CARL'S POP CULTURE CORNER - DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS

Following the massive commercial and critical success of 'Spider-Man: No Way Home', Marvel Studios has released the next multidimensional-superhero film under their banner, 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'. But was it any good? Keeping in mind that its director, Sam Raimi, was behind such classics as the 'Evil Dead' horror franchise, along with the Tobey Maguire 'Spider-Man' trilogy! Or else, was it a complete and utter disaster? Well, to find out, I watched 'MOM' (as I like to call it) and then asked myself a couple of questions. These questions…





Was this movie a Sam Raimi movie or a Marvel movie? Nowadays, the vast majority of movies manufactured by Marvel have been meticulously micromanaged by the producer, Kevin Feige, especially in regards to the tone and the content of each one. In this case, though, well? On occasion, it was a Sam Raimi movie, a Sam Raimi horror movie, but only because Sam smothered the screen with a whole host of demons, monsters, mystical effects, and of course, those damned, pesky, 'jump scares'. Heck, there were so many of them, you could tell that he prioritized the 'mad' parts of the plot over the 'multiversal' parts of the plot! Not that this was a bad thing, mind you, as I didn't mind watching what seemed like a new entry in the 'Evil Dead' franchise (even though it was supposed to be a sequel to the previous 'Doctor Strange' film).

Was the story any good? No, not really, as the plot jumped about all over the place and didn't always make much sense. Basically, it revolved around a young girl befriended by Strange and Wong at the start of 'MOM', named America Chavez, who's on the run because she believes that someone wants her dimension-hopping abilities. How, or why, other characters interacted with the plot, I won't say right now for the sake of spoilers. But what I will say, is that the story was fairly unfocused and moved at a very rapid pace. So much so, in fact, that I wasn't always able to comprehend what was going on.

How about the CGI and the special effects? Surely, they had to be good, right? Wrong! Or should that be Wong? Either way, I'd say the effects featured in this film were borderline laughable at best. Well, in recent years, I've noticed a steady decline in the quality of the effects seen in the movies made by Marvel, to the point where previous films in the franchise, such as 'The Avengers', 'Iron Man 2', and even 'Ant-Man', appear to have far superior effects than what we're getting now.

Name the top three actors who starred in this film: Well, in my own order of preference, I'd like to select...

1) Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff): To me, Elizabeth Olsen stole the show because her character had a more fully developed story arc than any of the other characters who starred in this film (yes, even more than Doctor Strange himself). She's also a really great actress and was able to express the many different sides to Wanda's personality and the abilities she has at her disposal (say no more).

2) Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Stephen Strange): After playing him for six years, Benedict Cumberbatch seemed really comfortable as Doctor Strange and appeared to be having a lot of fun with the character.

3) Benedict Wong (Wong): I'm really glad that Wong was given more to do in this film as he's now no longer Strange's sidekick, but rather, a genuine ass-kicking sorcerer in his own right.

Was this movie worth the wait? To put it mildly, no, it wasn't worth the wait, as the story (which was too hectic), the style (see above), and the main driving force behind this film (the multiverse and certain characters) weren't fully explored or treated with the proper amount of respect. Having said that, though, the performances were mostly excellent, and more or less, Sam Raimi's direction was exceptional. Well, kind of exceptional.

Carl Hilliard is a fanboy from Ireland who loves delving into the wonderful world of popular culture. To find out more about Carl and his hobbies, please feel free to check out his TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter pages.