Everything Everywhere All at Once transports its audience and laundromat co-owner Evelyn Wong (Michelle Yeoh) through an interdimensional rupture that unravels reality. Evelyn soon finds herself face to face with an alternate version of her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) from a universe called Alpha who has come to teach Evelyn about the multiverse, alternate universes that coexist simultaneously and contain a version of each living person that exists due to different choices being made in their lives, so that Evelyn can tap into her heroic qualities and use her newfound powers to fight bizarre and bewildering dangers from the multiverse as the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
What stands out about this film the most is the incredible balance that Everything Everywhere All at Once strikes between its complex science fiction elements, absurd humor, and thematic weight about human relationships and connection, all interwoven together and each aspect bouncing off of another. The film’s premise of its protagonists using technology and their training to connect to multiple universes and find their multiverse selves serves as an apt metaphor for the film’s overarching theme that explores connection between people and a main universe cast that is similarly seeking to connect. Waymond from the Alpha universe and the omnipotent being Jobu Tupaki both scour the multiverse looking for the heroic version of Evelyn so that she may fill the hole that exists in their purpose, perfectly mirroring the disconnect and hope for openness that the Joy and Waymond from our own world seek from their wife and mother Evelyn. And both versions of Evelyn must discover how best to open her mind and her emotions in order to connect with people who are hurting in order to improve not only their lives, but hers as well. What results is a sci-fi romp that carries both emotional and thematic weight that entertains its audience and creates empathy as what the Wongs go through in both the Alpha and standard universes call to mind our own experiences in dealing with neighbors and loved ones.
The film’s cast plays a major role establishing the strength of the film’s story in addition to writers/directors Daniels, led by the great Michelle Yeoh. Yeoh’s turn as Evelyn Wong wonderfully meshes together a woman who is overwhelmed by a life juggling family and entrepreneurship while silently still carrying the trauma of a fractured upbringing and relationship with her father stemming from her choice to emigrate to America with an underlying heroism and strength that she is unaware of and must be guided toward by others who believe in who she can be. The role calls for a range of emotion and personality shifts which Yeoh portrays convincingly throughout the development of the character. Following her superb performance closely is Ke Huy Quan’s Waymond/Alpha Waymond who serves as the emotional guide for Evelyn throughout the film, reconnecting her with her empathy and caring. Quan’s struggling husband portrayal of Waymond and supportive action star portrayal of Alpha Waymond couldn’t be more different but he nails both. Stephanie Hsu’s Joy/Jobu Tupaki are similarly polar opposite characters that Hsu is able to transition between skillfully. Joy’s relationship with Evelyn is the film’s emotional backbone and Hsu’s believable strained mother-daughter chemistry with Yeoh makes it work.
All of its inventiveness, well-paced action, and perfectly explained complex storytelling is blunted heavily by an elongated third act that belabors its point about leading with kindness and love in order to better connect with people. The movie grinds to a bit of a stand still as Evelyn learns this point in the middle of a slow-mo action sequence that sees her travel into the multiverse with almost ten henchmen as she learns their thumbscrew and emotional needs that turn them from broken, hurt people to healed villains who lose their violent urges. While executed well with the same brilliant mix of humor and complex sci-fi storytelling that is present throughout this film, the point where Evelyn is taught by Waymond about the need to love others, thus beginning their own healing as a family, could have been made much more succinctly without slowing the film down and hampering its pace. Other stylized sci-fi action comedies have done similarly, most notably 2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. There, the titular character has a similar revelation during a third act climax fight scene set on a staircase where he learns that the issue holding back his development as a person is the need to do right by the people in his life for his own self-respect and image rather than their love. That film communicates this point just as clearly and impactful in a fraction of the time we see it in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
In the two weeks since it has begun to be screened for the general public, Everything Everywhere All at Once has quickly cultivated a passionate core fanbase that has sung its praises far and wide and created a frenzy across the World Wide Web. The impassioned reaction to the film on social media shows that despite protestations that people be allowed to revel in the dominance of Marvel Studios’ formulaic style, viewers are more starved for original, creative content than they let on. The film’s complex multiverse sci-fi elements coupled with its stylish fight scenes feel fresh compared to the blockbuster landscape we’ve been treated over the past decade. The cinematography in the film is a visual treat with visual effects that give the independent film the gravitas and flair of its big budget competition at a fraction of the cost, a testament to Daniels’ direction and director of photography Larkin Seiple’s skill. The turmoil and self discovery that its characters go through ensure an empathetic emotional thread that keeps the viewer invested after its genre elements generates the visceral excitement. Michelle Yeoh’s magnificent and impactful performance buoyed by the supporting cast round out a perfect storm of elements that overcome its aforementioned bloated runtime that blunts its momentum going into the second act. Everything Everywhere All at Once is a creative, engaging film that entertains and makes audiences feel.
Image: A24
