Doctor Strange
The fourteenth (fourteenth!) film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange is both a familiar origin-story archetype, and a trippy, psychedelic, 1970s-prog-rock inspired acid trip of visual spectacle and imagination like nothing you’ve really seen before.
Premise: After egotistical neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is involved in a horrific car accident, the injuries to his hands means he’ll never be able to operate again. When Western medicine is unable to offer him any hope, he goes on a desperate search for a fabled monastery in Nepal that may have cured the incurable before. Meanwhile, a former student from the monastery, now a zealot follower of the dark mystical arts, plots to use an ancient forbidden ritual which could threaten the whole world.
Verdict:
Writing the premise above made me realise just how packed this film is, as that summary barely scratches the surface of what’s going on in the movie. This is a film that is bursting with ideas, but delivers them in a way that never becomes confusing or muddled.
In part, this is due to the amazing cast which Marvel has put together for this film. We have Oscar-nominated Benedict Cumberbatch (sporting a fantastic selection of fake facial hair throughout the course of the film) as the title character, and he’s able to bring a lot of different tones to his portrayal of a man that had the potential to come across as unlikeable. When he’s at the top of his game at the beginning of the film, Cumberbatch captures his arrogance but also conveys enough humour and stilted affection (particularly in his friendship with his colleague Christine Palmer, played by Oscar-nominated Rachel McAdams) to keep the audience's sympathy. Then when he hits rock bottom after the accident, Cumberbatch shows enough pain and vulnerability that you’re able to forgive his spiteful emotional outbursts. And finally, as he starts to rebuild his sense of purpose, Cumberbatch is able to show an almost playful side to the character, while still showing that his underlying character flaws remain bubbling under the surface.
“…the film, despite being quite dark in places, has a number of surprisingly funny moments…”
But Cumberbatch and McAdams are not the only award winning actors in the cast. There’s also Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One, the nameless leader of the monastery of Kamar-Taj who becomes Strange’s mentor, and Oscar-nominated Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo, a fellow student of Kamar-Taj who befriends Strange. Both actors are able to bring a lot to their characters despite having relatively little screen time, which is one of the benefits of casting such talented actors in supporting roles. Character actor Benedict Wong is then responsible for a lot of the humour in the film, in his role as the straight-laced librarian at Kamar-Taj.
The villain of the piece is Kaecilius, played by award-winning Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen (who, as anyone who has seen the tv-series Hannibal will already know, is incredible at playing nuanced and complex antagonists). If there’s one common criticism with most of the (otherwise excellent) Marvel films, it’s that they don’t give their villains enough screen time to really be fleshed out properly, and Kaecilius does suffer a little in this regard. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (“MCU”) scale of 3-dimensional villains, Kaecilius falls short of the benchmark of Loki, and is probably at around the Zemo level – but way ahead of the likes of Malekith or Ronan The Accuser. In this film, despite his limited screen time, Mikkelsen is able to convey a lot of the pain behind his actions, as well as his (from his view, legitimate) reasons for wanting to do what he does. His very first meeting with Stephen Strange is also one of the funniest moments in the film (and the film, despite being quite dark in places, has a number of surprisingly funny moments throughout to undercut the tension and the seriousness).
“…this film is like nothing the MCU (or any superhero film) has done before…”
The film itself is truly a blend of the old and the new (a little like the culture clash between the ancient world of Kamar-Taj and the modern world of New York in the film). On the one hand, you have a fairly familiar origin story, insofar as Stephen Strange goes on a journey to become the hero he’s destined to be etc etc. But on the other hand, this film is like nothing the MCU (or any “superhero” film) has done before.
Doctor Strange opens up the MCU to a whole new dimension (pun intended) of possibilities. Just as Thor opened up the MCU to “gods” and aliens (when until that point it had been fairly grounded), Doctor Strange opens up the MCU to magic, daemons, sorcerers, spells, the astral plane and parallel dimensions, so is unquestionably a game-changer in that respect.
Visually, the film also delivers on a grand scale, with some of the best visual effects I’ve seen on the big screen this year. It’s the creativity that really sets the VFX apart, be it the shifting cityscapes or the psychedelic freefalls through different dimensions. In one particularly inventive scene, the main characters fight while time runs backwards around them, which is like nothing I’ve seen before. The Oscar nomination for the film’s visual effects was more than justified (and in my view, the film was robbed not to win).
It’s also worth being clear that this is not, however, just a green-screen extravaganza. The film was shot on location in Kathmandu in Nepal, as well as in Hong Kong and New York City, which all adds to the depth and texture of the film and which prevents this from being one of those “soulless” CGI films that doesn’t feel connected to the real world.
“…Scott Derrickson brings freshness and creativity to ‘Doctor Strange’…”
The climax of the film also has some nicely unexpected elements, and without going into specifics, the four lead characters have some interesting (and not entirely predictable) emotional journeys during the course of the film.
Whilst it’s perhaps inescapable that a new origin-story film would have to include a lot of the usual origin-story troupes, there is no question that Doctor Strange is unlike any comic-book film made so far. Director Scott Derrickson (who also co-wrote the film) brings the same sort of freshness and creativity to Doctor Strange that James Gunn brought to the equally original Guardians of the Galaxy back in 2014. Once again, Marvel’s directorial choices cannot be faulted.
And it should go without saying, but this is a Marvel film, so make sure you catch the mid-credit bonus scene (hinting at Strange’s next appearance in the MCU) and the post-credit scene (which suggests the direction for a possible sequel).
