‘Doctor Strange’ Review 2016

IMDB : 7.9/10

Director: Scott Derrickson
Writers: Jon Spaihts, Scott Derrickson

Storyline

Marvel's "Doctor Strange" follows the story of the talented neurosurgeon Doctor Stephen Strange who, after a tragic car accident, must put ego aside and learn the secrets of a hidden world of mysticism and alternate dimensions. Based in New York City's Greenwich Village, Doctor Strange must act as an intermediary between the real world and what lies beyond, utilising a vast array of metaphysical abilities and artifacts to protect the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Written by Marvel

Doctor Strange (2016) - Review

Strange’s career gets derailed in an instant on a rainy mountain road. Distracted while texting and driving (there’s even a PSA in the end credits warning people that’s a bad idea), he crashes his sports car and damages his hands beyond repair. Desperate for a cure, Strange eventually makes his way to Kathmandu, where he encounters a mysterious woman known only as the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), who might hold the key to a magical cure. That, she says, will take years of practice and study in the mystic arts, but Strange, with his brilliant mind and photographic memory, makes for a quick study. In no time, he rivals Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) as the Ancient One’s top disciple. Good thing too, because as Strange builds his skills, one of the Ancient One’s former pupils, a man named Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) is amassing power and followers, in the hopes of accessing a dark dimension and bringing about the end of life on Earth.

The stuff leading up to Strange’s arrival in Kathmandu are pure Marvel boilerplate, but director Scott Derrickson finds his footing once the Ancient One literally punches Strange’s soul out of his body and sends him on a mind-warping journey through time and space. The magnificently kaleidoscopic scene that follows looks like something ripped straight out of the pages of classic Doctor Strange comics by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. The sorcerers in Doctor Strange can bend physics to their will, entering places like the “Mirror Dimension” where gravity shifts and skyscrapers warp like the ones in Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Those sequences are all showstoppers; surreal, creepy, and thrilling.
Maybe no human character could rate with such glimpses of the infinite, but Doctor Strange’s cast doesn’t even come close. Cumberbatch certainly looks the part and strikes a dashing figure in his magnificent costume by Alexandra Byrne, but he rarely steps out of the shadow of the Marvel heroes who’ve come before. He doesn’t get the opportunity to make this guy unique, and his attempts at comedy generally fall very flat. That includes Dr. Strange’s wacky sentient cape, which likes to pull him around or bonk his enemies on the head.


Cumerbatch doesn’t have much chemistry with McAdams, whose role is almost entirely superfluous. She’s not even a damsel in distress, since she spends the entire film sidelined in Strange’s old hospital waiting for him to show up for medical attention. Mikkelsen, an actor of incredible range and depth, is called upon to play a mean guy with spooky eyes, an enormously frustrating waste of his talents. The only actor who makes a memorable impression is Swinton, with her strange affect, scarred bald head, sleek martial arts moves, and curious musings about the great beyond.