I’ve honestly never been into Doctor Strange.
I’m a long-time comics fan and even though I kept seeing really cool art pieces of the Sorcerer Supreme, for some reason I never could bring myself to collect stories about this character. I’ve been more into sci-fi / science based heroes than I was magic or fantasy, hence my being into Iron Man more as a kid than anything. My limited knowledge of Doctor Strange comes from reading his origin story once as a kid, seeing him make cameos in other hero comics and an episode of Spider-Man and his Amazing friends, and his animated movie, one of the few from Marvel that was actually good. So going into this film, I guess I’m both a veteran collector and a bit of a newcomer at the same time. Such is the nature of a casual comics fan, I guess. Anyway, I went in with a largely open mind and came out… pleasantly surprised (to a degree).
When the film opened, I was treated to a rather brutal scene at a library where a group of folks led by the mysterious Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) decides they want certain pages from a book at any cost. The scene switches to New York seemingly (as evidenced by the Avengers Tower in the cityscape)where surgeon Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) seeks the most difficult cases to apply his skills to. He likes to do this to broaden his ego and arrogantly considers himself the best, almost too good to even commiserate with patients’ families afterward.
However, a horrific incident changes his life and deprives him of those incredible surgical skills. So the doctor goes on a desperate search which leads him to Nepal, from which a supposedly broken man once got himself healed. There, Strange encounters Mr. Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who introduces him to someone known only as The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). Strange remains the skeptical scientist until Ancient shows him the wonders of the universe and beyond while making him see the depth of his true potential to which Strange can only utter “Teach me.”
It’s here we begin to learn about the mystical realms of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how the true goals of Kecilius eventually fit into the larger scheme of things. But it’s more fun to see Stephen Strange evolve from broken doctor to Sorcerer Supreme, both in magical skill and strength of character. In the comics, he’s a bit stiff even after gaining his powers and interacting with folks and he’s even more self-absorbed than you see in this film initially. Under the direction of Scott Derrickson, Cumberbatch gets to depict the character with more dimensions in his personality, delivering some well-timed humor to the craziness of the story.
It’s nice to see Cumberbatch not be as rigid as he could be much of the time in Sherlock or Star Trek Into Darkness. Derrickson’s direction here is a bit uneven at times, with the pacing needing to find it’s groove for about the first third of the film. Eventually, though, a lot of elements come together and play out well here, with the special effects amping things up stead of being the star of the movie. However, I do have to say that outside of Doctor Strange himself, there’s one other character of sorts I found vastly entertaining without speaking a single word. You’ll likely figure out who (or rather what) this is when you see the film.
As to the rest of the cast, they were pretty decent in their roles. I’m quite aware of the controversies regarding Tilda Swinton’s role but she’s pretty decent here as she was in Constantine and Chronicles of Narnia. Mikkelsen always makes a great villain and he’s no slouch here. (Somebody let him play more Hannibal Lecter, dang it!) The effects are wonderful as well bringing many of the better comic inspirations to celluloid life and it’s fun to see magical battles this side of Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix (my admitted favorite of those flicks). When Strange enacts his final solution to the problem at hand, it’s a lot of fun to watch, especially in 3-D.
All in all, Scott Derrickson has succeeded in adapting this character competently for the film audience, enough to place the movie in the upper tier of Marvel Studios adaptations. As always, you will want to stay through the credits to understand how this story fits into a certain overall narrative that’s been building, but Doctor Strange is a fun and entertaining flick in its own right. Benedict Cumberbatch proved to be a very good choice for Marvel’s magical character and I’ll be looking forward to his depiction of the Sorcerer Supreme in future films.
Grade: A- / B+
