Marvel's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" premieres in the Philippines on May 4 and it's the perfect diversion from the crazy election season that culminates five days later.
With grotesque visuals that will be stuck in your head for days and Easter eggs that will be the talk of the Internet, the sequel to both the first "Doctor Strange" in 2016 and "Spider-Man: No Way Home" of late 2021, "Multiverse of Madness" is a dark and thrilling ride into parallel realms and the consequences of crossing over to different universe.
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Benedict Cumberbatch reprises his role as Doctor Strange, picking up from the end of the third Tom Holland Spidey film that saw the sorcerer tinker with the Multiverse to let Spider-Man right the wrongs he did at the cost of losing the ones he loves.
Elizabeth Olsen is Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, whose character picks up from the Disney+ hit "Wandavision", where in the end, she loses the reality that she created around husband Vision and their two sons.
We caught the advance screening on May 3 and here's our spoiler-free first take:
You don't need to watch the first "Doctor Strange" to enjoy "Multiverse of Madness", especially if you've seen Stephen Strange in in "Avengers Infinity War" and "Endgame", "Thor 3: Ragnarok" and "No Way Home".
Expect to be confused at first, but look back to the second year of the lockdown when Disney+ served us "Wandavision", "Loki" and "What If" for a refresher on the multiverse.
One of the trailers gave us a taste of the multiverse-flavored cameos. All I can say is that there were loud cheers from the audience during specific points in the movie.
I am a fan of MCU character quotes and there's at least two in "Multiverse of Madness" that stuck. If it were 2013, I'd put it on my Facebook status like Natasha Romanov in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" -- "Kiss Me. Public displays of affection make people uncomfortable".
It's a very distinct feel, the kind that tells you it's the Russo Brothers behind the "Avengers" or how Taika Waititi made Thor funny, burly, godly and sexy all at the same time.
The imagery is creepy to grotesque, characteristics of a Sam Raimi film. It scares your eyes before it lodges into your brain and it gets scarier when you imagine it at night, like "Army of Darkness".
In the end, it's a story about love, the kind that brings out the best and the worst in people.
It's a great film to watch before the May 9 elections because rather than black-and-white good versus evil, it forces us to think whether fighting for what believe in and what we love turns us into a hero or a villain, and from whose perspective.
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