Movie Review

Doctor Strange sequel gets lost in the multiverse of madness

The powers-that-be of the Marvel Cinematic Universe may not want to admit it, but the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc with their Phase 4 plans. As laid out in 2019, the new Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was originally scheduled for May 2021, where it would have come directly after the WandaVision Disney+ series and followed shortly by the Loki series.

The world had other ideas, of course, and now the Doctor Strange sequel is not only coming well after both of those series initially streamed, but also after Spider-Man: No Way Home, a universally acclaimed film that stole this movie’s thunder when it comes to movies dealing with the multiverse. Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) played a big part in that film, where he conjured a spell that literally cracked open the sky, presumably leading to all sorts of multiversal possibilities in this film.

Except … that’s not exactly what happens. Directed by Sam Raimi (returning to filmmaking after a nine-year absence) and written by Loki creator Michael Waldron, Madness almost seems to pretend as if the events of No Way Home never happened. Instead, it shifts to a different way of accessing the multiverse via a brand-new character, America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), who has a power to open up portals to different universes, although she is unable to control it.

Through a semi-complicated situation, Strange is tasked with protecting her, and he seeks out assistance from Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), last seen in her series losing her mind in grief over a lost love and non-existent children. She’s obviously not over it, however, as she has plans of her own for Chavez. The film sets a crash course through multiple different realities, taking the story in a series of increasingly bizarre directions.

Right from the start, the filmmakers have difficulty setting the tone for the film. The opening scene wrong-foots the audience by throwing us in the middle of an insane sequence with no set-up whatsoever. Things don’t get better from there as Raimi and Waldron appear to be making things up as they go, using clunky dialogue to bring in familiar characters and illogical storytelling to move the story from place to place, with none of it generating any kind of excitement.

One of the beauties of using the multiverse as a storytelling device is you can create whatever you want, as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Everything Everywhere All At Once demonstrated beautifully. What those films understood that Madness does not is that you have to pair the off-the-wall creativity with some kind of grounded story to lend at least a semblance of logic to the story.

What this film offers in its place is a bunch of elements that seem meant to appease the wildest fantasies of Marvel fans and Raimi acolytes, with little thought as to how any of it makes for a coherent story. At times, the movie feels like the Marvel version of a horror film, which makes a certain kind of sense given Raimi’s horror roots, but does nothing to make this particular story any better. Add in the overload of CGI and it comes off as just the filmmaking version of playing with toys; it may provide some fun distraction, but it’s ultimately meaningless.

Cumberbatch has always been an odd fit with the character of Doctor Strange, but here he sticks out like a sore thumb. He appears to just be going through the motions, with no real enthusiasm for making the character (or his multiverse alter egos) special. The one bright spot of the film is Gomez, who has a real brightness to her despite being saddled by an odd storyline. She and her character deserved a better origin story than this.

Where the MCU goes from here is anyone’s guess, but we now have a new answer for what the worst film they’ve put out is. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is an oddly-named, poorly-written, and too-bizarre-for-its-own-good movie that may end up only being enjoyed by those who love the comic books.

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opens in theaters on May 5.

Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios

Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Movie Review

Daniel Craig searches for elusive new bond in audacious film Queer

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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