Top Films of 2022-#3

Today I’m giving you my number 3 film of the year, and it’s the last film on my list that I gave an 8 out of 10 rating (or 4 out of 5 stars for those using a star rating system). Unlike last year when I had three Marvel movies on my top ten (Eternals, Black Widow, and Spider-Man: No Way Home), this year I only had one that I was willing to include in my top ten.

#3 – Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

If you’ve read all of my year in review posts, you know that I wasn’t enamored with superhero movies in general this year. I devoted part of one whole post to my thoughts on several of them not living up to expectations. And while I didn’t include Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in my top 10 (it fell a bit too late in my viewing schedule but will be included in the honorable mentions) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was by far the best Marvel movie to come out this year.
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Maybe I’m a sucker for time/dimensional travel films (Inception is in my top 4 on Letterboxd, Back to the Future has always been a favorite, and don’t get me started on The Matrix) but even with everything else that has happened in the MCU across 30 films and multiple television series, Multiverse of Madness brought something new.

The film functions almost as a dual sequel. First it is a direct sequel to the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home that released last year. Heck, the credits scene from that film was essentially the trailer for Multiverse of Madness. But while the events of the films may initially be a result of Peter’s spell gone wrong, the film is also a sequel to the 2021 Disney+ show WandaVision. We get to see Wanda Maximoff in her full Scarlet Witch power in this film, and that is something people have been waiting to see for a long time since she was introduced to the MCU in the mid-credits scene in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

**some spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen the film**

There is so much to unpack in this film, and with any film about traveling to alternate universes or timelines, one of the best parts is seeing different versions of characters. We get multiple versions of Strange himself, something that was initially explored in last year’s animated What If…? series on Disney+. We also got to see at least one alternate version of Wanda and the film brings back Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordor, who we last saw in the credits scene from the first Doctor Strange film. The film introduces the character of America Chavez (played by Xochitl Gomez) and this was the perfect place to bring her into the MCU. Not only does it make sense for someone who is always jumping universes, but it also forces Strange to explore some aspects of fatherhood as he tries to protect her throughout the film.

And I can’t go away without talking about one of my favorite MCU characters of all time, Wong (Benedict Wong). Benedict Wong first came into my consciousness in the short-lived Netflix series Marco Polo, where he played the ruthless Mongol leader Kublai Khan. To go from that to playing a powerful sorcerer in the Marvel films (and shows) made me fall in love with him that much more. I love the direction that the MCU creative minds have taken with the character of Wong, and hope that we get to see him more and more throughout the next series of films.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the visuals of this film. The straight up creativity involved in creating the various worlds that Strange and Chavez explore is stunning. We get very different views of what city life would be like in alternate universes where humanity evolved differently. We get an incredible attack by Wanda on Kamar Taj. We get Zombie Strange! It had to be a herculean effort to keep all this stuff straight, and I credit director Sam Raimi for pulling it off. He even dropped in the worst kept secret of a cameo (you know Patrick Stewart’s voice) along with a few cameos I was completely surprised by when I saw the film in theaters!

In a year that didn’t wow me with superhero movies in general, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was the exception. I have high hopes for the next set of stories to come that will explore this wider multiverse, starting with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in just under two months!

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