Everything Everywhere All at Once review

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE: 

MICHELLE YEOH BEATS DOCTOR STRANGE TO THE PUNCH IN THIS WILDLY ENTERTAINING TRIP THROUGH THE MULTIVERSE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

A24

Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once

 

            Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) takes a trip through the multiverse in Everything Everywhere All at Once, the new film from Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert AKA Daniels (Swiss Army Man, The Death of Dick Long) and produced by Anthony and Joe Russo (Marvel Cinematic Universe). The multiverse has become a very interesting topic in the world of film lately with movies such as Another Earth, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the upcoming, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness being some of the most talked-about films revolving around the concept. 

            But there comes a film that takes an idea like the multiverse and does something completely unique and bizarre with it, this is one of those films as it doesn’t revolve around superheroes in the multiverse but instead a middle-aged Chinese woman. I guess the only way I can describe it is like a mix of Doctor Strange, The Raid, Total Recall, and The Matrix, but even that doesn’t sum up the pure chaos this film offers. 

             In a year where The Batman and The Lost City were released, Michelle Yeoh traveling through the multiverse is some of the most fun I’ve had in a theater so far. I literally just saw the latest Marvel flick, Morbius the other night and that had some of the dullest action I’ve seen in recent years and a very manufactured plot, this movie however, has action that’s energetic and in your face, to the point where the whole movie is an adrenaline rush from start to finish similar to Mad Max: Fury Road or The Raid: Redemption, while also having a clever story and charismatic characters. 

            The film follows Evelyn (Yeoh), a woman who runs a struggling laundromat with her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan-The Goonies, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Head of the Class) which is being audited by the IRS. However, her family’s meeting with the IRS is quickly interrupted as Evelyn is suddenly (and humorously) whisked into the janitor’s closet by a version of Waymond from another universe who pleads for her help in saving the multiverse from annihilation. 

            Evelyn will need to tap into skills of alternate versions of herself like one where she’s a singer or movie star or one that’s a kung fu master and even a version with hotdogs for fingers to stop the evil force that threatens the universe(s) and become their most unlikely hero. 

            The film also stars Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween, True Lies, Knives Out) as IRS inspector, Deirdre Beaubeirdra, Stephanie Hsu (The Path, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) as Evelyn’s daughter, Joy, James Hong (Blade Runner, Mulan, Kung Fu Panda trilogy) as Evelyn’s father, Gong Gong, Jenny Slate (Zootopia, The Lego Batman Movie, Venom) as Big Nose, and Harry Shum Jr. (Glee, Shadowhunters, Crazy Rich Asians) as Chad. 

            Overall, Everything Everywhere All at Once is a mind-blowing attack on the senses and something that will be best enjoyed on the big screen. The action sequences have this kinetic energy that runs all throughout the film and never loses steam and unlike the action in Morbius, the camera is still and used as a window for the viewer to fully immerse themselves into this chaotic frenzy of fistfights, gunfire, and martial arts to name a few, and not disorient and tire them out. 

            While the action is exhilarating and some of the best I’ve seen in recent years, it’s also mixed with a lot of surreal imagery and bizarre humor. Whether it’s a witty comment from Yeoh or the supporting cast, an alternate universe that she ends up in like the one where she has hotdogs for fingers which is one of the funniest things in the movie, or just how over-the-top, absurd, and blown out of proportion the action sequences get…or even rocks! 

            The film sort of does this Inception/Doctor Strange Mirror Dimension effect whenever a character does something with the multiverse where you see double images or reflections that look like shattered glass and a lot of the imagery shown in the multiverse is as if you’re watching someone’s drug hallucinations being projected onto a theater screen and it’s some of the most imaginative and trippiest sequences I’ve ever seen in a movie. 

            With all the insanity and chaos going on, when you really get down to it, the plot of the movie is a woman who feels like her life is going downhill and you’re wondering how she’s going to make things right. While a lot of multiverse shows and movies focus on the epic scope of this idea, here’s one that has a sense of realism and heart underneath its action and visuals. 

            Michelle Yeoh is excellent in this movie and is some of her best acting throughout her entire career. She does a marvelous job flip-flopping between a struggling wife and mother, a tough badass, and showing off her silly side once in a while. 

There’s also this subplot regarding Evelyn’s relationship with her daughter and trying to reconnect with her. You see both sides of their conflict and neither one of them is right or wrong, Evelyn wants to be part of her daughter’s life, but she has a difficult time trying to let her daughter go, it’s a very realistic and relatable topic that adds a lot of heart to this “Multiverse of Madness”. 

I had a really good time with this movie and it’s something I strongly urge everyone to see on the big screen as soon as possible. I don’t care if that crappy Morbius movie is more mainstream and familiar, my advice is to replace that dull and dumb mess with this smart, exciting, and funny trip through the multiverse…that might have already given Doctor Strange a run for his money!