REVIEW: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Happy Tuesday! I’ll be back later this week with your usual newsletter programming. While you wait, here’s a sneak peek of my review for the newest Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — in theaters this weekend.
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‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ brings horror to the MCU
Doctor Strange has to go up against his fellow Avenger Wanda Maximoff in order to save a young girl with immense power and the fabric of the multiverse itself
Quick Cut: Don’t worry, Sam Raimi fans. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness fully goes horror—jump scares, body horror, a smattering of diabolical kills and all. It’s a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie through and through but has Raimi’s creepy groovy campy deranged DNA all over it. It’s messy, uneven, and ridiculous but also may have made a play to be my favorite MCU movie of all time. Start the Elizabeth Olsen Oscar campaign.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is at its best when the powers that be allow the director’s DNA to weave its way into the tried and true formula. There was Taika Waititi’s slapstick-infused and witty Thor: Ragnarok, Chloé Zhao’s quiet existential musings in Eternals, and now the groovy creepy fun delights Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
When Raimi, best known for creating the cult classic Evil Dead horror franchise, was first tapped to direct many speculated that the movie may go full horror after all before the universe where that version of the movie existed was quashed. However, if the jump scares, body horror, and smattering of downright devilish and diabolical kills are any indication, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a horror movie through and through.
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