May 9, 2022 – Doctor Strange does battle with various misguided superheroes in order to save the multiverse in this Marvel Studios sequel. All the stops are pulled out in this movie that features a whole slew of superheroes seldom seen together.

Wanda Maximoff (played by Elizabeth Olson, reprising her role) tortured by dreams of a family she can't have, goes off the deep end and decides to access an alternate universe where her children live. All she has to do is possibly destroy some universes and kill off trillions of people, along with her other self in that other universe, so she can take the place of her other self. What could possibly go wrong?

Doctor Strange has to stop Wanda's plan, with a little help from a multiverse-hopping America Chavez (played by Xochitl Gomez) and the Sorcerer Supreme, Wong (played by Benedict Wong). Much of the movie is a kind of treasure hunt, as protagonists and antagonists seek powerful magic objects, the Book of Vishanti and the Darkhold, while trying to keep said objects out of the hands of their opponents.

This leads to a series of special effects extravaganzas as the story shifts between a number of alternative realities and mystical places. Along the way, we meet one of the oldest conspiracy fantasies, the Illuminati, consisting of Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor, reprising his role) Peggy Carter (as Captain America, played by Hayley Atwell of ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’) Blackagar Boltagon (the Black Bolt, played by Anson Mount) Maria “Photon” Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) Reed Richards (of the Fantastic Four, played by John Krasinski) and Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart, reprising his role).

I am pretty familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I have not even heard of some of these people. My education is lacking. If these were all main characters, the story would fall apart, but they are minor characters. Still, this is a very busy plot, with some surprises, such as a kind of zombie version of Doctor Strange. One minor character I recognized is an old friend of director Sam Raimi, who appears in a number of his films, Bruce Campbell (‘Army of Darkness’). He has a cameo here as the cranky and abused Pizza Poppa.

This movie is full of sound and fury, probably signifying nothing, but it is entertaining. I saw this in 3D. It was not shot in 3D, but the 3D conversion by the Stereo-D company, is exceptionally good. The conversion is probably aided by the fact that the movie contains a lot of CGI, which is easier to convert to 3D than live action shots. No doubt the theaters are keeping their 3D equipment in tune for the next Avatar movie, scheduled for a December release this year.

Up until the release of this film, Marvel had been having a bit of a tough time with recent releases, like “Eternals” and “Morbius,” but this movie should put Marvel back in the money in a big way. The first week's box office has already been massive. At a time when most movie studios seem to have a lot of trouble making movies that present an entertaining story, Marvel knows how to cover the basics. This film rates a B.

There is a scene right at the end of the movie that hints at the next film in the series, followed by a mid-credit and a post-credits scene that drop more hints about upcoming films by Marvel.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff (no extra charges apply). I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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