologue of Multiverse of Madness he has to come to terms with many of his recent actions and with certain ghosts from his past. From his role as an inglorious demiurge in the war against Thanos to his latest actions alongside Spider-Man (by the way, swing in the direction of our Spider-Man No Way Home review), without forgetting the personal torments that have gripped Stephen’s heart since Scott Derrickson’s first film: suffered and now forbidden love for Christineon the other hand, is at the center of the beautiful episode dedicated to Strange in What If (our What If review is only one portal away from you), to which certain stylistic choices of Multiverse of Madnesse are understandably indebted. The narrative trappings inherited from the previous iterations of the Doctor in the shared universe, in short, were largely predictable and fairly expected. What remained to be clarified, in addition to that of the aforementioned Chavez, the role of Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witchas well as that of the Illuminati, and obviously the implications of this mysterious Multiverse of Madness: a concept of which, to quote the words of Strange himself in No Way Home, “we know frighteningly little” and on which above all they were not entirely clear certain dynamics.
Without climbing into awkward spoilers, we can tell you that he expected concrete answers on the future direction of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and on the use of the Multiverse may remain slightly dissatisfied. The truth is that Sam Raimi’s film, not being particularly diluted in the minutes, chooses a different and more independent path: the impression is that the Multiverse of Madness is in any case conceived to represent the first brick of a larger mosaic, but that the extravagant nature of the project provided more than fertile ground for exploit the authorship and creative genius of its director.
To the point that, probably, the main flaw of this Doctor Strange 2 is precisely in the use he makes of the Multiverse and of the story itself: we are faced with an extremely dense film, perhaps even too much, which (fortunately) does not compromise the coherence of the story, but speeds it up without all the characters having the right breath. And it is precisely the case of Wanda Maximoff, to whom Elizabeth Olsen gives a performance as intense as that of WandaVision (recover our review of WandaVision). Scarlet Witch is surprisingly central to the plot, exploited very well thanks to its charisma, but little deepened and inexplicably regressed compared to its beautiful evolutionary path during the events of Westview, and is probably the reflection of a story that would have needed a more concrete writing, however, net of a choral management of the various characters (and of the extras: all dosed, measured, coherent and exciting at the right point) which remains convincing.
The Multiverse according to Sam Raimi
However, it is in the form, in the visual packaging and in the exercise of style that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness confirms not only something never seen before, but even one of the best Marvel Studios productions ever. Never as before, in fact, Kevin Feige’s commercial need fits perfectly with the creative freedom granted to Sam Raimi, who exploits the madness of the Multiverse to perfectly contaminate his style with the narrative formula of the MCU.
Doctor Strange 2 is an anarchic, visionary and at times even courageous film. Because mature, violent, in some moments even splatter and surprisingly dark. He’s Sam Raimi at full power in a mainstream operaa cinecomic in which the family rules imposed by Kevin Feige coexist peacefully and the sickly recklessness of the director of Home. A marriage that not only turned out to be happy, but even balanced in his compromises. Because Raimi’s vision and his horror approach to him, in certain segments of the film, end up overlapping with the trappings of consumer films, always remaining elegant, fascinating and pop. And it is difficult to further analyze the Multiverse of Madness without necessarily going into the detail of the individual scenes, the characters used, the choice of shots and the impeccability of certain camera movements, as well as some specific stylistic and musical choices. All that matters to tell is that, as has not happened for years, the identity of an author emerges in the visual framework of a great Marvel blockbuster to the point of overshadowing its narrative defects, which in any case will be properly analyzed in a long “full spoiler” reflection. An overwhelming visual magnificence, which combines the power and restlessness of the images with brilliant directorial ideas supported by the sumptuous musical gigantism of Danny Elfman. A memorable experience to say the least, which brings the creative and anarchic genius of Sam Raimi back to the Olympus of the great superhero blockbusters.
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