For years Doctor Strange has been a supporting character helping to either save the world from a giant genocidal purple alien or aiding a teenager with a personal conundrum. But now we’ve finally been brought back into his world and whoa is his side of the universe a doozy.

Multiverse of Madness lives up to its title in every way possible because that is exactly what it is. Madness! With a two-hour and six-minute runtime, the film moves at a high-speed pace that is both exhilarating and at times, a tiny bit frustrating. The film jumps from scene to scene with relative cohesiveness, except for a few quickly edited moments that don’t quite blend together right.

The highlights of this film are undoubtedly Doctor Strange and Wanda who jockey for MVP of the movie on a quarterly basis. While Wanda Maximoff plays a major role in this film and shines in every scene she graces this is very much a Doctor Strange movie.

The story revolves around him and his place in the multiverse which is, surprisingly, quite controversial. Apparently, Doctor Strange is a guy who either can do a great deal of good or a great deal of harm. The question is, what will become of our Doctor Stephen Strange and what path is he forging for himself?

Newcomer Xochitl Gomez stars as America Chavez and unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of her character. It’s rare for me to be a bit bummed about MCU casting but honestly, I almost wish the role had gone to someone else.

Unlike Tom Holland who brought such an instant likability to Peter Parker/Spider-Man Gomez doesn’t fully convince me as the powerful heroine. There were even moments where it felt like she was acting the way the script told her to instead of flowing into the character in a way that was lovable. I just hope she grows on me like Captain America did.

Does the movie have great action scenes? Yes. Yes, it does. There were a lot of moments where I was staring at the screen in pure awe thanks to the spectacle.

Is the movie scary? Very much so. My younger self would’ve been absolutely terrified but thankfully, I’m older and the horror was a bit tamer than I expected. But yes. Be prepared to stare at the screen terrified through a few scenes.

But most importantly, how was the movie? Multiverse of Madness is good, not great. Despite being a rather fascinating film that ultimately shines because it’s two hours of Benedict Cumberbatch being a great superhero there are some elements to the film that I can’t ignore. Like the lackluster humor which I was a bit surprised by considering how great Marvel Studios is with melding legitimately funny moments in the middle of these epic stories.

Like I said earlier, the editing was a bit disjointed at times. There were some moments that felt a tad bit corny. But overall, the film is a fantastic, totally Doctor Strange-ified ride that left me wanting more.

And if you decide to watch this film make sure you stick around for the post-credit scenes. They’re both really fun in their own ways.

I’ll give this movie 93 out of 100 and 4.5 out of 5 stars. What a thrill ride.

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a fantastic day.