Nabeel Abbas

Sam Raimi pulls out his old bag of ghetto horror tricks with Multiverse of Madness. As his signature style is well Evil Dead, the entire is a love letter to the Evil dead movies (excluding maybe Army of Darkness). As a fan of the original Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2, the movie was littered with scenes where I giggled like a little girl and my nerd mode kicked in full swing. The plot of the film resembles “contains many nods” to the Original Duology of Evil Dead films. The Darkhold, i.e. Book of the Damned is a nod to the book of dead which was used to Conjure the dead in Evil dead. (A similar Incident plays out in the Third Act) Sam Raimi Even managed to feature a Deadite Dr. Strange in the third act along with a Sanctum Sanctorum which looked a lot like a certain Cabin in the woods. The Second Act where Wanda was running full blood on her face psychopath and the shots interlaced with the infamous “Raimi Cam” were all nods to Evil Dead. And despite carrying the banner of Heavy Gore by Evil dead this remained faithful to its original Evil Dead/ Sam Raimi roots and still managed a Disney approval. The number of Deaths in this movie as well as all the Jumpscares, The practical effects, The Makeup especially of Deadite Dr. Strange the limping Blood covered Wanda and the fight of Dr. Christie with the damned souls and her re iterating Ash William’s iconic line “Go to Hell!” made the fan boy tear up inside. Sam Raimi crated a treat for all those OG fans of his Evil Dead and Evil Dead II The Scene where Dr Strange possesses Bruce Campbell’s hands is a sight to be hold Especially the ending scene where strange howls into pain in the middle of street. Right out of Evil Dead Mr. Ash Williams. The only thing left to desire are the inclusions of Deadpool, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Tobey Maguire’s Spiderman

SPOILERS!!!! An outstanding first half.... yet the movie slunked in the second half. In my opinion, the need to close off the movie at a happy note made the ending feel forced and unnatural. A number of loose ends were also left unresolved. Overall it seemed that the movie banked heavily on nostalgia and thus in an act to preserve the old viewers who were returning expecting something familiar, caused the story to be sacrificed. When viewed in light of how Spider-man No Way Home played with audience's nostalgia yet having a solid story. Priyanka Chopra Jonas's portrayal of sati felt lacking as compared to Gloria Foster's Oracle in the original movie. The plot explaining her actions was also lacking and her character should have had a sense of mystery and allure. However, Keanu Reeve's Thomas Andreson/Neo was amazing. Seeing him was like going back to your ancestral home which you had visited in your childhood. All familiar like one remembers and not too different. Him and Jessica Henwick's Bugs carry the first half of the film on their shoulders. Jonathan Groff's Mr. Smith again felt un-natural and distant. It lacked the polite gestures along with direct threats as delivered by Hugo Weaving. Overall It was an enjoyable watch but nothing to write home about.......