Stephen Strange has been an arrogant doctor for years but after a terrible accident damages his hands, he will need to find a completely new road in his life.
I have to be honest here, this is the kind of movie that pretty much came out of nowhere for me.
I'm not a big fan of Doctor Strange, in fact I only know about him from his appearances in other books and for that reason I wasn't really paying much attention for his upcoming film. However, since I have been seeing most of MCU stories, I felt like it was worth a try. So, how does it fare?
Well, is a pretty decent flick but not exactly perfect.
Directed by Scott Derrickson, the story focuses on the early days of Doctor Strange as a neurosurgeon. As how he was really full of himself and never considered that there could be something more beyond that. Nonetheless, a car accident that destroys his hands forces him to find a cure in any way possible and that journey takes him to Kathmandu where he will meet the Ancient One and Mordo who will help him to find a new meaning. However, this will also put him in a path to learn about the Dark Dimension and the forces of the powerful being called Dormammu.
That in and of itself is pretty faithful to the source material that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created. The film takes its own liberties to update it obviously and in that regard, it works nicely to show a new version of the story in modern times.
There are some problems though. We're lead to believe that Stephen Strange (Played by Benedict Cumberbatch) is a pretty arrogant man and while he does present some aspects of it, they're not enough to make you buy such depiction. He's pretty much Tony Stark-lite here, not as egocentric nor bombastic as Stark initially appeared. I don't think this is the actor's fault since Cumberbatch does a solid job, I think is a problem with the script and story themselves. I feel that such kind of characterization would have benefited from more acreen to develope, to see how Strange actually acts in his daily life and interacts with others to see how such personality unfolds and in that way, the moment of his accident would have been much more impactful. That's not how things happen here unfortunately since he's put into his road to healing almost instantly after the movie begins and for that reason you don't feel a strong connection to his path of self-discovery. This is classic case of telling instead of showing, at least to an extend.
That being said, the way how he interacts with the rest of the mystical cast is pretty enjoyable. The Ancient One (Depicted by Tilda Swinton) is a pretty interesting character who shows a lot of complexity in her appearance and the actress does a quite good job at reflecting such kind of presence. People who are familiar with the protagonist will know about Mordo and his role as Strange's enemy, here he's played by Chiwetel Ejiofor whose role is to be Strange's ally and friend at the beginning which creates an interesting development once that Strange and him go for different roads, Ejiofor does a solid portrayal of the character as well. Wong played by Benedict Wong is also an interesting and entertaining addition to the cast and delives some the funniest moments in the movie.
Some problems with the rest of the cast come in the form of Christine Palmer portrayed by Rachel McAdams. Not because the actress does a bad performance but because her character is not that relevant for the story. Sure, she has some fun lines here and there, and one could argue that her presence serves as way to demonstrate what Strange will have to sacrifice to fulfill his destiny. Aside from those aspects though, she's a typical romantic interest who doesn't have anything particularly unique in terms of personality and even the "romance" between Strange and her is not presented in a manner strong enough to actually make you invested in their fate.
The problems with characters don't end there since I also was bored by the main villain Kaecilius played by Mads Mikkelsen and is such a damn shame. Mikkelsen of Hannibal fame is a pretty good actor with tons of presence and personality, sadly the script doesn't give him a lot to show that and instead forces him to depict a quite cold and dull zealot with not a lot of charm beyond that. At times it seems like Mikkelsen's own personality is shining though thanks to some funny lines of dialogue, unfortunately those moments are very few. I would dare to say that Dormammu has a much more powerful presence since Cumberbatch also plays him voice and showcases the imposing nature of the character perfectly.
The plot once again follows the premise of the property nicely and manages to deliver the classic worldbuilding that you expect from the MCU, especially considering that this story is based on the supernatural side of such universe and that allows for a lot of interesting exploration and build-up. There are some issues with how the story unfolds since it presents a kind of technique that is pretty much Deus Ex Machina but it doesn't completely ruin the experience. The usual hints about where the story will go in the future and how is connected to upcoming movies is also present although in some blunt and forced ways at times.
The effects are nicely done and some of the visuals are pretty enjoyable but at times it seems like they don't serve much purpose aside from demonstrating how crazy they are which doesn't necessarily mean that they're mystical in nature, a more logical connection to the supernatural in terms of scenes would have been better received. The settings are better implemented since they do fit into the theme of the flick.
Overall, I would say that is a movie worth watching, is definitely not one of the best examples of what Marvel Studios can do but it follows the same route of Ant Man about creating an enjoyable enough story about one of the most obscure characters of the Marvel universe that is still connected to a bigger plan. Recommended if you're curious.
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