85%

Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness is indeed madness, that definitely stands out in its franchise as a surreal trip into pure horror territory with Sam Rami's directional style all over it. Perhaps a little too chaotic but I still absolutley loved it.

This is one of the few MCU movies to have an actual sense of autership in the way its made, with Rami at the helm everything is elevated and more imaginative. Despite narrativley following a particular formula, its giving you more absurdity, intensity and shocks than possibly expected and the horror violence really isn't as tame as anticipated, some scenes are awesomely twisted. I'm still unsure how I feel about certain story choices as it moves at such a relentless pace where a few times I couldn't fully take in everything I was watching with things happening too early on and others are left unexplored yet frankly I enjoyed the messiness of it all and got hooked in almost immediately with rarely time to stop.

The multiverse stuff was expanded in creative ways in its story and spectacle and the surprising cameos thankfully weren't a big focus but still exciting to see, honestly the best cameo wasn't even a marvel character, however to some its title might be misleading as its main focus is still on Dr. Strange and also Wanda, as this is just as much of a sequel to Wandavision as it is to Doctor Strange, which can hinder this a bit but both these characters had unexpected arcs that struck some emotion and the new addition, America, while felt like a plot device was utilised well also. Intrestingly, having the characters relate to a core theme of accepting your reality.

Overall, The Multiverse of Madness is definitely one of my favourite marvel movies as an ambitious effort that won't be what everyone wanted and is definitely not your standard marvel flick, before the insanity begins its more generic and does have a few narrative issues however once kicks off is amazing with many unique off-kilter expressionist horror fantasy moments that were an utter blast to watch and visually out of this world.