I’ll be honest – I was a little worried about whether or not ‘Doctor Strange’ would do well. I have faith in Marvel, but the concept of this film is far different from anything we’ve ever seen in the MCU and you can’t help but worry.
That sense of fear disappeared within the first ten minutes of watching this film.
I’ve never admired Benedict Cumberbatch so much in my entire life. Sure, I made fun of his American accent a couple of times, but that never detracted his performance as one of my favourite Marvel superheroes. Furthermore, I never thought any film could make me like Rachel McAdams, but boy does Marvel prove me wrong.
“From Marvel comes Doctor Strange, the story of the world-famous neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange whose life changes forever after a horrific car accident robs him of the use of his hands. When traditional medicine fails him, he is forced to look for healing, and hope, in an unlikely place — a mysterious enclave known as Kamar-Taj. He quickly learns that this is not just a center for healing but also the front line of a battle against unseen dark forces bent on destroying our reality. Before long, Doctor Strange — armed with newly acquired magical powers — is forced to choose whether to return to his life of fortune or leave it all behind to defend the world as the most powerful sorcerer in existence.”
Before I get into why I loved ‘Doctor Strange’, here’s a fun fact; the entire film takes place within the duration of an entire year and leads up to present day, in terms of the MCU. The first mention of Doctor Strange came in ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ when Jasper Sitwell was revealing who Zola’s Algorithm targeted – anyone who was a threat to HYDRA – including Steve Rogers, a high school valedictorian, Bruce Banner and Stephen Strange. My guess is that Strange’s training process happens during the events of ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and finishes around the same time as ‘Captain America: Civil War’ ends, roughly around a year as Derrickson recently (and vaguely) revealed. The film itself does a poor job of making that clear to the audience and it feels as though Strange only trains for a few weeks/months, but that’s not the case!
Marvel Studios continues to prove that they can pretty much do anything. They’re constantly bringing new and exciting characters to the big screen and they make it work. Films like ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is proof of just that – everyone was sure that the film, which included a talking tree and a racoon, would flop but look at them now.
Similarly with ‘Doctor Strange’ – although the concept isn’t too peculiar – bringing in magic into the MCU was no doubt easy to do. Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister) does a fantastic job at bringing the multiverse to life. The visuals of the film never bore you, and with the accompanying score produced by Michael Giacchino, there’s a certain familiarity that takes you back to BBC’s Sherlock.
The following few paragraphs includes spoilers from the trailers.
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*****
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For myself personally, I thought the film had a slow start. The comedy was hit-and-miss and I found myself focusing on little things that Cumberbatch’s trying American accent, or how the actor himself seems to be landing roles that require him to be an egomaniac. But rest assured the film does take off. After Strange’s horrific car accident, the film quickly picks up its pace; the comedy is actually funny when it needs to be, Cumberbatch continues to showcase what a great actor he is, and you connect with the characters on screen.
Strange receives unimaginable nerve damage to both his hands, which essentially render him useless to the medical world. Previously a highly acclaimed neurosurgeon with the steadiest of hands, Strange blames his colleagues for ruining his hands further and claims he could’ve saved himself. Once he realises that no modern medicine could help him, Strange makes his way over to Kamar-Taj in Nepal after hearing about a mystic being who could cure him – the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). After getting saved from a mugging, Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) takes Strange to the master of mystic arts, and so the training begins.
This is where the film really kicks off. Strange initially questions the Ancient One’s teaching because he doesn’t believe, and all she has to do is knock his astral form right out of him, and then you have Strange down on his knees, begging her to teach him. From here, the magic begins. You’re truly transported into a world filled with supreme sorcerers of the Marvel Universe and it’s such a pleasure to witness.
Trailer spoilers end.
The rapport between Cumberbatch, Swinton and Ejiofor is so believable and translates beautifully on screen. The three working together is a large part as to why the film was so enjoyable. It’s similar to the relationship Thor has with the Warriors Three, and it makes you want more of the heroes battling it out together.
Cumberbatch does a stellar job as the titular character. He truly dominates the role as Stephen Strange and although the character doesn’t have the greatest personality, there’s something about him that makes you root for him. It could be the fact that Cumberbatch is no stranger to egotistical roles (see Sherlock Holmes), but the actor is so believable, yet extremely lovable and so badass. Stephen Strange is definitely an exciting addition to our favourite band of heroes and I cannot wait to see how the rest of the team interacts with him – especially Tony Stark.
One thing I was really impressed by when it came to ‘Doctor Strange’ was the supporting cast. Swinton and Ejiofor have a strong dynamic with Cumberbatch and that really displays excellently on screen. A little into the film, we’re also introduced to the librarian Wong, played by Benedict Wong – and he’s probably one of my favourite characters in the MCU (you’ll see why soon, I’m not going to spoil that). It has been reported that Wong will have a stronger presence within the MCU in upcoming films, and you have no idea how much that excites me.
The love interest in the film happens to be Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams). Palmer and Doctor Strange have an obvious on again/off again relationship, and it’s very evident that even with his ego, Strange has deep respect for her and cares for her more than he wants to show. McAdams was a large part as to why the humour in this film worked (well, for me anyway). As I mentioned before, the comedy, in the beginning, didn’t really sit with me, but I found myself chuckling when McAdams was involved in the comedic scenes. The character of Christie Palmer was written well – she was outspoken, she didn’t take any sort of ill-treatment from Strange easily and stood up for herself, proving to be a strong character.
When I said I didn’t like Rachel McAdams in the beginning of this article, it was only because everything that I had ever seen her in (Mean Girls, Midnight in Paris; no, I haven’t seen The Notebook), her characters weren’t always…. the nicest. I think when you watch a film like Mean Girls at a young age, you just kind of associate those actors with their roles and it just sticks. But that’s okay – Marvel has turned me around.
And then we have the Ancient One, Doctor Strange’s mentor. I found myself getting attached to Swinton’s version of the mystical character. When initially cast, Swinton received a lot of backlash on “whitewashing” claims. Understandably, fans were upset at the constant use of white actors instead of POCs in the MCU, since there’s a noticeable lack of the latter in large, non-villainous roles. But the title of “The Ancient One” is said to be a moniker, passed on to different people, decade after decade. I personally thought Swinton did a great job as Strange’s mentor – especially since Strange himself was an egotistical and slightly sexist character who finally got put in his place by a woman. You can tell she gets slightly annoyed by Strange during their first encounter when she pushes his astral form out of his body to show him that she means business.
Mads Mikkelsen plays the villain Kaecilius, a former student of the Ancient One who breaks away from her teachings and attempts to destroy everything in his path – you know, the usual villainous duties. Kaecilius was a very abrupt villain if I might say so. Understandably, there wasn’t a lot of time given to introduce him properly or time for development. But alas, we’ve received another forgettable villain. There were a couple of scenes between Kaecilius and Doctor Strange that I thoroughly enjoyed, but it was just another “I’m going to fight you because you’re good and I’m evil” scenario. The two didn’t have strong chemistry and that was extremely disappointing, especially when you have Mads Mikkelsen.
‘Doctor Strange’ undoubtedly opens the door to the Multiverse – and with that, comes some seriously mind-blowing effects that we’ve never seen in any previous Marvel movie. This is just what the MCU needed to become more interesting. Similarly to ‘Deadpool’ (even though not a part of the same universe – when it comes to movie rights), ‘Doctor Strange’ brings new elements into this large universe that has been desperately needed to keep things exciting. Director Scott Derrickson has effectively brought himself into the list of MCU greats with the stunning visuals that left fans with their mouths wide open. There was never a moment in the film where I was bored. The impressive CGI just leaves you stunned and wanting more – factors exemplified when watching it in 3D.
Although I thoroughly loved this film, every film has their problem areas and ‘Doctor Strange’ isn’t quite up there with previous MCU films like ‘Iron Man’ or ‘Captain America: Civil War’. You’ll find out why in my spoiler-filled review. However, it’s definitely a film that deserves recognition and it proves that the folks at Marvel Studios truly know what they’re doing.
Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange’ is now showing in theatres – and be sure to stay in your seats until the very end so that you don’t miss both post credit scenes!
