Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

This psychedelic, horror-strewn romp is the MCU’s new high-water mark, seizing the multiverse material with giddy exuberance missing since Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. No MCU movie has so thoroughly displayed the personality and artistry of its director.

Sam Raimi delivers a violent, wacky funhouse of a film that nudges the MCU somewhere actually new. It is a drag-me-to-several-different-hells-at-once ride that saves the franchise from itself.

Raimi returns with a noisy, frantic, and entertaining ride full of jump scares, inventive set pieces, fan-pleasing cameos, and a high body count that lives up to its title. Strong performances from Cumberbatch and Olsen anchor the MCU’s most deranged and energetic entry yet.

Raimi's return brings playful, ghoulish and exuberantly grotesque energy with freaky horror flourishes. The film delivers an enjoyable, scarier Marvel sequel full of witchy doings and evil twins.

The film offers exhilarating action, jaw-dropping cameos and Raimi’s signature macabre visuals in a psychedelic multiverse adventure. It requires prior knowledge of WandaVision and can feel overloaded by future plot threads, though the post-credits scene delivers a strong payoff.

Cumberbatch’s smug, likable sorcerer anchors a kaleidoscopic adventure through alternate realities filled with inventive magical action sequences. Raimi brings welcome chaos and dark-witchcraft energy, though it occasionally veers into goofiness and excessive lore.

Raimi is allowed a creative signature, delivering a family-friendly take on horror chills close to his earlier work. Cumberbatch’s spry performance holds the movie together amid the dead weight of assumed knowledge.

Raimi’s fingerprints make this the funkiest and most peculiar MCU entry, blending horror, B-movie schlock and irreverence with spectacle. The critic highlights the pulpy intensity, darker violence and Olsen’s complex portrayal of Wanda, which sells an unexpectedly touching ending.

Raimi brings an Evil Dead spirit and inventive multiverse visuals to the MCU, creating a spectacular if occasionally chaotic trip. The critic singles out Elizabeth Olsen’s raw emotional performance as Wanda for elevating the film’s themes of responsibility and regret.

The critic finds the multiverse concept handled with cheerful humour and boisterous surreal melodrama rather than stoner seriousness. Raimi brings a lite-scary action aesthetic to the sequel, with entertaining scenes of the characters whizzing through varied realities.

The film is a little more ordinary than its director/material match promises but enough fun to wish for more Raimi-style exploits in the MCU. The last act plays to the director's strengths with a looser, more kinetic and occasionally goofy tone despite the stakes.

There are enough crowd-pleasing moments, Raimi flourishes, and callbacks to reward the faithful, with Cumberbatch remaining enjoyable. The film rarely feels like the best possible outcome of this director-character pairing, hampered by weightless CGI and underserved strands.

The head-trip sequel is an unhinged CGI horror jam and Marvel brainteaser that is both entertaining and exhausting. Alternate versions and multiplying storylines sand down character appeal without locating an emotional core.

The critic finds the film mostly ordinary Marvel fare with fan-service surprises rather than genuine wonder. Sam Raimi injects occasional horror elements into the mystic mumbo-jumbo.

The film is a total mess overloaded with exposition, lore, and MacGuffins that undercuts its multiverse premise, reducing it to cameos and fan service. Raimi’s horror and comic-book flourishes are present but feel tacked on to a structurally and emotionally hollow MCU product.

The sequel trims away whimsy to fit the Marvel franchise formula, resulting in a conservative and corporate slog. Raimi's horror touches are used superficially amid facile destruction scenes.

The film is seen as another water-treading exercise from Marvel that reveals how difficult it has been for the franchise to regroup after Endgame. It borrows multiverse themes and cameos from recent entries but lacks feelgood pizzazz.

Marvel has hemmed in Raimi's craft, resulting in a disappointing film that is gamified and leeched of color. The story is held together with bubblegum and a prayer, and the sexist conception of Wanda leaves the critic more disenchanted than ever.

The critic praises Sam Raimi's horror-infused take on the MCU film, noting it mixes dark storytelling with beloved characters effectively. They single out Elizabeth Olsen's commanding performance as the Scarlet Witch for particular praise.

The critic praises it as a wild, weird, and ambitious MCU entry with Sam Raimi's horror style, highlighting Elizabeth Olsen's performance as Wanda. It notes some shaggy elements but overall a rich, off-the-wall film.

It's a head-spinning, high-energy adventure that's fun, scary, visually bombastic and mad, with Raimi bringing cartoon charm, though stakes feel low and it can be numbing.

The critic finds the film a horror-tinged but somewhat muted Sam Raimi Marvel movie that delivers gory and macabre moments along with a fun ride despite its bridge-building purpose. Raimi's influence shows in the brutality and visuals, though it doesn't fully reach the promised madness.

The critic highlights Raimi's inventive visuals and body-horror elements as the standout features while criticizing the film's failure to meaningfully develop Doctor Strange's character beyond his established flaws.

The critic praises Raimi's distinctive horror-infused direction and visual style as the film's strongest elements but faults its overreliance on hollow MCU fan service and multiverse gimmicks that undermine narrative coherence.

The review finds the film heavy on spectacle but light on humanity and character depth, though it praises Raimi's visual flair and some trippy sequences.

The critic notes occasional flashes of Raimi's signature style amid the MCU formula but finds the film incoherent, overly dependent on prior series, and ultimately disappointing due to weak character motivations and excessive cameos.