Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
for intense sequences of violence and action, frightening images and some language.
Reviewed by: Eric Tiansay
CONTRIBUTOR
| Moral Rating: | Very Offensive —Not recommended |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
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| Primary Audience: | • Young-Adults |
| Genre: | Sci-Fi Horror Action Superhero Adaptation Sequel |
| Length: | 2 hr. 6 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2022 |
| USA Release: |
May 6, 2022 (wide release) DVD: July 26, 2022 |
Films and TV shows that promote foolish idea of multiverses (an infinite number of parallel universes)
Learn about spiritual light versus darkness
Fantasy magic
What does the Bible say about sorcery?
About magic and magicians mentioned in the Bible
What is the Occult?
The Occult—What does the Bible say about it?
Madness
Fantasy witch
About witches in the Bible
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of people in the U.S. who self-identify as witches (Wicca or neo-Pagan) since 1990, according to reported studies by Trinity College (Connecticut), The American Religious Identification Survey and The Pew Research Center.
Examples of common modern Wicca beliefs that are in opposition to God’s revealed Word—(see partial list)
| Featuring |
Benedict Cumberbatch … Dr. Stephen Strange Elizabeth Olsen … Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch Chiwetel Ejiofor … Karl Mordo, a former Master of the Mystic Arts and mentor-turned-enemy of Strange, who is hunting other sorcerers Benedict Wong … Wong, Sorcerer Supreme Xochitl Gomez … America Chavez, a Lesbian teen with ability to travel between dimensions Michael Stuhlbarg … Nicodemus West, surgeon Rachel McAdams … Christine Palmer Patrick Stewart … Bruce Campbell … See all » |
| Director |
Sam Raimi |
| Producer |
Marvel Studios Kevin Feige See all » |
| Distributor |
Macabre, spiritually dark and demonic
Prequel: “Doctor Strange” (2016)
“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” has casts a spell that will likely please diehard fans of the comic books, but it’s not a magical, family-friendly experience for Christian viewers or young moviegoers.
The latest entry in the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was directed by Sam Raimi, best known for the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy movies and the “Evil Dead” horror movies.
Spidey’s motto, “with great power comes great responsibility,” is nowhere to be found in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” as Raimi has created Marvel’s darkest superhero flick yet.
Touted as the first horror film in the MCU, the PG-13 rated film—which really deserves an R-rating—features dark and occult content, gory violence, gruesome and disturbing imagery that most likely will scare young children. The film is also marred by its foul language and politically correct representation.
The Marvel movie picks up where “Spider-Man: No Way Home” left off with its multiverse plot and finds Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) coming to the aide of a teen girl named America Chaves (Xochitl Gomez), who can jump across various universes.
The idea of the multiverse isn’t scientific—it’s a hypothetical suggestion based on a particular view of the past that’s grounded in naturalistic, atheistic beliefs. Instead of trusting man’s fallible Word, let’s trust God’s infallible Word.
Multiverse: Is Our Universe One of Many? Answer
However, a demonic force is trying to steal America’s powers, which she can’t control and is only activated when she is scared.
The adventure that follows sees Doctor Strange face off with Wanda Maximoff / The Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), meet up with his old girlfriend (Rachel McAdams), enlist the help of a former sidekick who is now the Sorcerer Supreme (Benedict Wong) and encounter his former-friend-turned enemy Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
“You break the rules and become a hero,” Wanda tells Strange. “I do it, and I become the enemy. That doesn’t seem fair.”
“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” juggles a variety of elements—part sentimental, part horror, part comedy and lots of familiar MCU action.
Living up to its tagline of “Enter a new dimension of Strange,” the film is a visual spectacle and the special effects are spectacular, mind-bending, breathtaking and creative, including a scene where Strange finds himself in a mystic duel where notes from sheet music are hurled like ninja stars.
Additionally, there are solid performances by Olsen, Cumberbatch and Wong as well as some surprise extended cameos from actors and characters that may thrill fans. Also, on the positive side are themes of courage and teamwork as well as sacrifice for the good of others.
The best line in the movie is from a character who wants to show mercy to someone who is being judged by a group: “Just because someone stumbles and loses his way doesn’t mean he’s lost forever,” he proclaims. “He deserves a second chance.”
The dialog echoes the sentiment of Romans 5:7-9:
“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”
On the downside, the film’s overall pacing seems relentless, disjointed and fragmented at times.
Additionally, the character of Chavez is a member of the LGBTQ community in the comics. In the film, it is revealed that Chavez has two moms; a moment seemingly responsible for the movie being banned in Saudi Arabia, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“It’s just great that other people feel represented with her being on screen, and I think it’s a really big deal,” Gomez told The Hollywood Reporter of her character. “She’s representing the LGBTQ [community], Latinas, teens and girls. There’s just so much right there.”
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, frightening images and some language, the film has much questionable content.
For example, there are jump-scares, a resurrected dead body with a disfigured face, violent deaths, graphic depictions of a decomposing body, and an entire village is decimated during fatal fight scenes that has have a high body count.
There are multiple scenes of characters burning to death and shown turning into ash. People are also shown exploding, crushed by a large statue, appear to fall to their deaths, impaled by a metal fence, have their necks snapped, and one character is cut in half by her shield—although it’s shown slightly off screen. In a few scenes, Wanda, who resembles a zombie, is covered with blood on her face and shirt.
There’s also some salty language, including some mild to moderate profanity and vulgarity: “God-d*mn,” “sh*t” (3)—including “Holy sh*t, “cr*p” (3), “a** (3),” “Son of a b*tch,” “d*mn,” and “h*ll” (5).
There’s no sex or real romance, but there are scenes of two characters embracing, holding hands and staring longingly at each other.
There’s a “good spell” book, the Book of Vishanti, that gives good guys “whatever they need” to battle the evil they’re fighting. Supposedly written by an ancient demon, there’s also the Darkhold, which corrupts those who try to use it, and the film shows the corrupted individuals. One character asks a friend to guard his body to prevent the “souls of the damned” or demon-like creatures from taking his life.
In my opinion, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” is a fairly entertaining spectacle, but not much fun.
As one IMDB reviewer wrote: “You can’t help that feel somewhere in the multiverse, there’s a better version of this movie that exists.”
A Rotten Tomatoes reviewer echoed those thoughts by writing: “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is an oddly-named; poorly-written; and too-bizarre-for-its-own-good movie that may end up only being enjoyed by those who love the comic books.”
Editor’s Note: Christian Spotlight recommends viewers SKIP this film. We also sadly recognize that the Disney company has for some time now become an active enemy of biblical Christianity.
- Violence: Extreme
- Occult: Extreme
- Profane language: Moderately Heavy
- Vulgar/Crude language: Moderately Heavy
- Drugs/Alcohol: Moderate
- Nudity: Shirtless man
- Sex: None
What are DEMONS?
Who is Satan, the enemy of God and all people?
Learn about DISCERNMENT—wisdom in making personal entertainment decisions
Every time you buy a movie ticket or buy or rent a video you are in effect casting a vote telling Hollywood, “I’ll pay for that. That’s what I want.” Read our article
See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.
Seeing his decaying zombie corpse march into a pagan temple to do battle against the villain with multiple demonic arms coming out of his back sent a cold chill over me. By making Strange into a Necromancer, Marvel is blurring the lines between Good and Evil and suggesting the end justifies the means if your intentions are “good.” But evil is always evil.
As Jesus said, you cannot cast out one demon with another. What is wicked and forbidden will never be good. It was a super creepy and spiritually unsettling twist in a movie that had been, before that, dark but brilliantly entertaining. It was positively demonic at the end.
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 5
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3
It is a movie filled with graphic horror images, witchcraft, satanic rituals, bloodshed, violent images of killing and many jump scares which have no place in a film marketed towards children and youth. There is also the addition of Disney’s seemingly highest political priority (which again has no place in a children’s film) and that’s to push the LGB… agenda on our children by giving “America” the main female character two moms. It is a completely unnecessary addition to the film other then to undermine the sanctity of God’s plan for the family which is to have a mom and a dad.
I have and will continue to speak out against this movie so it will not take more Christian families hard earned resources that can be spent on movies that are deserving of our time and money.
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4
Thanos was totally evil but at least he was on a physical realm and did not even know about time travel! Gay xters as Heroines. Heroes and villains basically using the same dark magic and the solid loophole that Wanda could deceive her own self shows the silliness of her so called Mega powers, and we haven’t even seen a dormaamu demon Strange’s main antagonist in the comics in full action yet. I bet that’s the next movie plot… and guess what it made over 900 million dollars—means many people have seen it. And we think Hollywood and Marvel have not come to bargain? for our kids for our realities for our Faiths? I hear even unbelievers in Saudi Arabia banned it.
In the last days…
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3½
Additionally, there is a sorcerer that possesses a corpse. Somehow the corpse is still able to move and see, which makes no logical sense, but children would have trouble processing this. I know I would have as a child, even though it is one of the “good guys” possessing the corpse.
One of the major points is that the villainess has been corrupted by using magic. Not only is this depicted as self-destructive to her, but also people completely innocent of the situation. She is attempting to steal other people’s lives because she believes this will give her back what she lost.
Most of the characters do not show much sadness for multiverse duplicates that are killed. This is in contrast to Spider-man: No Way Home where people from other universes are treated as having the same rights. We don’t find the camaraderie here. Doctor Strange shows compassion to America, but he is an exception.
There are additional content issues with this movie, but the movie left me wondering what Scott Derrickson, the director of the first Doctor Strange movie, originally had planned before he left his position as director. The story in this movie doesn’t ponder the philosophical questions that the first does, which was part of what had originally attracted me to the story as a Christian. The other parts that attracted me were that they had put more effort into making the medical content more accurate than other media portrayals and Mordo’s questioning of sorcery. Unfortunately, both the medicine and Mordo are missing from the sequel.
I did enjoy this movie, but it has many flaws.
Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3½
The main character, Doctor Strange, is seen using the dark magic to do “good” where he takes possession of a dead version of himself looking like a zombie and uses demons to help him in his fight against another evil character Wanda.
Wanda is seen chasing Strange and his companions looking very much like a zombie covered in blood and complete with the typical limp while somehow catching up to Strange who is running at full speed. She meditates surrounded in rich occult/satanic imagery and also possesses another version of herself to wreak havoc in that world. She puts America on what resembles a sacrificial table with what is or looks to resemble satanic markings where red energy is drawn out of her filling grooves in the markings. The entire scene is highly suggestive of human sacrifice with the red energy obviously meant to look like blood and the scene made my wife and I very uncomfortable and disgusted.See all »
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 2
The warning I think of by the Lord Himself is found in Mark 9:42—“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it is better for him (read Disney Co.) if a heavy millstone is hung around his neck, and he is thrown into the sea”.
There is still time to repent. God is loving and merciful and forgiving.
PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here.
But in this movie Wanda (aka Scarlett Witch) uses the Dark Hold (a book for evil spells) to send a demon and other evil beings to chase down a new character we are introduced to named America Chavez. And given Wanda’s power make her glow red, it seems fitting given she comes off as evil. Her spells seem WAY more grounded and close to that I have seen of satanists. Including a symbol that looks almost exactly like a pentagram near the end.
Again, I accept Strange and his spells because you never think of satanists or witchcraft. It’s fantastical in nature. But Wanda’s is WAY to close to actual witchcraft/satanist stuff.
Normally I would take my family to see it, including my parents. But I don’t think they are going to like the more witchcrafty/devily feel of it. If you have kids, I wouldn’t recommend they see it as they are way to impressionable, this movie does a good job at it.
Now if that wasn’t bad enough. America Chavez actress is a LGBT actress. And in the movie you briefly see her with her “parents'… two women. The whole planets lore is it’s a universe where only woman exists. Have no idea how babies are made, but that’s not the point really.
It’s shame because I love Strange and Wanda. And the worst thing about all this is this movie is VERY important to some big changes in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). So if you miss it, you will miss out on a ton of important info regarding the multiverse.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Very Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 5