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Spoilers will be very light. Don’t worry.
Dr. Stephen Strange is attending the wedding of his unrequited love Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) when chaos erupts in the street outside (and the fact that Michael Stuhlbarg’s name is on the poster for his single, early-movie scene at the wedding feels like an agent’s coup). A massive octopus-like creature is chasing a girl named America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) across dimensions, causing chaos along the way. Strange and Wong (Benedict Wong) leap into action to save the girl and learn that America is sought for her ability to traverse alternate universes, although she can’t really control when she does so. Strange suspects that witchcraft may be involved, which leads him to seek the guidance of Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen), who is still reeling from the loss of her children at the end of the Disney+ show and under the spell of the evil Darkhold, a book of evil spells that Raimi fans will probably note looks a lot like the Necronomicon. Wanda is willing to do whatever it takes to live in the universe where she still has her children (although Vision’s name is strangely never uttered), which unleashes chaos for Strange, Wong, and America that involves Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a few classic characters, and, well, some new faces with familiar names.
There’s a sequence relatively early in “Multiverse of Madness” wherein Strange and America fly through alternate universes, including one that looks animated and one where their bodies are made of paint. I got excited. I thought after what felt like an interminable set-up that Raimi and company were about to blow up the Marvel formula machine and make a live-action film that felt like “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Imagine that. A visual artist like Raimi with a modern MCU budget and complete creative freedom.
You’ll have to imagine it because this movie isn’t interested in that kind of potential. “Multiverse of Madness” is a film that constantly pushes back against its own possibilities. It’s got a plot that could have creatively surprised viewers over and over with new variations on the very concept of a world with heroes in it and a director willing to go there. But it’s very clearly a product of a content machine, fighting against its own self-interests because it’s scared to alienate any of the millions of potential viewers. The sense that these movies only feign interest in being “strange” when they’re about as normal as can be makes them all the more frustrating. Both “WandaVision” and “Loki” took more creative risks. Significantly.
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