Review of Doctor Strange (2016) by Kyle L — 13 Jul 2018

Dazzling, Action packed and visually Aesthetic, Stunning and Striking. Doctor Strange is another surprise entry in the slate of Phase Three films in the long running Marvel Cinematic Universe. Doctor Strange tells the story of Stephen Strange, a brilliant but arrogant surgeon who has been living his life, day-by-day helping people's lives.

But a bad accident left him both scarred and a tragic end in his career when doctors could not find a way to heal his hands. Desperate to go back into his normal job, Stephen travels to Nepal to find a way to fix his issue but ends up meeting the Ancient One, who brings him in as a student to master the world of magic and he must make a decision whether to go back into his old life or take responsibility by saving the world from a former associate of the Ancient One, who seeks true power and redemption by summoning a demon name Dormammu on earth.

Back when this showed in 2016, I had a blast watching it and this film really strengthen the core of the Marvel Cinematic Universe by taking it in new and unexpected directions. If Captain America Civil War was funny yet intense thanks to its powerful story and thrilling action scenes.

Doctor Strange is a striking movie that delves deeper into the magical world of the MCU which almost felt like questioning how magicians do their magic tricks and if what they are doing is for real or not.

This movie like the previous Marvel films does a great job in telling a good story while throwing a number of its best aspects that made this franchise great in the first place, Doctor Strange is the film that explores big Fantasy Worlds in a completely unexpected way.

What satisfied me with this film is that it captures the heart and spirit of both the early and new Superhero films and combine them altogether in one film while also avoiding the mistakes of past Comic book movies at the same time.

The other good part about Doctor Strange is that the action scenes are simple yet fun in all the right places, whereas Civil War was packed with intense physical hand-to-hand fights combined with marvelous special effects.

This film does a good job balancing visual effects and smooth fight choreography in the best way; the other things I like about Doctor Strange is that the characterization is very believable and naturalistic from Stephen Strange to Mordo and the Ancient One including the likable sidekick Wong.

The visual effects are so striking and they look perfect to watch on IMAX that made everyone feel like they are exploring this magical world that is at times confusing, disorienting but most of all, hypnotic in the best way.

There are so many scenes that are memorable (The opening act where the buildings are revolving like gears in a machine, Stephen Strange's trip to the world of magic and illusion, the astral projection fight and the finale where Doctor Strange confronts the entity Dormammu while tormenting him from the never ending loop).

The thrills are spot-on, the CGI effects are gorgeous and lastly, Marvel delivers another villain who is menacing and threatening filled with a dark motivation, it truly shows that Marvel admits about their villain problems from the Phase One and Two films.

They did the best opportunity to solve that issue by giving them a good backstory while posing as a dangerous threat to the hero himself in the best way possible. Now the acting is great, Benedict Cumberbatch suits the role of the titular hero and he definitely looks like Doctor Strange from the comics.

Chiwetel Ejiofor is great as the Loki like villain Mordo. Rachel McAdams did a good job with her role as Christine Palmer, Stephen's former lover and finally, the rest of the cast are fun like Benedict Wong as the funny and charming sidekick Wong including Mads Mikkelsen as the evil Kaecilius.

Director Scott Derrickson did a really good job with his work on this film, he showed proof that he can make a different movie outside of the Horror genre after directing Sinister and Deliver Us From Evil with Ethan Hawke and Eric Bana as the lead characters respectively.

How Scott handled Doctor Strange is spectacular as he turned the screenplay of his Sinister co-writer C. Robert Cargill into a visual masterpiece that will be labeled as Marvel's stunning movie to date and I hope he directs the sequel too.

Overall Doctor Strange is another fun entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that is artistic and stunning in every direction. This movie gets a 10/10.