It's been an impressive year for Marvel, as "Deadpool" had one of the most successful tenures at the box office in February, and "Captain America: Civil War" had fantastic ratings on Rotten Tomatoes while also doing exceptionally well at the box office in April. Now, these home runs came with a dud in the most recent X-Men movie back in May, where the ratings were quite poor, and the box office was not as huge as Marvel would have liked it to be.
With all of this in mind, the studio's latest installment from Stan Lee's legendary comics, "Doctor Strange" was very much highly anticipated coming into the month of November. The anticipation only grew when it had a 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes to begin with. And after finally seeing it, I must admit, I was struck about how layered and exceptionally well made the film really was.
Typically when you think of Marvel, you think of a few important and intriguing moments with a chaotic end, where a city is being destroyed in the middle of the fight between the bad guys and the good guys. While this may work sometimes, there are some Marvel films that lack the emotional and meaningful punch because of the absence of good storytelling at times.
With regards to "Doctor Strange", director Scott Derrickson takes a whole other direction. The movie follows an egomaniac neurosurgeon that goes by the name of Steven Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch), who thinks he's got it all figured out until he gets in an almost fatal car accident. Strange would lose the ability to use his hands, and as a result, he seeks out help in Nepal from a warrior named Mordo (Chitwetel Ejiofor), and the ancient one (played by Tilda Swinton).
Derrickson looks very Robert Zemeckis-esque, where he uses stunning CGI and visuals to capture his audience's emotion. And unlike many Marvel films, Derrickson uses the rotating buildings, and illusions to bring meaning to the film, rather than just mindlessly blowing everything up in a winner takes all battle. By doing this, he creates a complexity and beauty that is not too often seen in Marvel makers.
What I also thoroughly enjoyed was, they focused more on character development and story, rather than trying to show off their major budget. This agains creates a thoughtfulness that I really started to appreciate as the movie went on.
As far as the main character, Cumberbatch brought an enjoyable charisma to the screen, which lead to a more engaging superhero. Derrickson goes against the idea of heroism by adding in funny and dumb moments where Strange would be ripped apart by his teacher and rival warrior. It showed that despite his ego, he isn't perfect. It was almost as if the director wanted to go against the norm as far as what a hero should look like.
The brief moments of subtlety was a nice addition to the film, because we got to learn more about each character. The scene where Strange is with Swinton was especially impactful and quietly important to the plot. I think that having Oscar nominees Ejiofor and Cumberbatch gave the film even more of a boost to the storytelling, as each brought their A-game to their performances.
Strange's defiance of death and failure brought another layer to the movie that gave audiences something to think about. In most superhero movies, there really isn't much to ponder about because it's always the same type of setup.
The only tiny problem that I can think of is Rachel McAdams character. I feel that Derrickson tried to have her be the quiet lover to Strange, but it was kind of a strikeout. With regards to the story, she really had no point to the film other than the many operations that she performed. She was definitely unimportant.
Overall, "Doctor Strange" was a nice revival in the Marvel series, where the franchise has been plagued with many of the generic plot points. Derrickson brought a visually stunning film mixed in with heartfelt storytelling for an overall enjoyable experience.
Rating: 9/10
