Jonathan Heinbaugh, Staff Writer
The next step in Marvel’s expansion of their already vast cinematic universe of superheroes has finally arrived as “Doctor Strange” looks to take a new angle. It attempts to throw magic into the mix while still sticking to the formulaic hero origin story cliches.
“Doctor Strange” opens with the introduction of main hero Doctor Stephen Strange played by Benedict Cumberbatch as a young, handsome, rich and undoubtedly arrogant surgeon. Obsessed with the glory that comes with being the best at your craft, the young doctor is shown many times belittling those around him, including his co-workers and shown love interest Christine Palmer, played by Rachel McAdams.
Strange is then sent on a path to both find and humble himself after a car accident leaves him with no feeling in his hands and unable to do his job any longer. To repair his hands, Strange seeks a group of people who agree to help him through the ways of magic and spirit.
Getting into what worked really well for this movie, starting with the actors: Cumberbatch is on his A game like no other in this one, delving deep into who the character Stephen Strange really is. Audiences can tell he is truly enjoying himself, and the role as he’s portraying for Strange is such a likable character. Sure he’s arrogant, and man does he say some truly cringe-worthy cocky things, but it is because he is so arrogant and his delivery is so great that he makes it work for himself that they come off hilarious.
He also works with his counterpart McAdams very well, and a lot of that can be given props to the writing and screenplay crew. They give the lovebirds time to breathe, not forcing them to be together in every scene and making both useful to the scene when they are together.
Along with great acting, “Doctor Strange” offers incredible visuals truly up there with movies like “Interstellar” and “Avatar” as just genuinely mind bending visual effects. It pushes everything to the max as worlds flip on top of each other, and hallways twist and turn themselves around and pull characters back to the start of where they were running. It is mind bending in the best of ways and adds layers to the story as the environment almost plays a role itself.
With visuals and acting, humor and wit all already being things that fans know and love about the Marvel movies, there are also glaring flaws. One is a truly forgettable villain. It’s not like Mads Mikkelsen did a bad job to any extent; in fact, his performance as Kaecilius was very believable, but unfortunately that’s where the praise stops.
The villain and main goal just aren’t very fleshed out and never really have anything interesting to add to the story. People will most likely find themselves saying, “OK, a the typical villain is established, now we can get back to the far more interesting heros already?” This really isn’t excusable at this point as now we are getting used to awful villains in Marvel movies just being bland and we haven’t had one with anything interesting to say since “The Avengers” with Loki.
The movie also suffers from lackluster pacing, with the second and third act really meshing together with no true slow down time. Some may enjoy that, but many movie goers will most likely be trying to catch up with what the point of the movie is at many times. This, however, does not take all that much away from the movie and for the most part will probably not bother fans.
As far as how this movie will affect the future of the Marvel’s movies, audiences will have to wait and see. Infinity Stones were referenced many times throughout the the movie, being told that sorcerers knew of their existence for a long time. The introduction to magic could also also introduce new villains from different dimensions and most will be excited to see how the new universe coincides with story lines like “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “The Avengers.”
Overall, “Doctor Strange” is a great time with visual spectacles that truly bend the mind, humor that lightens any dark tone, and great performances from all the actors present. The Warrior gives Doctor Strange a 8.2/10 and would recommend to any Marvel fan and casual movie goer.