Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

2. The INSANE Action Sequences

If it's often a complaint that MCU movies end up devolving into bland, soulless CGI spectacle, Multiverse of Madness offers up a riposte to that by using state-of-the-art VFX to construct some ambitiously off-the-wall action.

It's telling that the early showdown between Strange, Chavez, and the inter-dimensional squid-monster Gargantos is actually one of the movie's more conventional set-pieces, and it only gets much zanier from there.

If the first Doctor Strange moved the needle towards kaleidoscopic magical combat, Multiverse of Madness confidently one-ups it with some impressively creative showdowns, particularly a battle between Strange and his corrupted variant involving sheet music that's quite unlike anything else in the MCU.

While the dubious stakes of all this multiverse hooey means the action is sometimes lacking in emotional gravity, it largely compensates with its go-for-broke artistry.