Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” follows the story of the talented neurosurgeon Doctor Stephen Strange, who after a tragic car accident which renders his hands useless, must put aside his ego and learn the secrets of a hidden world of mysticism and alternate dimensions. Based in New York City, Doctor Strange must act as an intermediary between the real world and what lies beyond it, utilizing a vast array of metaphysical abilities and artifacts to protect the world.
With “Doctor Strange”, Marvel has taken what is seemingly another wild-card choice for a movie and has made it work again. This is a fantastic and fun time at the theater.
In a year with 5 other comic book movies being released, this is easily the most unique of the lot. Along with that it is also easily the best looking as the cinematography and special effects here are fantastic and work seamlessly with the 3D in the film. This is probably the best 3D in a movie that I’ve seen since “Avatar” was released in 2009.
Benedict Cumberbatch stars here as the title character and is naturally fantastic in the role. He plays up the cockiness and large ego Strange has very well in the lead up to when he actually goes and gets his powers. Once he gets these powers and is thrown into the mystical other realms that exist parallel to ours, he becomes humble and morphs into a proper hero; however, he has more similarities to Tony Stark rather than Captain America.
Other standouts here are Tilda Swinton and Chiwetel Ejiofor as “The Ancient One” and “Mordo” respectively. Both play their characters fantastically to a point where it’s hard to even see them as actors anymore, but just the characters themselves.
Rachel McAdams and Benedict Wong are also fantastic in their roles but as is the case with many other Marvel movies, they are limited in screen time.
This problem with screen time also affects Mad’s Mikkelson’s “Kaecilius”, as he never really has that much time to develop as a character and we only vaguely know what his intentions are as a villain.
These screen time problems don’t ruin the movie they just make this movie fall into the Marvel movie formula.
The main reason for this lack of screen time is the break-neck pace that the movie runs at. Sitting at about 1hr and 55 minutes, the movie doesn’t leave much breathing room for filler. This is definitely a positive in my book as the movie never has any down time.
Other Marvel movie hallmarks are great humor and great action. Both come to play here and for most part hit all the right notes. The humor can be hit and miss here, which is unusual for a Marvel movie considering the humor almost always hits right on point.
The problem with some of the humor in this movie is that it comes at awkward moments in a couple spots. During an emotional scene a character will break this tension with humor and it can feel out of place.
The unique action in this movie is a true standout among the other Marvel movies because it deals with world-bending environments that forces its characters to react to these changing locals. Think “Inception” except on a larger scale and instead of using guns and grenades, there’s magic.
These action scenes is where the 3D plays a huge part. The depth of the environments and the way that the characters interact with them was very impressive and was almost seamless.
Overall I’d say that Marvel has done well with “Doctor Strange” and has another hit on their hands. Origin stories can be cliche and boring , but the trick is to do something different and that’s just what Marvel did with this movie.
“Doctor Strange” is a welcome addition to the Marvel movie lineup and to this character interact with the other Marvel characters is something I look forward to seeing.
Score: 8.5/10
