Whatever the popular opinion about the latest movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness† many, if not most, believe Elizabeth Olsen is the MVP of the movie. This was the first time on the big screen that she was center stage (or close enough) as Wanda Maximoff or Scarlet Witch.
The Sam Raimi directing, starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role, Strange pits himself against an even more powerful Wanda, who has been turned into a creature of chaos thanks to the knowledge she has gained from Darkhold. She pursues America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), a teenager who can travel between universes but doesn’t know how to control her powers. Wanda wants to use her powers to get her sons back.
Aside from the main cast, which also includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Rachel McAdams, the film also features cameos from actors such as Patrick Stewart, John Krasinski, Charlize Theron, Hayley Atwell, Lashana Lynch, Anson Mount, among others. In a brutal scene, Scarlet Witch, who controls the Wanda of Earth-818 (another universe), destroys the Illuminati, and among them is Reed Richards or Mr Fantastic played by Krasinski.
But surprisingly, Olsen has revealed that she has never met Krasinski. In a lie detector test she took for Vanity Fair, she admitted that she has never met the actor, although she has met his wife (Emily Blunt).
When the publication asked her, “Do you think this is the smartest man in the world?” as she slides Krasinski’s photo toward her. She said no!” and laughed, before adding, “I don’t know him though. But I would never assume that an actor would be the smartest man in the world.”
She went on to say that she’s never met him, even when the interviewer pointed out that she was in the same movie as him, basically the same scene. In another interview, this time with CinemaBlend, she said it was “movie magic” that allowed the two actors to be seen in the same scene of a movie, even if they weren’t in the same room. The VFX in Hollywood has become so sophisticated and seamless and almost indistinguishable from reality that creators use it to make things as routine as the crowd. Entire cities can be built from scratch and populated with people who are CGI but don’t appear to be. By comparison, what happened to Olsen and Krasinski is tame.
Meanwhile, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a winner at the worldwide box office. It has raised over $550 million to date, and mostly positive reviews should ensure its continued success.
The Indian Express however, film critic Shalini Langer gave the film a mixed review. She wrote, “You can go universe to universe, forward and backward, to the 838th version of Doctor Strange or the 613th (the two specifically mentioned here), one thing remains constant. Everywhere you go, Marvel will follow you. It may be the Multiverse of Madness (which it is), but it is above all the Multiverse of Marvel. Space Continuum only takes you from one character to another, as much as you can cram into two hours of movie time.”
