What’s the point of me bringing this up? Well, I didn’t say it in my review, but I thought there was a very solid chance that “The Batman” would end up as my No. 1 movie of 2022. Obviously I know better than to make that claim in March, especially since it was one of the first movies of 2022 that I actually saw, considering how empty the year has been in terms of quantity of releases, but I thought we’d be hard pressed to get a movie that connected with as much as “The Batman” did. Sometimes it’s just intuition. Little did I know that “The Batman” would get competition so soon, with almost the next movie I saw in theaters.
And that leads us to this. “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Now as far as other movies from 2022, if you’ve kept up on my monthly movie previews, you’ll know that it’s been pretty slim selections so far. And I think Omicron in the winter had a big part in why studios have been scared to release movies. That’s changing here real quick, but I took advantage of the lack of theatrical content to catch up on all the remaining Oscar movies in March before the Oscars happened. Plus, I got really sick in March (not with COVID), so going to the theaters wasn’t really an option. But I’ll be catching up on 2022 as fast as I can and will try to at least see a theatrical movie once a week, usually on a Tuesday, so keep tabs on this blog or on my Facebook page for all of that. But when “Everything Everywhere All at Once” hit my local theater after expanding into about 1,200 theaters nationwide this past weekend, I knew I had to see that one as quick as I could, given the very high buzz it’s been getting on Film Twitter. And after seeing it, I knew it had to get a full review because this is something special.
If you’re not as crazy into film as I am and thus you don’t have your finger on the pulse as much as I do, you may have never heard about this one. And that’s totally understandable. But there’s only one thing that I need to say to pique your curiosity about this movie. It’s a multiverse film. Enjoy “Spider-Man: No Way Home”? Excited for “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”? Well, then this movie could be for you because it’s a small indie film that tackles that same exact subject matter. What if there were an infinite number of parallel realities with different versions of yourself and the world around you? It’s definitely not a new concept. Comic books have been toying around with this for quite some time because it’s a fun way to introduce a whole lot superheroes and supervillains. Some superheroes like The Flash have a large portion of their story centered around this. But what if you took this concept and applied it to the regular, non-superhero universe?
Also not a unique concept. I remember a show in the 90s called “Sliders” that centered around this concept. And there’s plenty of other sci-fi movies and shows that have toyed with this idea. But it’s one that I’m a sucker for. I’m enjoying all of the current MCU multiverse stuff. I’ve enjoyed most of the CW’s Arrowverse that has dove into this quite a bit. I like crazy sci-fi movies that make you think. And I really like weird A24 movies that give me unconventional plots and stories. If you think that Hollywood is out of ideas and will never do anything new outside making an endless number of sequels and reboots, then I implore you to look up the filmography of the studio A24 and starting watching their movies because them alone debunks that complaint. If you’re already aware of A24 and you also enjoy their films, then “Everything Everywhere All at Once” might be one of the most A24 films ever.
I don’t want to get too far into the plot for a couple of main reasons. One, this is a movie that’s best experienced knowing as little as possible. Two, this is a movie that’s really hard to describe even if I wanted to, especially after just one viewing. Try describing the plot of “Inception” to someone after seeing it just once. I remember after seeing “Inception,” my friends and I sat down at a Taco Bell and talked for over an hour… mostly trying to break down what it was that we just watched. That’s the best comparison here. But the basic setup surrounds an Asian American woman named Evelyn who is trying to run a struggling Laundromat with her husband Waymond. Their marriage isn’t going well, her father just arrived from China and he’s a bit old and crazy, and their daughter Joy is trying to get their whole family to accept her new girlfriend. Not to mention they filed their taxes incorrectly and are thus being audited by the IRS, who are threatening to shut their Laundromat down if they don’t get things together.
Lots of stress compounded into one. Not to mention, while at the IRS building, her husband suddenly changes into different multiverse version of himself, an Alpha Waymond, and tells Evelyn that the universe is being threatened by a version of her daughter whose mind is so broken that she’s experiencing all the multiverse universes at once. And yeah, they’ve discovered a way to jump to different universes in the multiverse where they can then obtain different skills that their parallel versions of themselves have.
But yet it’s not just bonkers for the sake of being bonkers. Yes, the directing duo here is definitely having a lot of fun throwing everything they can think of at the wall, especially in our massive second act. But I also got the strong feeling that it all has a point to it. Again, I don’t have my mind fully grasped on exactly what that point is. And there may be a lot of things that I will catch on a second viewing. In fact, I’m sure this is a movie where I catch new tidbits every time I watch, even years down the road. But even if I didn’t understand all of the specifics, so much of the craziness also did a good job of building the tension to the point where the emotional release of all that was going on was extremely rewarding. This isn’t just a crazy movie, it’s a really emotional movie with some very strong central themes.
To that point, I think going back to the Nolan comparison is a valid one. And there’s two Nolan films that I would like to bring up in order to paint a picture for you of how I reacted to this. The two movies are “Inception” and “Tenet.” Both of these movies are very wild experiences. Perhaps two of Nolan’s most Nolan-y films in terms of the twisted timelines and mind-bending experiences. But “Inception” is the far superior film because there was so much emotion packed into it. There are phenomenal character arcs and some fantastic resolutions to the crazy story arcs. And a whole of very impactful, meaningful themes that could be taken from it. “Tenet” was a fun movie, but the main character didn’t even have a name. And I feel it mostly missed the mark in terms of saying something meaningful or packing in all of the emotion. And not all movies need that. It’s perfectly fine to have a movie that is simply a lot of fun. If every movie I saw tore me apart emotionally, I might need a break from watching movies.
But nevertheless, in this comparison, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is most definitely on the “Inception” side of things. And if you know me, you’ll know how strong of a praise that is. “Inception” was my No. 1 film of the entire 2010s decade. And I put it ahead of “The Dark Knight” when I ranked all of Nolan’s filmography. Yes, I need to watch both “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Batman” again. I’m sure I’ll be doing plenty of both before the year ends. So I’m not making a determination on them just yet. But as it stands following one watch of both, I’d put both of them higher than anything we’ve received so far in the 2020s. And I currently would put “Everything Everywhere All at Once” slightly ahead of “The Batman” as my current favorite movie of the year and the decade.
Let’s bring some other comparisons to the mix. Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window.” A man is sitting by his window watching all of his neighbors live their lives and feels like he witnessed a murder while doing so. There are so many plot lines weaved together with this movie and it’s hard to keep track of them all. But what could’ve ended as a bit of a mess in the hands of a lesser filmmaker winds up as a marvelous masterpiece at how everything came together so perfectly. When I first watched “Rear Window,” I went immediately to all the bonus features, dove into everything as much as I could, then watched the movie a second time in that same evening and was even more impressed at how things came together.
Another comparison. “2001: A Space Odyssey.” A mind-blowing masterpiece and the mother of all sci-fi films to date. I spent my whole life hearing all about this movie and finally watched it for the first time at some point early last decade, around 2012 or 2013. I was completely blown away even though I had no idea what I just watched. Upon its 50th anniversary later in the decade, I excitedly showed it to a group of friends, half of whom hated it and it led us on an admittedly fun path of watching all the “Sharknado” movies instead. I learned that “2001” is most definitely not for everyone, but those who connect with it really connect with it and it’s a movie where you understand more and more as you continue to watch.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” is very comparable to both of these scenarios. Like with “Rear Window,” I wanted to go right back into the theater and watch it again. I didn’t do that because I had other things to do and wasn’t in the mood to spend another $10 on it right at that moment, but if it was a streaming movie, I may have done just that. “Rear Window” was a movie from 1954 that I had on DVD at the moment, so I had the luxury of doing that at that time. But the experience of watching it for the first time was nevertheless the same. A really trippy, complex experience that I wanted to immediately check out again and one that has not left my mind. And like with “2001” not being a movie for everyone, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is a similar level of trippiness that could completely frustrate and confuse people, but if you connect with this level of crazy, this is a little indie film coming out of nowhere that could wind up as one of your favorite movies.
The second area is directing. I don’t always have the best analysis when it comes to directing because most of that is done off-screen in a way that is hard for me to judge. But I do know when you have this many people playing so many different versions of themselves in such chaotic order, you need a captain of the ship that knows how to guide them all and help them do what they need. Because the actors don’t always know how the final product is going to end up. So it’s up to the director to guide them. And this movie has a directing duo that call themselves Daniels. It’s Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. And man do they direct this movie to perfection. Not just with the actors, but really putting this whole complex thing together.
Along with that comes the screenplay. I would be shocked if they weren’t inspired in at least some degree to the upcoming MCU multiverse stuff to some degree. I don’t know when this was written or when the production started, but to be released right in between “No Way Home” and “The Multiverse of Madness” is either the craziest coincidence ever or one brilliant plan. But either way, the Daniels not only directed this movie, but they wrote it. And whatever their inspiration, they came up with one heck of a multiverse movie that must’ve been quite the insane project to write. They outdid “No Way Home” and have now put a lot of pressure on “The Multiverse of Madness” to deliver.
And, of course, the other major masterclass that’s showcased here is the editing. If this doesn’t win editing awards, then we might as well cancel all editing awards because I will be convinced that people have no idea how to judge that. I’m not the expert myself, but this movie is moving at a million miles per hour with it cutting sequences at a jaw-dropping pace. And yet I don’t feel that any of it was done in a chaotic way. I feel like every scene had a purpose to it and built upon the last scene to help build the story and I imagine it was quite the work to not only shoot all of that, but splice it all together in a way that made it work like it did.
I’m sure there’s much more that I could cover with this movie. But I think I’ve hit all the highlights in a way that feels satisfactory to me following a first viewing. But make no mistake, there’s a lot more that could be discussed here, especially after seeing it more times and taking the time to digest and talk about it over the weeks and months to come. Like with “Inception,” I’m sure the conversation has the potential to progress and evolve in a way that there are different talking points that continually arise. But the biggest obstacle is making sure that enough people see it so that these discussions can actually be had. It’s not a major blockbuster that “Inception” was. It’s a small indie film that has made just $8.4 million as of me typing this. It’s spent two weekends in limited release and just finished its first weekend in a semi-wide release. So the ball is just beginning to roll and it deserves to be rolled a lot further. So if I’ve piqued your interest at all, please make sure to find this and give it a watch as soon as is possible for you, especially if you are a film fan like myself. If it helps, it’s currently at a 9.0 on IMDb and has a 96 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 94 percent audience score. So I’m currently not alone in liking it. It deserves your attention.
Grade: 10/10
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