First ‘Doctor Strange’ Reviews Call It A True Marvel Horror Film

The Doctor Strange sequel got off to kind of a rocky start. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was first announced with returning director Scott Derrickson in December of 2018, but he later dropped out of the project, supposedly over creative differences with Marvel. Then the studio lured Sam Raimi back to the world of superheroes as Derrickson’s replacement, but then the pandemic struck, prompting a series of delays. (This movie was originally slated to open in theaters back in May of 2021.) There’s also been talk of extensive reshoots, although those tend to happen with MCU movies sometimes, so who knows how major or serious they were.

In the end, the film was finished and is coming out this week. The first critics screenings this week, and the critics who saw it were generally very positive about the film. Most were extremely excited to have Raimi back making a superhero movie for the first time since 2007, and many said that his style shines through the entire movie. Some of the less positive comments called the movie “chaotic” and others said the way it combines different MCU stories was “frustrating.”

Here’s a fairly representative sample of the early Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness reviews on Twitter:

Here is the film’s official synopsis:

With the film, the MCU unlocks the Multiverse and pushes its boundaries further than ever before. Fans will journey into the unknown with Doctor Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opens exclusively in theaters on Friday, May 6. Look for ScreenCrush’s review of the movie — and tons of videos about it — later this week.