When Multiverse of Madness was first announced it was pitched as Marvels take on a family friendly horror film but as the years have gone by expectation shifted towards a cameo heavy alternative reality fest. While there certainly are alternate realities and cameos its very much the original pitch that dominates proceedings and the right call was definitely made.
Probably more than any other director so far, Sam Rami is given reign to put his stamp all over the movie and he has no time for deep dive multiverse nonsense. In fact the one big cameo section is treated almost as a bait and switch joke which, while it will undoubtedly annoy some fans, works perfectly for this film. Most of runtime plays out like a Terminator film with our heroes trying to escape an unstoppable foe and there are plenty of Rami tricks (and Evil Dead references) along the way, although it it a little (Dr) strange to see this amount of editing in an MCU film.
There are some moments of genuine horror for a family film and, an uninspiring attack on the Wizard stronghold of Kamer-Taj aside, plenty of visual flourishes to match the first Dr Strange movie. There are a couple of problems, attempts to illicit sympathy with villain fall flat and some of the stylistic choices made will put some viewers off but it stands as one of the more unique and interesting Marvel offerings.
7 Mad universes out of 10.
Comments
Post a Comment