Review - Doctor Strange

Of all the Marvel characters to headline their own films, Doctor Strange is without doubt the most naff. A superstar surgeon who wears a sentient floating cape and casts spells by waving his hands around was always going to be a harder sell than Iron/Spider-Man. Unlike these films, where powers are usually as simple as ‘very strong’, ‘very rich and very smart’ or ‘knows how to use a bow and arrow’, Doctor Strange’s setting and powers are focused around alternate dimensions and magic. In introducing the character, Marvel also have to jump through hoops explaining the world he inhabits. The studio has previous experience in taking characters audiences are unfamiliar with and crafting a hit with films like Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy, and the formula is repeated again here with a degree of success.   

Marvel also have to make this goatee believable 

The film’s plot is particularly generic, even for an origin story. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a brilliant but self-centred surgeon, who, following a horrific car crash, journeys to the Far East to regain his purpose. Along the way he discovers he is destined for wizarding greatness, combats evil and even learns some humility. Well-worn tropes such as the mentor with a deep secret and the villainous former pupil who lost their way are all present and accounted for. 

The extent to which you’re willing to forgive the story will be dependent on how much you enjoy Cumberbatch in the role. Full disclosure – I find Cumberbatch to be a bit of a tit and have rarely enjoyed his screen presence. His Strange is intolerably one-note, and, for lack of a better word, a dickhead. We are used to narcissistic characters in comic book movies, but Cumberbatch and the screenwriters imbue Strange with such little empathy that by the time he finally puts his ego aside for the greater good I found it impossible to reconcile with his earlier behaviour.  

Chiwetel Ejiofor pulls the short straw as Strange’s sidekick Mordo, sadly lumbered with the lion’s share of the exposition. Mordo is clearly supposed to be the most sympathetic character, but we learn so little about him in-between his explanations of portals, relics and dark dimensions that we never get to care. This is particularly disappointing as the film sets him up for a key role in the inevitable sequel. Rachel McAdams, Strange's surgeon colleague and love interest, is also massively underserved by the script. Over roughly fifteen minutes of screen time we don't learn anything about her or understand her inexplicable loyalty to someone so deplorable.

In spite of all of the above, I couldn’t help but enjoy Doctor Strange. Shaven-headed Tilda Swinton is clearly having a fantastic time throwing punches and spurting Yodaisms as Strange’s mystic mentor ‘The Ancient One’. Benedict Wong excels as a warrior monk/librarian and Mads Mikkelsen elevates rudimentary villain Kaecilius simply by virtue of being Mads Mikkelsen. Though the script’s characterisation is poor, the usual quota of Marvel quips is accounted for, and it does well to acknowledge that the entire concept of a hand-waving inter-dimensional magic man is inherently silly.

Warrior Monk/ Street Countdown Aficionado 

It’s greatest strengths lie in its visually dazzling action sequences. Drawing from the source material and heavily influenced by Inception and Interstellar, Doctor Strange’s world is unlike anything the target audience are likely to have seen before. Standouts include a showdown in an Escher-esque rendition of New York and an hallucinogenic trip through the multiverse. As with Ant-Man and Guardians before it, the film benefits from being largely disconnected to the greater Marvel universe. Such imagery and invention would not be possible if the film also had to serve the over-reaching narrative of Earth-bound Marvel characters.

This sort of thing - with plenty of hand-waves

The film’s Hong Kong based finale is also a refreshing twist on the exhausting city-wide destruction of other comic book films, finding an enjoyable intersection between brains and brawn. The detail and wit of such scenes demonstrate that director/screenwriter Scott Derrickson has talent to spare. With an original plot and a script which fleshes out its lead roles, Doctor Strange could go on to be the wonderfully weird sibling of its Marvel counterparts. 

Three and a half Bald Tildas out of five