‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ Review: The Multiverse of Madness Is Here
Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan are the central emotional core of the Daniels’ celebration of Chinese cinema and Yeoh’s incredible career.
If you’re trying to satiate your excitement for the next ‘multiverse’ story from Marvel Studios, you should look into seeing the Daniels’ (Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert) new film, Everything Everywhere All At Once. Interestingly enough, the directorial duo almost helmed the first season of Loki but opted out early on to focus on their own adventure through the Michelle Yeoh multiverse. And while its exposition on the mechanics of that said multiverse isn’t as thoroughly explained as it should be, the film provides itself to be a fun and vibrant time at the movies, until it starts to peel back its zaniness in favor of a deeper (and emotionally cathartic) final act.
Part of the fun of seeing this movie is not knowing much about its plot, save for the main concept: Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) is struggling to keep her laundromat afloat, and her marriage with husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) is slowly fading…that is until she receives an alternate version of Waymond from another universe telling her that her daughter (Stephanie Hsu) has been possessed by Jobu Tupaki, who can manipulate all of the universes at once and destroy the fabric of reality. Of course, all of this is acts as a metaphor for something deeper, and it will be revealed in due time if you let the film play out.
The advantage of many multi-verse stories is that they can break all kinds of conventions, but the rules of the multiverse need to be as clear as crystal before it starts to get zany. Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home, two recent titles that dealt with alternate universes, kept it simple, and didn’t contradict its rules from beginning to end. Everything Everywhere All At Once seems too busy to thwart audiences inside its alternate universe, before telling us as it all works. And it’s an inventive way to disorient us right from the get-go, when we see a glimpse of Evelyn’s chaotic life, only for it to get more chaotic when Alpha Waymond arrives. But instead of explaining the multiverse’s rule-breaking boundaries and giving us a clear view of the universe-splitting effects, it can have on Evelyn, there are too many times where the writers (also Daniels) pull the old “because… multiverse” expositional explanation out of their bag to get away from moments that are too complicated to deserve any detail.
And it’s for that sole reason that the first act isn’t as effective as the rest of the movie. It immediately wants to distort and bemuse audiences with its anxiety-inducing structure and no-holds-barred aesthetic, but it ultimately fails at developing a cohesive distortion for the multiversal rules to become clear. And even if a multiverse breaks any kind of conventions and throws the word “rules” out of the window, there are certain elements a director needs to explain to the audience to convey Evelyn’s trip inside alternate universes so that everything clicks and the experience of seeing Michelle Yeoh go through different worlds is an exciting one, and represents a true (and unique) “multiverse of madness.”
Thankfully, the movie picks up lots of steam during its second act and goes wild. Each alternate universe is based on one film genre (heck, even one filmmaker), and the Daniels have the time of their lives at riffing off the best of kung fu, sci-fi, action, and slapstick cinema has to offer. Clear references to The Matrix and 2001: A Space Odyssey will be crowd-pleasing, while deeper references to the Hong Kong kung-fu films of the 1970s will satisfy the most ardent cinephiles. But its best world, strangely enough, recalls the aesthetic of a Wong Kar-wai drama, akin to Happy Together, Chungking Express, and In the Mood for Love. Heck, even Ke Huy Quan channels his inner Tony Leung Chiu-wai here, long cigarette drags and pensive eyes included.
There hasn’t been a more satisfying return to the silver screen than seeing Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All At Once . Mostly known for playing Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Data in The Goonies, Quan retired from acting in 2002 due to the lack of acting opportunities for Asian Americans. But the success of Jon M. Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians (also starring Michelle Yeoh) convinced him to return to the screen. His comedic timing from “The Goonies” is intact, but in his eyes contains a vulnerability that no other actor could’ve given to the role. His Tony Leung channeling part inside the Wong Kar-wai universe brought a tear to my eyes, and his fanny pack fighting skills inside another universe are impeccable. He lights up the screen even more with acting legend James Hong, who gives the role he was born to play at 93 years old.
But the film’s real star is Yeoh, who gives the best performance of her illustrious career. The movie not only acts as a celebration of one of the greatest actresses of our time but also an incredible showcase of all of her acting abilities at once–her comedic style is as punchy as Ke Huy Quan (whom she shares amazing chemistry with) and the film’s action sequences take full advantage of Yeoh’s experience in martial arts cinema. Aside from S.S. Rajamouli’s RRR, Everything Everywhere All At Once contains some of the most creative action of the year so far. Fanny packs, raccoons performing Hibachi paper cuts, confetti squibs, hot dog fingers, the list goes on and on of creative objects designed to melt the audience’s brain away in awe and pure catharsis (one critic at the screening was in pure stitches from beginning to end, and another left 30 mins after the film started).
Where the movie really takes its shape is during the final act, in which Yeoh’s dramatic sensibilities shine, and her relationship with Stephanie Hsu’s Joy starts to become clearer. Revealing more would mean spoiling the best (and most emotional) part of the movie, but let’s just say that you may cry at a conversation between…two rocks. It’s actually the most moving scene of the year and wrought with so much emotional power you’d be a fool not to well-up at the sight of… two rocks. It may sound crazy, with no live actors, just two rocks talking with text on the screen, but it’s the most powerful thing you may see all year so far, hands down.
While Everything Everywhere All At Once may not be a perfect film, as it gets lost in its multiversal madness without focusing on a clear-cut aspect that would make its reality-bending concept more cohesive, its performances from Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu and James Wong give the film a much-needed human side, amidst its dynamic action sequences and Paul Rogers’s atypical editing techniques. For the fullest effect, the film needs to be experienced on the biggest screen imaginable, with a crowd that loves a true celebration of not only Chinese cinema’s greatest accomplishments, but Michelle Yeoh’s career as one of the greatest actresses to have graced the movies for the past 38 years…and she’s just getting started.