Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness: Non-Spoiler Review
Dark Times
For every door that may close, another is unlatched, and one of those that was flung open unexpectedly was the pivot to a visually darker MCU style. No I don’t mean the tendency for all films these days to be darker than that one infamous fight scene in The Hunger Games (though I swear that was the start of it all and I’ll never forgive them), but that horror tropes and techniques snuck their way into this movie - and it was awesome.
Back in 2019, Kevin Feige had to come forward and confirm that this movie was NOT destined to be a horror film, following a number of misleading reports coming out of a recent Comic-Con announcement. Initially set to be directed by Scott Derrickson, huge emphasis was put on the scary side of the film’s potential. Derrickson wanted to go Dark Knight-eque and, given his experience in the horror genre (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, etc.), he was eager to get real spooky with it. Despite Derrickson leaving the production in 2020 due to ‘creative differences,’ some of his horror influence clearly slipped through the cracks.
There were a few shots and scenes that I could swear were homages to classic horrors, none of which I can list here of course without giving away MAJOR plot points. If you’re into your horror films then keep this in mind and see if you agree with me or spot anything that I didn’t, because it’s always incredibly cool to see filmmakers paying tribute to beloved classics.
In a more general way than this though there’s also an argument to be made that this is a more violent, brutal film than the previous MCU offerings. Whether this is a good or bad thing is pretty subjective, but I’d say that deaths and fights definitely felt gorier and more visually affecting than usual. Even with huge fights like those we saw in the likes of Infinity War, somehow the smaller-scale warfare in Dr. Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness felt far more like a real battle. It could be that the nature of the closer combat allowed for focus on individuals, making it all feel more real and personal, or that the landscapes were opened up enough so that the actual action wasn’t just assimilated into a one blurry river of CGI. On this point, the fight scenes were fantastic.
Certain bits of fight choreography, and large battle set-pieces were glorious. We got to enjoy an array of powers and abilities, and a fairly wide selection of beasts, baddies and heroes entering into combat. It felt varied and new, but not ground-breaking in a way that would separate it entirely from Marvel’s style – I’d say this isn’t a bad place to be.