Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Benedict Cumberbatch and Benedict Wong prepare for battle in Sam Raimi's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
The real reason Doctor Strange stands out from the pack is it’s the best Sam Raimi movie in well over a decade. Raimi, who came to fame with his hilarious and gruesome horror movies, has often been stifled by big studio productions. When he made the three Spider-Man movies starring Tobey Maguire, his cinematic flair was stripped from most of the films, leaving only slick action movie fare.
That’s not the case in Doctor Strange, which features the sort of wacky sensibility and flamboyant style that made Raimi’s early work so darn watchable. It made this critic wonder how much fun the original Spider-Man franchise could have been had the studio taken their foot from Raimi’s neck. For the Raimi aficionado, there’s plenty to enjoy from eye close-ups, to whip pans and hand-held zooms. The camera is frenetic and fun. Raimi’s typical lickety-split filmmaking keeps the film moving even when the plot stalls.
Verdict: Somehow, Sam Raimi managed to sneak an Evil Dead movie into the MCU, and that’s worth a look.
