Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a brilliant neurosurgeon who, like a lot of people of higher intellect is a loner as he is unable to deal with others, who he looks upon as his inferiors. The one exception to this is a fellow Doctor Christine Palmer (Rachael McAdams) who he has been romantically involved with in the past. He is a little warmer towards her but still in a very condescending way.
One night he is involved in a car accident which he barely survives however, he loses the use of his hands which leaves him with seemingly no purpose in life and he pushes everybody who wants to assist away, including Christine. When modern medicine fails him he hears of somebody who recovered impossibly from a spinal injury to walk again and when he locates this man, Jonathon Pangborn (Benjamin Bratt) he points Strange in the direct of spiritual healing. Sceptical but desperate Strange heads to Nepal to seek a place called Kamar-Taj where he meets a man called Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejifor) who introduces Strange to his master known as The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). She explains to Strange that his healing can be found in the form of other dimensions and astral plains instead of the world he knows. Strange is naturally cynical but he soon realises that there is more to this world that he ever knew so he immerses himself in this new knowledge in an effort to re-find his purpose in life but his training take a dramatic upturn when a former student of the Ancient One, similar in thought to Strange, Kaecilius, who has formed a bond with the dark lord Dormammu to bring darkness to the world and is using his powers to bring the Ancient One and her followers down, attacks one of the Sanctums protecting Earth and Strange needs to use his growing, but unhoned power to try and battle the evil which is threatening the world.
If that seems like a very long synopsis, it is (There’s still no spoilers though) but I really needed to give you a lot otherwise the movie plot makes no sense, and there within lies the biggest issue with the movie. Although necessary, a lot of time is spent on exposition in order to allow viewers to understand what is occurring. Also, it’s an origin story so we need to be given a lot of back story and motivation for the lead character which, because of his arrogance makes him initially unlikable.
I watched this film in 3D and IMAX and I can safely say that it is the best use of this technology that I have ever seen to date. The visuals were superb, especially the chase scenes through portals and dimensions. Think The Matrix meets Inception on drugs!! There was also one scene where Strange is sent to the other world by the ancient one and it’s done via a psychedelic like trip that members of the flower power generation would have loved.
It is a Marvel origin story so it does follow the same routine, and a very similar story arc to iron Man, brilliant genius, has life changing experience, learns the values of love, friendship and teamwork and saves the day along the way. In fact I have a sneaky suspicion that Marvel may be hedging their bets to heavily involve Doctor Strange as a major player in the Avengers as with the powers he has he is, potentially, a bigger player than both Iron Man and Captain America. In saying that kudos much be given to Marvel for the direction they took this movie in as it feels more of fantasy or wizardry movie than a Superhero film yet it works very well. The chemistry between the characters is very good, Cumberbatch is excellent as Strange and has now cemented himself in the role (even if it felt like he was playing Sherlock for the first half and hour or so) and Tilda Swinton was superb despite the White Washing controversy.
It’s far from perfect though, with Mads Michaelson, Benjamin Bratt and Chiwetel Ejifor very underused, plus the same old Marvel issue of having poor villains was apparent once again and Rachael McAdams character just felt like a convenient plot point at times, a little like Pepper Potts did in Iron Man until they expanded her character. There was a lot of humour in the movie, perhaps a little too much which may have been masking a weak script and the whole thing did feel a little preachy at times.
In saying all that it’s still a very enjoyable movie, best seen in 3D at the very least and another step further ahead of DC for the Marvel Universe which lined the character and plot in nicely to the upcoming Infinity Wars. On a final note watch out for the best supporting clothing item performance since Tom Cruise’s sunglasses in Top Gun by Doctor Strange’s Cape and stay for both the mid credit and post credit sequences, they are worth it.
DJ Speaks Rating: 6.5 Out Of 10
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