Does anyone else sometimes replay the final battle scene in Avengers Endgame just to relive the epic sensation of the moment? There are some concepts that are so incredible that you cannot help but feel both inspired and mortified at the same. Sam Raimi’s Multiverse of Madness is a good example of how something so entertaining can also be somewhat disturbing – from sorcerers to witches to zombies to demons, the latest Marvel flick reminds us there is still so much to learn about its multiverse.

Following up from both WandaVision and Spiderman: No Way Home, our Doctor Strange bumps into America Chavez, a multiverse-travelling teen who is trying to escape literal monsters chasing her. I say “our” because we are introduced to a different Doctor Strange in the opening scene who ends up nearly betraying America’s trust early on in the movie. We learn that there are different versions of us across the multiverse – except for America, who is unique. The Scarlet Witch, the new moniker of Wanda Maximoff, emerges as the “Big Bad” who wants America’s powers to be able to steal her children from another universe, still grieving from the incidents in WandaVision.

The rest of the movie is mostly procedural – we get introduced to various worlds and characters in those worlds, including some highlight anticipated cameos. The character arcs are not very significant. Doctor Strange learns to accept who he is and that he cannot turn back time (a lesson I thought we had learned in his first movie), while America gains confidence in herself and her powers. Instead, Multiverse of Madness is better appreciated as a sampling platter of the multiverse, with deep dives into some of the darker realities and unfortunately less time in some of the more whimsical ones. Raimi indulges himself in this movie with some darker elements than I remember in most Marvel cinematics – there are sudden camera pans, jumpy deaths, zombies and ghouls, and finally a cameo from his Evil Dead films.

I am one of those Marvel fans who will watch any Marvel movie that comes out. Even when it is not great, it is decent, and that is where I will put this movie. Here are my ratings:

Cinematography: 4/5

Screenwriting: 3/5

Musical Score: 4/5

Acting/ Performance: 4/5

Overall: 3.75/5