WARNING: This movie review will contain spoilers, so if you have not watched Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness then I suggest you go watch it before reading this.
“I am a mother, Stephen. Not a monster.” – The Scarlet Witch
Fans of Marvel, the multiverse has officially been shattered. That is right, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has finally been released in movie theaters! Since it has debuted around the world, it has made $703 million in the world box office. The film starred Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange/ Doctor Strange and Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch. This film also introduced us to a new character, America Chavez, played by Xochitl Gomez who by the way was very fun to see in the madness of the multiverse.
Doctor Strange into the Multiverse of Madness is like no other Marvel movie that we have seen before. Director Sam Raimi did a fantastic job at depicting each character and incorporating a horror element into this Doctor Strange project. The film is about how Stephen Strange used a forbidden spell to open up the multiverse and threats start to pour into his world. Doctor Strange then meets a girl named America Chavez, who can travel through the multiverse but does not know how to control her power. He then asks the Scarlet Witch for help but then discovers that Wanda is the one behind the madness and is after America to take her power so she can finally be reunited with her children. Wanda gives Strange an ultimatum and if her demands are not met, chaos will erupt.
When Wanda’s demands are not met, she invades the Kamar-Taj and kills everyone that steps in her way. America, out of fear transports herself and Strange into another dimension in the multiverse to escape from the Scarlet Witch. After that, Stephen and America try to find another variant of Stephen but then are tricked by a variant version of Mordo. They wake up in this very secured box and Stephen sees another version of his ex-girlfriend, Christine Palmer who studies the multiverse. Then the Scarlet Witch arrives by “dream walking” in her own variant and bumps into the Illuminati. The Illuminati consisted of cameos of other superheros, they attempt to go head to head with the Scarlet Witch but are painfully defeated by her. Wanda then chases Strange, America, and Christine into the space between realities to find the Book of Vishanti. In the final battle, Strange uses his own variant to “dream walk” as well in order to defeat Wanda but America finally is able to control her powers and gives Wanda exactly what she wants. Wanda sees the wrong of her ways by witnessing her children from another universe react to her. They view her as some type of monster and not as their mother, after that she then destroys the Darkhold in other dimensions so no other being is tempted by it again. Strange and Palmer are returned back to their universes and sometime later the Kamar-Taj is slowly rebuilding. Finally, Strange grows a third eye due to him using the Darkhold by “dream walking” and then the film ends abruptly.
PROS:
My favorite part about this movie was to see Wanda as some sort of villain. I believe that Elizabeth Olsen’s performance was unbelievable and she definitely stole the show. Meeting America Chavez in the film was really amazing because seeing a young powerful Latina up on the big screen made my 10 year-old self fangirl a bit. I really enjoyed how Doctor Strange’s story was opened more because I got to see that he has to make sacrifices in order to save the world but is scared to open up to the people he loves. For me, I believe that Wanda did what she did because she lost everyone she ever loved and her children were the only things left. Her overall story was really beautiful yet tragic in this film and I enjoyed how Director Raimi still kept that piece of Wanda from WandaVision. This project really brought forth what Marvel is all about, bringing in the heart of something and adding a bit of humor to the mix. In the end, Multiverse of Madness is my favorite movie of the year and closely behind it is Spider-Man No Way Home.
“As a Marvel fan, I really enjoyed watching Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It showed the potential of what Marvel characters have and now this project opened doors to new possibilities/universes that could potentially happen in future projects,” said senior, Sofia Garcia.
CONS:
Something that I disliked about the film is how there were some unanswered questions. Where is Wanda’s story going to go on from here? Is Doctor Strange somewhat bad due to him using the Darkhold? How will Marvel Studios incorporate the multiverse in future projects? Those are just some questions that the ending of the film prompted me to think about. Other than that, I felt like the last third of the film was a bit rushed in trying to wrap up what happened and I believe that Marvel should have kept the 40 minutes of scrapped footage to expand the story a bit more.
In conclusion, Doctor Strange into the Multiverse of Madness was a really fun and new movie to watch on the big screen. And I hope that other Marvel fans were pleased to see the film and experience it with others. If you have not yet experienced the film, then I recommend it because it is a mind blowing movie to watch.
