On Nov 4th (technically the 3rd counting late night Thursday showings), Marvel Studios released their next big blockbuster, “Doctor Strange,” staring Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role. This movie is focused on the more supernatural elements of the Marvel Universe, which means plenty of mind boggling scenes the likes of which haven’t been seen since 2010’s “Inception.” Despite the character being relatively unknown, this movie has been hyped to be the next big hit since “Civil War,” but is the Doctors diagnosis a clean bill of health? Read on and find out.
The plot of “Doctor Strange” is a fairly standard one; Stephen Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) a successful surgeon who, despite his good work in the field, acts like a grade-A heel to everyone around him. This includes former love interest of his Dr. Christine Palmer (played by Rachel McAdams) who still has a kinship with the good doctor. Then, one fateful evening, Dr. Strange gets distracted on his phone while driving, and ends up losing the use of his hands, effectively ending his medical career. After pushing away Christine, and exhausting almost every resource to regain use of his hands, Strange finds a more “mystical” opportunity in the form of the “Ancient One,” (played by Tilda Swinton) and her apprentice Mordo (Played by Chiwetel Ejiofor). The remainder of the movie follows Stephen’s eventual training in the mystical arts, and his fight against the dark forces that exist in our world.
While the plot of the movie is typical of the superhero genre, in particular the origin story, the actors and the visuals are the main draw of this movie. The actors do an excellent job with the characters, with Mr. Cumberbatch doing an especially wonderful job of portraying Dr. Strange. His development of Dr. Strange going from arrogant and borderline unlikable to a humble protector of the arts is believable, and Cumberbatch has plenty of charisma and one-liners that keep Strange from being a bleak and dark character. There are plenty of subtle, more quiet moments with Strange that Cumberbatch does extremely well with, mainly regarding the use of Strange’s hands, that add to the portrayal of the titular character. Of course, the remainder of the cast does an excellent job as well, Tilda Swinton doing a great job with “the Ancient One,” playing a slightly stoic, yet knowledgeable and kind mentor, and Chiwetel Ejiofor playing the optimistic and “by-the-books” magician Mordo. Mordo goes through an especially interesting character arc in the movie, which I won’t spoil here, that makes the character more of a tragic one, especially if you know where he ends up in the comics. Special shout out to Benedict Wong as “Wong,” the serious librarian of the Ancient One, who also becomes a pretty endearing and funny character by the end of the movie.
The visuals of the movie, to say the least, are MIND-BLOWING, and seeing this movie in IMAX 3-D is a must. There are so many surreal sequences in the movie that I almost forgot what movie I went to see (in the best possible way). Even though the trailers did show some of these sequences, I can assure you, you haven’t seen anything until you see this movie. The imagery in this movie is pretty faithful to the feel of the original comics, which were pretty surreal themselves. There was a little more of a visual “pop” to these sequences, which does evoke instances of “Inception,” though it never takes away from the story or characters, rather it distinguishes the movie from all of Marvels other offerings, and quite frankly from pretty much any other movie out there at the moment.
While the movie overall was solid, it isn’t without its problems. For example, Rachel McAdams character doesn’t really add much to the overall picture, aside from some brief comedy relief in the middle of the movie. I understand that Dr. Strange needed someone from his old life to A.) Give him someone to talk to and struggle through his pain with in the first act of the movie, and B.) Sort of “ground him” when he returns to New York City later on in the film. In the grand scheme of things though, she didn’t really contribute to the plot in any meaningful way (save for one instance which I won’t spoil here). Also, like many of Marvels other offerings, the villain in this movie was really forgettable. Save for Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston) Marvel movies seem to create really memorable heroes and supporting characters, but can’t write villains for beans. Mads Mikkelsen, who plays Kaecilius the main villain, does a fine job, but the character itself is just bland and uninteresting. A former apprentice gone bad? Like that’s not an overused archetype (Read: Sarcastically). The background threat of the movie is actually more interesting, and the post credits scene sets up a more interesting villain for the sequel.
Despite these minor faults, Dr. Strange is yet another win for Marvel with great characters and amazing visuals. Marvel seems to continuously out-do themselves with each of these movies, which makes me wonder when or if they’ll ever peak. It also makes me worry what would happen if the quality ever declines. For now though, Dr. Strange proves that the Marvel Movie Magic is still alive and well.
