Review of Doctor Strange (2016) by Master M — 07 Jan 2018

To jump right into it, Doctor Strange is easily one of my top 5 favorite Marvel movies. It reminds me a lot of the first time I saw The Matrix, in that it uses spectacular and innovative visuals to tell a story that introduces you to a whole new world. It's just it's got better characters, acting, directing, and general story than The Matrix. I love The Matrix but...yeah this movie's better. It's formula is definitely a Marvel origin story, basically being Iron Man with magic. A cocky millionaire loses everything and has to go to an extreme solution to his problem that ends up making him a superhero. We've seen it before, but there's enough originality to it that I didn't mind seeing it again. I like it's take on parallel worlds and magic, it's hypnotic and beautiful. It presents a kaleidoscope world that's a mix of Inception, M.C. Escher, and those posters on your stoner friend's walls. But they don't just show you these spectacular visuals, they do things with them. They present this crazy mindf*** environment, and then have the characters fight in it. This leads to a couple moments of some uncanny valley CGI-ing of the characters as they leap around, but for the most part it really sucks you in. That's not the only innovative take on action though, with some fights taking place in the astral plane, and another happening while time is moving in reverse. It's all just very clever. And leading it all is, of course, Benedict Cumberbatch. This was my dream casting choice for this role, even before I knew they were making a Doctor Strange movie, and I was so happy to see him get cast. He does not disappoint, showing Strange's cockiness while still retaining a likability and humanity that develops over the course of the film. He's funny, charming, and just a blast to watch. The other actors are all good too, and there are quite a few fun side characters, but I can't deny that Cumberbatch totally steals the show.

My one major issue with the movie is with its villain. Honestly he is a step up from what most Marvel movies have been, but he's still not that good. Marvel has a massive catalogue of crazy weird villains that I would love to see in movies, but most of their movie villains have just been some a**hole in a suit. This one's not in a suit, but otherwise he's still pretty much the same. His motivations are a little more fleshed out than the others which is nice, but overall he's just not that interesting. We actually get a peek at one of Marvel's crazier villains, Dormammu, in the film's climax, and it's a great scene...that lasts about 10 minutes and we don't even get to see Dormammu in his full flaming (literally) glory.

While the villains are disappointing here, they do show an improvement over the other Marvel movies, and the hero and action is stronger than ever. I loved Doctor Strange, it had a character I loved thrown into a film of visual wonder that was just a ton of fun.