Written and Directed by Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (The Daniels) / Distributed in the UK by A24 / 140 Minutes
Available to rent or buy digitally on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV + in the US. There is no UK release date for streaming as of yet.
8th June 2022
Review by Rob Deb
The Pitch: When an interdimensional rupture unravels reality, an unlikely hero must channel her newfound powers to fight bizarre and bewildering dangers from the multiverse as the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
Option paralysis: the tendency, when able to do absolutely anything one wants, to do absolutely nothing.
Vandal Savage taught me this notion, in an issue of Damage, when I was in my 20’s. For those unfamiliar with the good lord Savage, he is an immortal DC villain of an extreme nihilistic bent who comes and goes within the world and it often takes the combined might of the Justice League to defeat him. This reality doesn't have a Justice League to oppose its invulnerable nihilism in the form of Jobo Tapaki, a great evil devoted to destruction of multiversal proportions. Instead, it has Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh).
EVELYN IS ONE OF THE GREATEST HEROINES TO BE ON SCREEN FOR A LONG TIME
We often see our heroes take on such odds with calm aplomb, witty one-liners and resigned feints at vulnerability. This film upends that by Evelyn dealing with first a husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), who is filing divorce papers, and then an increasingly erratic father, Gong Gong (James Wong), whose failing health is a constant concern... And finally Joy (Stephanie Hsu), her increasingly estranged daughter, whom she is having a hard time accepting is a Lesbian, let alone Joy’s partner Becky (Tallie Medel), whose keen desire to integrate within the family would probably grate on anyone’s gums. Her business itself, a laundromat is also broken, patchwork, and about to come undone. Like reality itself. However, these are all aspects of why Evelyn is one of the greatest heroines to be on-screen for a long time. Once the action takes hold, everything falls into place.
AS WE MEET OTHER MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY, THE STORY GROWS IN POTENTIAL
Hard choices come with the action. Her skills are not simply uploaded a la “I know Kung-fu” Neo. They are borrowed and to a large extent are relatively mundane. Yes, there is a martial artist within her repertoire, and a singer and a pizza panel sign-waver, all of whom serve a purpose as she takes on the various henchmen of the villainous Tapaki. As we see other members of the family, the story grows in potential while being grounded by the dynamics of her household. This allows the action to be at once kinetic and empathic. Exciting while emotional, we do not simply slip-stream through realities like The Multiverse of Madness, but feel the existence of them. Like Star Wars, the technology has a lived-in quality and a certain ad hoc charm that endears throughout the film.
Everything does not shy from absurdity. But everything pays off on screen. It also takes some considerable chances towards the end. Never have I thought I could be so bonded to a couple of inanimate rocks, but Pixar could certainly learn about lighting from them. Ultimately. Tapaki, like Vandal, is defeated for the same reasons. The fragmentation and nihilism of life can indeed be seen as rendering existence meaningless. But the heart of the film is its strength within the family drama. That bound me happily throughout. This is a real Marvel.
With all realities at stake, one-woman shows she has what it takes to save reality while keeping her family together in a Kitchen sink drama of cosmic proportion