Culture Crash: The Many Multiverses

The multiverse is a hot concept right now – worlds on top of worlds that are nearly identical but with slight variations is a perfect setting for all kinds of stories. Most famously, comic stories have long explored the multiverse, and recently both Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: No Way Home using decades of audience knowledge to create a multiverse tale. But there’s a problem with these movies, and I guess it’s pretty obvious when you stop to think about it: these kinds of multiverse stories necessitate the audience to have a working knowledge of decades of comics and movie content.

But now, there’s a new entry in the multiverse landscape, and it’s a standalone. The movie is called Everything Everywhere All at Once and it’s directed by the duo known as Daniels. Michelle Yeoh stars in the movie, which allows audiences to jump into the action-packed topic of multiverses without needing to know years of comic book backstory. But Everything Everywhere All at Once is also much more than just a multiverse movie. It’s also a hilarious comedy, an absurdist masterpiece, and the rare modern hit that balances its whimsy and storytelling.

In an age when so many movies use characters as pawns to get to the big special effects climax, Everything Everywhere All at Once uses its big special effects sequences in service of its characters. The special effects, not the people, are the pawns. It’s a unique movie, and may not be for everyone, but it is truly one of the most exhilarating things I’ve seen in a theater in years.

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Everything Everywhere All at Once is now playing.