Review of Doctor Strange (2016) by Rathael — 05 Nov 2016

DOCTOR STRANGE REVIEW.

Doctor Strange is here. This is one of the most unique Marvel properties, and the first MCU Property that Marvel had to go full magic with. Lot of the other characters that should have been using magic in the MCU has not really done so, and was always able to be explained through science and technology. That buck stops here with Doctor Strange, first magical character to grace the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And it is brought to life by one of the most talented actors in Hollywood right now. And for the most part it works, it is entertaining and fun and that's great but it doesn't really go above that factor.

This is going to be strange sounding but Doctor Strange to me seems almost like a remake of Iron Man, with another skin over it, there are a ton of similarities between the two movies which I am not going to spoil here, but they are not hard to see. Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange is really good and really manages to bring the wonder to the character even though his American accent is a bit hard to stomache at times, it does not detract from his performance as Stephen Strange. And this is not his fault, but with the screenplay he was given, he had to channel another Marvel hero quite a bit, which at least for me was a bit detracting. Without spoiling anything that wasn't already seen in the trailer, Stephen Strange is a doctor that gets thrust into world of magic after an accident, and this is where he meets the Ancient One played by multi talented Tilda Swinton. And she is also more than capable of carrying her part even though the character of Ancient One in the comic books is an elderly Asian guy, that does not detract from the mission she had in the movie.

Other characters in this movie involve Mads Mikkelsen of Hannibal and James Bond fame as the pseudo-villain of the movie which rejected the Ancient One's training and is trying to create a cult of his own, and again with what he was given he was alright but not much was given to him to do. Entire threat that Doctor Strange needs to face throughout the movie are like five or ten magical users, and the movie again does an Avenger trope of hey lets beat up on the minions until we get to the main boss. Problem is there never really seems to be a much of a threat here. Chiwetel Eijofor is also in this movie as Mordo, and well again he was not really given much to do, he is a trainer for Strange, and a guardian for him.

This movie was directed by Scott Derickson of Sinister fame (or infamy) for others, and I was really hoping he would bring that visual flair that he brought to Sinister, not so much make it a horror movie, but for the movie have that feeling of impending darkness and dwelling of doom from time to time. And I don't know if this was intentional or not, but when we were supposed to be coming to those parts movie actually turned to another movie from another franchise back in 1997 which I will not name but it does involve Bats and Birds (*wink wink*). And I found that a bit distracting.

Visually movie looks great with use of magic and some of the fights are spectacular to watch. I have not seen the movie in 3D, and part of me wishes that I did and the other part is very very glad I did not, as a lot of the scenes are very Inception like, but in a sense it is Inception to the nth degree where the confusion can set into place, and lot of it looks like you are watching a movie through a Kaledioscope, which looks beautiful don't get me wrong, but prolonged exposure can give you headaches!

And more thing that is worth mentioning is costume design in this movie is phenomenal and they could not have made Doctor Strange's cloak and full costume any better!

There are 2 post credit scenes that I won't spoil, but one of them I sure you can guess what it is, if you are familiar with the comics at all.

Overall movie is enjoyable watch, its not nearly the best Marvel movie and is far from being the worst one as well, if you can overlook the similarities between this and the other Marvel movie that proceeded it, you might be able to enjoy the story little bit more than me. Just make sure you understand that is in origin story and same with any origin story, there is a ton of exposition where they try to bombard you with information you may or may not need to have. Visuals are fun to watch, even sometimes distracting, and movie is definetely worth watching for Cumberbatch's and Swinton's performances which are alone worth price of admission. Just get past his American accent.

2.