Doctor Strange Movie Review
Doctor Strange is the latest addition to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. In fact, it’s the 14th movie. The movie follows Doctor Steven Strange, who is one of the best surgeons in the world, in his journey to fix his hands, which he irreparably injures in a car wreck. His hands shake constantly, which is not good for a surgeon. So, basically, his life is over. He then hears about a place that can heal him, which is ultimately the place he learns sorcery and becomes Doctor Strange, the sorcerer supreme (or at least starts on that path).
Now, I loved this movie. The performances in it were spot on, even Tilda Swinton in her role as the Ancient One, who in the comics is an old Tibetan man. Benedict Cumberbatch played the good doctor as well as I could have hoped for, and even better. This just confirms that I should be the casting agent for Marvel. Call me, email me, or send me a carrier pigeon if you want to take me up on that offer.
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo was probably my favorite performance, however. He has yet to fail me with a performance as he has always brought his “A” game to the films I’ve seen him in. I could name every other performance, but I’ll stop there.
The character developments in this movie were done very well, for the most part. The only thing that wasn’t done well, in terms of character, was how quickly Rachel McAdams’ character accepted Doctor Strange’s new reality. If I were her, or if any other human was her, I probably would’ve been freaking out and thought I was dreaming or something.
The movies ending was something I didn’t fully expect and I loved it! With this movie, Marvel showed that you can do the big event or beam in the middle of a city with mass destruction well. They did it so cleverly, too. It was very refreshing.
The major problem with this movie, which is a big issue to me, is that it feels a little choppy at some points. The beginning of the movie feels like it was cut down to speed along more quickly, which was almost too quick for me and almost caused me to lose a little interest. The end of the movie also feels like it was chopped down. Basically, it feels like what happened to Age of Ultron, Marvel didn’t want to have an almost 3 hour movie, so they made the director cut it back some. Because of this, however, it almost takes me out of the film at a few points.
What kept bringing me back in, which almost erases those flaws, was the visual effects! Oh my goodness! They were some of the best visual effects I have seen in a movie. And the comedy thrown into this film hits all the right notes. Marvel has really been on point in the comedy department ever since Guardians of the Galaxy. Lastly, they had the character of Dormammu, who is Doctor Strange’s greatest enemy, in this movie. But they did him very differently than in the comics and it didn’t fully sit well with me. It worked for the movie, if you think about it, but it didn’t work for me. So I hope next time we see him, he’ll transform himself into something more similar to the comics.