So, this film has been out for a while, yet it has only come to the UK recently and while waiting to watch this it’s been hard to avoid the overwhelming praise this film has received. While on one hand that’s exciting, on the other, it sets ridiculously high expectations for the film. Yet, this is one of those rare cases that even my ridiculously high expectations were surpassed by this masterpiece of a film. Truly, this film is a masterpiece.
The sheer creativity and talent that is on display in this film is astounding. Everything in this film feels crafted with love and intent that there isn’t a moment where you can’t feel the passion behind this beautiful film. The Daniels have managed to create something so bizarre and complex yet package it in the most enjoyable and palatable format, that’s it’s hard to imagine there is a person who will walk out of the film not having a blast.
The writing of this film is what really impressed me. Walking into this film you expect absurdist, wacky comedy tying into an expansive high-concept story. What you don’t expect is for how grounded this film is in its characters. The beating heart of the film is a relationship between a woman, her daughter and husband and the effects that generational trauma can take on the most important relationships in her life. The final act of this film blew me away. For one, at just how insane everything is that’s going on. But more impressively, at how it manages to remain emotionally resonant, while traversing multiple universes and telling multiple stories at the same time. There’s a throughline throughout all of these stories that had me in tears multiple times.
This film wouldn’t have affected me as much as it did without the phenomenal performances from the entire cast. Michelle Yeoh is a gift to cinema. She is just so entertaining to watch the entire time here no matter which of the tens of versions she was playing. The journey her character goes on is just simply beautiful, and something that everyone can relate to, to some extent, and just wouldn’t have worked without her insane ability to flip between deep emotional scenes and wildly complex martial arts so effortlessly.
The fact that Stephanie Hsu isn’t already a star is insane, she’s an absolute delight in this, and much like Yeoh, she manages to transition between comedy and more emotional scenes so easily it’s frightening. It was obviously fun to see her fight with dildos and have bagel-shaped hair but it’s the raw emotional scenes she shared with Yeoh though that were just truly special.
It’s now been well stated that Ke Huy Quan disappeared from cinema for a while as there wasn’t any roles that were for him, and that’s a damn shame cause he’s an absolute gem here. The way he can just instantly change between his different versions of himself was so fun to watch, but again like the other actors in the film it’s really the emotional heavy lifting at the end of the film that’s just masterful. He has such a loving chemistry with Yeoh that’s so endearing to watch, and the role his character takes on in the 3rd act and how he conveys this, being an antithesis to the thing destroying the multiverse, is just simply perfect. Also, Jamie Lee Curtis is incredible as usual.
With the Multiverse sort of popping off at the moment it’s so fascinating to see how different filmmakers approach such a complicated and expansive idea. The Daniels approach to the Multiverse is weird, silly, and perfect. What a brilliant storytelling device that to cross the multiverse you have to do something that you’d never do normally. This makes for some of the most absurd and hilarious scenes ever in a film, I mean where else are you going to see Michelle Yeoh fight two men with butt plugs up their asses.
The visual style choices that also accompany the choice to tell a story with the Multiverse were so fun. I loved how in the martial arts universe it felt like it was a Wong Kar-wai film, and that’s just one of the copious visual design choices that all just add to the beauty of the film. The visual and special effects in the film add so much to the visual language of the film, what’s more impressive is that the visual effects team for this film was five people and yet it looks better than a lot of recent blockbusters. It’s a testament to when The Daniels chose to rely on visual effects and when to creatively shoot something practically.
The whole film is really impressively shot, there’s some really creative choices made with aspect ratios and film formats, that just add to the overall visual language that makes this such a fun ride. The editing too is brilliant. In many action films now the fight scenes don’t feel spatially aware, it’s hard to get a sense of what’s going on at all times, but here you know exactly what’s going on when. It’s edited to perfection, the choices to cut in close or further away, made it so easy to follow what was happening. It often felt like cuts weren’t even happening, it was so smooth that you don’t even notice.
Adding to the visual cacophony on screen is the stunning costume design, particularly of Jobu Tupaki. Every single outfit they wore was always so visually striking and just a joy to look at. Also, possibly one of the most ingenious uses of sound in a film ever. The way the sound design tied into the exquisite score was just sensational, it really helped the film feel non-stop in the best way possible.
This is one of my favourite comedies, action films, romance films, sci-fi films and family dramas I’ve seen, and the film manages to balance all of this without lifting even a pinkie. The Daniels have created something truly special here and I’m glad we’re in the universe where this film exists.
★★★★★
