Doctor Strange - The Movie Review

Sorcery has now been entered into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Doctor Strange making his first ever solo appearance, but will the movie magic be a case of watching the greatest 'Marvel' feats ever performed on screen or just seeing a rabbit pulled out of a hat?  

Doctor Strange marks a very important turn in the MCU, as it now means no corner of comic book fantasy is off limits. Officially, under the Marvel Studios banner, Iron Man stands as the production companies first release. But I can't help, but give kudos to the first Marvel character done right for the big screen in the form of Blade, way back in 1998. As far as I am concerned, New Line Cinema were brave to option an 18 certificate film, that dealt with vampires and a fantastical blood god, rather than a Superman type of film and villain. Blade showed other film studios, that the adult demographic, were just as open to engage with a lesser known graphic novel hero, as the child/teen audience were. But the fat lady truly sung, when the $40million budgeted film, ended up grossing $131.2million at the box office, way before the latest adult comic book fare; Deadpool was even a cinematic idea.

Beyond Blade's initial and slight delve into other realm fantasy (with the whole La Margra mythology) the next breaches of just having a normal Earth setting, came in the forms of Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Thor, Thor: The Dark World, Avengers Assemble and Guardians of the Galaxy. Each of these films either took us to the edge of space or beyond it, right into other worlds. X-Men: Days Of Future Past dealt with time travel (well sort of) and now with Doctor Strange, the final corner has been turned. Yes! The sphere of magic and other dimensions has finally and fully been opened up to be a part of the MCU repertoire, but without all those other superhero films making incremental steps, Doctor Strange may never have even been considered viable. In addition, I will give a little shout out to the Scarlett Witch's magical contributions. Team-up anybody?

"What is also becoming more apparent in all of Marvel's films, is the humour dial being turned up a notch or two, which provides a nice balance between the fantastical and normal."

Cumberbatch plays Dr. Stephen Strange, a brilliant neurosurgeon who probably couldn't find a patient, that he couldn't heal. But for this doctor, his interests only lie in cases that would require pioneering surgical techniques and the push beyond the known boundaries of medicine. Though he recognises that his services are actually for the people, he really only serves himself, picking difficult and high profile cases that would allow for further self-aggrandisement. His attitude is further spurred on by regular praise and speaking engagements from the medical community that he revels in and he is quite happy to put his career before anything and anyone else. This however drastically changes, when an accident leaves his hands in a truly terrible state. Angry and desperate to restore his hands to full working order, he embarks on a journey that will lead him to an altogether different destiny, where his medical and scientific reality will be shattered, re-pieced, folded, turned inside out and rewound.

Watching this film just made me feel sorry for DC, as they still haven't found, at the very least, a formulaic way to deliver one good film after the next. Here, Marvel have once again hit the nail on the head and have brought us a fresh cut of cinematic, supernatural action fare. First of all, I must congratulate them on the writing of the character Stephen Strange. It would have been very easy to paint his initial character into a one dimensional corner, where he simply starts of as bad, bad, bad, then cornily finds salvation through becoming a superhero. Instead, his ego, arrogance and narcissism are blended in a way where you still find that you actually like him. He's a man who has no qualms in belittling through correction and lambasting colleagues, to put them and most people in their place; which is usually below him. Yet you have to ask why is he doing a job that saves people's lives?

Ultimately, this is a well scripted story that contains unique action, grand fantasy landscapes, a sound cast and a great rhythmic pace. It is a film that will keep you involved from its opening, until its 3 ends. The special effects have been pushed to bring a new type of action scene that you might have only ever seen in animation. If you think mainly of the film Inception, meeting elements of What Dreams May Come, The Fall and The Matrix, then what you have here, is the best of those visuals intricately woven between live action fisticuffs and mystical fights. What is also becoming more apparent in all of Marvel's films, is the humour dial being turned up a notch or two, which provides a nice balance between the fantastical and normal. The production team knows they are asking the audience (especially the uninitiated MCU fans) to take in a whole different way of looking at things, but they are also saying; 'Hey we are aware that this is mad-crazy, but let's have fun with it'. To their credit they keep the story human, no matter what creatures and dimensions we are taken to. This is heavily expressed in the film's main theme; the fear of death - physical death, death of career, death of dreams, death of a life philosophy and death of the body. In Doctor Strange you will find at least 4 characters who in some manner have the death of something happen to them that alters their life path. The cast play out their roles very well and though there was initial controversy over both Chiwetel Ejiofor and Tilda Swinton's casting (due to stark cosmetic differences from the comics) nobody is really going to care. Some may find the clever ending not as satisfactory as something that could have contained a little more brute force and ignorance, but remember this is Doctor Strange, not Doctor Doom!

A Strong 9/10

DR STRANGE CAST MAKE AN APPEARANCE BEFORE SCREENING