One could argue that all of this started back in 2017, with the release of the best (yes, I said best) multi-verse movie ever released, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. But even still, it has persisted. For example, three different multiverse movies have released within the past year alone (two of them were Marvel movies, but never mind that) all with varying degrees of success. Today we’re examining Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Everything Everywhere, all at Once.
Let’s get it started, shall we? These inter-dimensional portals aren’t going to jump through themselves.
Spider-Man: No Way Home - C+
Allow me to be the first one to tell you that Spider-Man: No Way Home is an overrated movie. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that because I didn't like the film, or because I didn’t have a good time in the theater when I saw it. I just think this movie is undeserving of the hype it got, and the subsequent praise as the best Spider-Man movie ever.
(In case you’re unclear on my stance on this, you should read my review for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse again as a reminder that Spider-Verse is the best Spider-Man film, animated or otherwise.)
That said, you can think what you want about the state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the moment (because there is a lot you could think), but you can't deny that Spider-Man: No Way Home was a big deal. Spider-Man: No Way Home was the first movie to make a billion-dollars during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is currently the 6th highest grossing movie of all time. People went all out to see this movie, and so it had to be the best Spider-Man movie ever, right?
(*crickets*)
...Right?
Well... let’s get into it.
The plot of Spider-Man: No Way Home follows Peter Parker (played by Tom Holland) after he's recently been exposed as Spider-Man by his now deceased villain, Mysterio (played by Jake Gyllenhaal in Spider-Man: Far from Home). Now Peter Parker is considered a public enemy who murders people. In response, he, his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), and his friend Ned, are basically forced to go into hiding. However, when his reputation impacts Peter and his friends' ability to get into college, Peter goes to his dear old friend, Doctor Strange, to fix things.
And here is where the plot gets messy, so buckle up.
Peter asks Doctor Strange to use his powers to cast a spell to make everyone forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. However, when Peter gets tripped up on his words, the spell goes haywire, causing the multi-verse to rip apart. Now (SPOILERS TO FOLLOW) instead of forgetting that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, everyone from every universe who knew that Peter Parker was Spider-Man is coming to find Peter. This includes some of Spider-Man's most infamous villains from other movies such as Doc Ock from Spider-Man 2 (played again by Alfred Molina), Electro (played again by Jamie Foxx) from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and of course, the Green Goblin (played again by the delightfully unhinged Willem Dafoe) from the original Spider-Man movie from 2002.
Once Peter realizes what's going on, instead of attempting to reverse the hole he created in the multi-verse, he decided to cure the villains of their evil powers and prove to them that he was not a murderer like the Spider-Men from the universes they came from. So, after some shenanigans, Peter (Holland), along with other versions of Peter Parker/ Spider-Man across the multi-verse (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield) set out to cure their villains of their evil powers before sending everyone back to the dimension where they came from.
Now that I’ve laid everything out, it’s clear that the plot has a multitude of holes in it. Everything about this story seems incredibly contrived and arbitrary.
Like- why didn't Doctor Strange stop the spell after Peter tried to fix it the first time?
What do you mean you want to change the bad guys and turn them good? How is that going to help them if they still have to be sent back into their universe where they die anyway? Wouldn't that impact the grand timeline or disrupt the multi-verse or something?
Why didn't Zendaya push the button that would send everyone back to the proper dimension after the Green Goblin killed Aunt May? She totally said she would push it if things went wrong, and yet she didn’t.
The answer to all of these questions is- so the plot can happen. Without any of these very specific plot holes the story wouldn’t progress, and the movie would be over. I don't know about you, but to me these seem like HUGE problems that should’ve been buffed out in a writer’s room somewhere.
That's not even to mention the logistics of the multi-verse. The film never explains what happens to the villains once they go back to their universes. We don't even get a flashback scene to a previous Spider-Man film, which I thought would have been a cool way to show continuity, but no. Also, by wishing for everyone to forget Peter Parker at the end of the movie, does that erase the other Peter Parkers from the other universes? There are so many questions left unanswered.
And yet... people ate this movie up to the tune of 1.9 billion dollars worldwide. And while I definitely have several critiques about this movie's plot and structure, I have to say... I kind of get it.
Hear me out: No Way Home is the High School Musical 3 of Spider-Man films, in that it’s light on plot and heavy on fan service. This movie probably wouldn't make a lot of sense if you haven't seen any of the previous versions of Spider-Man, just like High School Musical 3 doesn't mean anything to people who didn't see the original two. Funnily enough, both movies even have a plot where everyone is trying to get into college, and all of the characters try to delay the inevitable before (SPOILERS for No Way Home and HSM3) the main couple break up in the end.
Jokes aside, I will say that although No Way Home's plot is inherently flawed, the movie itself is still entertaining. There's something to be said about reuniting three generations of Spider-Man on screen and bringing everyone together for a kick-ass tribute to the web-slinger. It was so much fun to watch this movie the first time in theaters, and I can tell that all of the older Spider-Men actors involved were glad to be a part of this movie. (Despite the press interviews that very clearly stressed out Andrew Garfield before the movie came out.)
This movie has the benefit of spectacle on its side. As stupid as this sounds, there's something exciting about this particular brand synergy. Marvel and Sony own every version of Spider-Man put to film, and so for them to come together to prove that the previous versions of Spider-Man weren't failed launches/reboots, but in fact, versions of the same character from alternate realities, feels like a treat to the fans who saw every Spider-Man movie that came before No Way Home (even Venom).
Bringing every previous version of Spider-Man into this movie really saved the film for me. Despite how messy and nonsensical the plot was, I can't deny that I was sucked in by the charm of Andrew Garfield reprising his role as Spider-Man in this movie. I also really liked seeing Tobey Maguire again as an older version of Peter Parker. Seeing him play this role again after 20 years was nostalgic in a way I couldn't explain. (Despite all my gripes, I can confidently say I would have loved this movie hands-down if the MCU had introduced Miles Morales in this film. (Although Jamie Foxx did make a nod to there being a black Spider-Man).)
As of right now, who's to say what's next in the world of Spider-Man? I do hope to see more of Andrew Garfield in the role, because he was incredibly good as the web-slinger (despite my less than stellar feelings about The Amazing Spider-Man movies), and so it's promising that he's signed on to be in more Marvel projects in the future, whatever that means.
I can still confidently say that this movie is overrated, because despite the hype that it received from fans, it's far from the best Spider-Man movie. However, with a solid rewrite, No Way Home could have easily been a top ten Marvel movie for me. As it stands now, though, it's a little too underwritten to bump any of my other superhero faves.
Now that that's done, let's hop into a different, but not dissimilar dimension, where things are a little... strange.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness- D+
(Get it, because I said strange before?)
I’m conflicted on this rating because I don’t think this movie is as bad as my grade would make it seem. However, I stand by the decision to grade Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness a D+, because that was truly what I felt it deserved after watching it. In my opinion, this was a very expensive, very well-made cheese fest. This movie couldn’t have been cornier if you stranded it in the middle of rural Illinois.
It’s not so much that this movie is bad- it’s just…
Well…
Let’s start with the plot, and then we’ll discuss.
The plot of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness follows Doctor Strange as he attempts to save a teenaged girl named America Chavez from demons hunting her across the multiverse. America has the ability to jump through the multiverse, and so someone is trying to kill her and take her powers for themselves.
When America finds Doctor Strange and Wong (the Sorcerer Supreme), Doctor Strange goes to his old friend, Wanda Maximoff, AKA the Scarlet Witch, for help. (SPOILERS AHEAD) Only, it turns out that Wanda was the one trying to capture and kill America Chavez the whole time in order to jump to a universe where she has children and can be a mother again.
The plot ensues when Wanda chases America and Doctor Strange across multiple universes (it’s actually only like 3) in order to kill America and take her power for herself.
(*Sigh*) Now… that was a lot…
Right off the bat, this movie is introducing a lot of new information that doesn’t fully make sense if you’re not keyed into what’s going on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at all times. Like No Way Home that came before it, Multiverse of Madness really asks viewers to be aware of everything under the Marvel brand umbrella in order to follow their latest movie/TV show.
This is especially evident with the movie’s main antagonist, Wanda Maximoff. For those people who do not have a Disney+ subscription, the last time she was shown on screen was in the billion-dollar finale to the original Avengers franchise, Avengers: Endgame. Since then, however, Wanda Maximoff has made a dramatic transformation. In the span between Avengers: Endgame and this film, Wanda has been developing wildly as a character. This development only makes sense, though, if you have a Disney+ subscription and watched the first of many Marvel shows, WandaVision.
For context (which is actually very important to the plot of this movie, annoyingly), the plot of WandaVision follows Wanda after the events of Infinity War and Endgame after she is coping with the loss of Vision, the man/android that she loved. (SPOILERS for WandaVision) In her grief, she ends up capturing an entire town of people and brainwashing them into thinking that they’re in a family sitcom, with her family as the leads (It’s a lot more endearing than it sounds, I promise.). In her fantasy sitcom, Wanda is married to Vision and they have twin boys together. They recreate classic sitcoms such as I Love Lucy and The Brady Bunch, full of wacky shenanigans. Only, she willed Vision and her sons to exist through magic, and they are not real.
By the end of the series, Wanda has to cope with this by dealing with the trauma caused by the loss of her brother, her family, and her husband. At the end of the show, Wanda releases the town from their spell and lets go of her husband and children, leaving to study her witchcraft alone.
I’ve said this before in my review of The Fate of the Furious, but it bears repeating now. Franchises that require moviegoers to be tapped into every previous iteration of every character and to know every movie by heart before watching the latest one are usually not good movies. Movies like The Avengers and other crossover films have been using this strategy to promote the Marvel brand for years, and for the most part it has worked out fine. However, something about incorporating WandaVision, a Marvel TV show that premiered on Disney+, feels different. The barrier to entry has risen.
Let’s say someone didn’t have a Disney+ subscription and had never even heard of WandaVision (but knew all of the previous Marvel movies); they would be completely lost when going into this film. Which is why I argue that movies -especially when they’re big commercial properties like Marvel- should be able to be enjoyed without having to go looking for supplemental material to fill in the gaps. At this point, there are so many Marvel properties and superheroes that having to know everything about every single one of them feels like homework.
As someone who never saw any of the other Marvel shows that originally aired on Netflix like Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, I can’t help but feel sympathetic to this. Brand synergy can only get you so far, especially when the MCU has expanded outside of the realm of theatrical releases. If either of these characters were to show up in a future Avengers movie (which I’m sure they will) I will have no idea who they are or what their story is because I never watched the supplementary material about them when it was on Netflix. (I probably won’t seek it out now that it’s transitioning to Disney+, either.)
However, I will say that even with the added context of WandaVision, Wanda’s villainous motivation doesn’t really add up in Multiverse of Madness. No, something weird happened with her character in the span between WandaVision and this movie. Somewhere behind the scenes, Wanda essentially went from this:
to this:
If you want to talk about flaws with this movie and character development, the crux of them fall on Wanda Maximoff as a character. All of the growth that she made in WandaVision in regards to getting over her grief and the loss of her husband and children (who were recreations that she conjured through magic, by the way) disappeared faster than her Sokovian accent, all so she could be evil in this movie, even though it didn’t make sense. Her entire motivation falls apart once you watch WandaVision, and yet you need to watch the show to even make sense of her motivation, which is even more frustrating.
Even aside from the faulty villain, Multiverse of Madness feels like a camp movie. In the same way that Wonder Woman 1984 made no sense, so too does this film. While this movie is not nearly as nonsensical or bad as Wonder Woman 1984, many details in this movie were eye-roll inducing, or downright silly. Some examples off the top of my head are Doctor Strange’s introduction to the Illuminati (to which Doctor Strange responds “Illumi-whaty?” which literally made me groan in pain), and America Chavez’s fear of bees opening up a multiverse portal that potentially killed her parents (yes, really).
The camp of this film is to say nothing of the directing, which was definitely influenced by Sam Raimi’s style. Despite directing a few of the previous Spider-Man films starring Tobey Maguire in the early 2000s, Raimi really hasn’t directed any other superhero films, especially Marvel films. However, since Raimi returned to Marvel for Multiverse of Madness, there were definite horror details throughout it, like jump-scares, plenty of blood, and even an insane zombie scene in the third act. It was interesting to see Raimi take on another superhero movie and alter the genre to be more horror-like, just like when he introduced Doc Ock in 2004 with Spider-Man 2. However, the horror directing only added to the over-the-top nature of this movie for me.
Overall, this movie just felt like it was… too much. Everything that happened in this movie seemed like it was out of character or just outright corny. By the time zombie Doctor Strange showed up at the end of the movie, I was… tired. This movie was disappointing for a multitude of reasons, but it definitely was madness.
With that, let’s move on to our final movie in this multiverse.
Everything, Everywhere, All at Once- B-
This movie gets it right where all of the others got it wrong. This movie feels authentic, and it was made with an intention of telling a real story instead of just making money or capitalizing on nostalgic IP. This movie can be felt where the others were more hollow. Even the best attempts from Peter Parker and Wanda Maximoff couldn’t get me to cry, and I’m a crybaby.
But this movie?
Man, this movie… I was practically weeping by the time it was over.
In case you haven't seen it, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once follows Evelyn Quan (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese immigrant who is currently going through it. She and her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), own a laundromat that is currently being audited by the IRS, and their marriage is on the brink of collapse. To top everything off, in an effort to keep her old-fashioned father happy, Evelyn asks her lesbian daughter not to come out to her grandfather at the family's Chinese New Year celebration, further driving a rift between her and her daughter.
It truly seems like everything is falling apart for Evelyn, even though she's trying so hard to keep it together.
But then- she discovers the multi-verse.
Evelyn discovers that the multiverse is made up of a web of dimensions connected by every choice that was or was not made in life. In this dimension, she is actually the most miserable version of herself because of all of the choices that she made throughout her life. In learning about the multiverse, Evelyn gets a glimpse at all of the lives she could have lived if her circumstances or choices had been different. There are universes where she never moved to America and became a singer, there are universes where she became a chef at Benihana, there are universes where she has hotdogs for fingers- anything could happen in any multitude of universes.
Through some shenanigans (because I don't want to spoil the movie, and I'm not sure I could even if I wanted to), Evelyn discovers that despite being the worst version of herself, she is the version who is destined to save the multi-verse from the universe-jumper, Jobu Tupaki, who was causing the end of all things.
This movie left me feeling more than a few things while watching it, but primarily, I was impressed. I really enjoyed the action scenes in this movie, and the kung-fu that Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan demonstrated throughout the film. It was honestly cool to see a modern kung-fu movie where the leads were realistic portrayals of an immigrant family. Big props to the fight choreographer for constructing such cool fight scenes using props that I had never seen used before in kung-fu movies (like a fanny pack, for example).
Another thing that I was deeply impressed by was the costuming for this film. Specifically, the costumes for Jobu Tupaki were AMAZING. Being able to jump through universes gave them a great sense of style, and I loved looking at the outfits in this movie. Every version of each character in this film had a different look, and so costuming each actor for each universe must've been difficult, but I would be lying if I said that I didn't love Shirley Kurata's work on this movie. The writers were working hard on this movie, sure, but Shirley was making the characters come to life. The costume designer for this movie was a 10/10, and I hope to see more projects that she works on.
I think I was overwhelmed by some of the plot, though. A lot of the multiverse theory was confusing to me at first, because it felt sudden to me when it happened in the film, even though I had some inkling of what this movie was about before I watched it. Perhaps I was just slow to keep up, but I found myself momentarily confused by some aspects of the multi-verse, or even failing to keep up with which universe we were currently in. I admire this movie for being different and keeping the concept fresh, though. This was a different take on the multi-verse jumping that we've seen in other media, so that was nice. Aside from my confusion, I still think that the overall story itself was compelling and touching.
The humor in this movie reminds me of a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books and Everything, Everywhere, All at Once share a unique sense of nihilism and absurdism that oddly works. The wackiness of the universes in this movie mixing with the concept of nothing having real consequence screams The Restaurant at the End of the Universe to me (as we all know that the answer to life, the universe, and everything is 42). As if that wasn't enough, in The Hitchhiker's Guide books, there is a device known as an Infinite Improbability Drive, which calculates the likelihood of anything in the universe happening when you jump across the universe. The idea behind the random "verse-jumping" in this movie is the same as the Improbability Drive: if the universe can exist, it's probable that it does, and you could end up anywhere.
However, the heart of Everything, Everywhere, All at Once is Evelyn's relationship with her family. (SLIGHT SPOILER) Once she realizes the Jobu Tupaki is attempting to take over her daughter by convincing her and everyone around her the nothing has meaning in an endless multi-verse, Evelyn is forced to make a choice- to believe that everything that is happening everywhere all at once is meaningless, or to hang onto her family despite everything.
(In case you were wondering, this was the part that made me cry.)
Now, since we've covered Everything, Everywhere All at Once, I think I'm a little tired of all this verse-jumping. There're only so many universes I can travel to in one day.
And... we're back.
Perhaps this really is the darkest dimension and the most chaotic timeline. Somehow even if our fingers were hotdogs or if we wound up meeting the Illuminati, I still wouldn't find things nearly as problematic or strange as the times we're living in now.
The truth is that things are bad right now, and they're not going to get better unless we do something about it. But it's hard to know what to do when everything seems to be crumbling all at once, and the walls are caving in around you.
But- to quote yet another movie about time travel and a multiverse of sorts:
"Your future hasn't been written yet. No one's has. Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one." - Emmett "Doc" Brown, Back to the Future III (AKA the worst one)
We're just going to have to go out there and fight for the future we deserve.
I know we can get through this together. Merry Christmas, everyone.
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