Coming off the heels of "Spider-Man: No Way Home", there's a lot of hype for the Doctor Strange sequel as it continues to explore the concept of the multiverse within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As "Multiverse of Madness" attempts to both continue Strange's character journey and build up the inevitable multiversal war, the film does succeed but not without faltering somewhat along the way.
In terms of Strange's arc in the film, Benedict Cumberbatch does a good job at conveying his internal conflict as the character wrestles with the choices he's made across the movies, both personal and for the "greater good". As he learns of different versions of himself, it really raises questions about his morality and based on the ending, one of them will be if it will only go so far.
Without spoiling too much, the Scarlet Witch is the main villain of the film as Wanda officially breaks bad. Elizabeth Olsen outdoes herself from "WandaVision" as her character's story seems to come to its natural conclusion. It creates a nice parallel with Strange's story about how far one would go to achieve their goals, again, whether they be personal or for the "greater good". That being said, "Multiverse of Madness" was the first real test for Marvel about whether one truly needs to view the Disney+ series when their plot elements eventually spill over into the films to grasp the story better (taking into account that not everyone has Disney+). Sadly, it fails with this instance. While the film does discuss the events of "WandaVision", you'll have a deeper appreciation of the story and understanding of Wanda's motivation after having watched it since it's without a doubt the most crucial part of her character journey.
The rest of the main cast is rounded out well by Benedict Wong once again killing it as Wong, Xochitl Gomez carving out her place in the MCU's next generation as America Chavez, and Rachel McAdams having a more prominent role as Christine Palmer compared to the first film.
Director Sam Raimi is known for his work on the original Spider-Man trilogy and the Evil Dead series. With "Multiverse of Madness", he's able to bring both his lighthearted and demonic touches to the film resulting in some of the most creative imagery seen in an MCU film, especially on the latter category. Marvel succeeds in what they wanted to be their first horror film, with it at times being very graphic, unsettling, and packed with so many jump-scares that they seem bent on giving you a heart attack.
Of course, the main draw and most hype toward this movie was the multiverse aspect as the rumor mill for this movie had people speculating on what new characters would be introduced and what former non-MCU Marvel stars would be returning. It does seem that after seeing all the big screen Spider-Men together in "No Way Home", people were expecting a smorgasbord of cameos; I won't deny I had some thoughts on the matter myself (particularly of the Deadpool variety). My point is, please temper your expectations. With what we do get though, I felt very satisfied with who does end up appearing, but not so much with what happens to them; if anything, it at least opens up sacred timeline versions for some of these characters to appear later on.
Going off that though, I'm a little disappointed that Chiwetel Ejiofor's return as Mordo is that of a variant and not the one from the first film. It seems implied Strange did battle with his version off screen, but it leaves the set-up from the post-credits scene still without any real payoff. Which is what brings me to the main issue I feel with "Multiverse of Madness". While it continues Strange's story, it doesn't feel like a continuation of the first film whereas the hype of the multiverse will disappoint those expecting more. While I feel the film does succeed in what it wanted to do and have it both ways, one could see one aspect overshadowing the other.
Overall, "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" is a very entertaining and bloodcurdling film bolstered by Strange and Wanda's storylines and another taste of the MCU multiverse. The only advice I can give going in is not to expect another "Endgame" level film just yet.
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