directed by Scott Derrickson
written by Jon Spaihts, Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill
When I learned two years ago that Marvel Studios had cast British actor Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Stephen Strange, I considered it a casting coup on par with their casting of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, a decision which, as every self-respecting Marvel fan knows, kick-started the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Having seen Doctor Strange, I am happy to report that Cumberbatch does not disappoint in the least, and neither does the visual effects crew that have produced the most eye-popping, mind-bending sensory experience to come out of the Marvel Studios stable to date.
Stephen Strange (Cumberbatch) is a brilliant but arrogant neurosurgeon whose hands are severely injured in a horrific car crash. Desperate to recover the use of his hands, Strange spends every last penny on expensive, experimental treatments and ultimately finds himself in Nepal, where he comes face-to-face with a mysterious guru known only as the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), who, with the help of her disciple Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and a curmudgeonly librarian Wong (Benedict Wong), shows him a different path in life from that which he has been following so far, and he begins the process of learning an altogether new art, a far more ancient and powerful one than the one he used to practice. This happens not a moment too soon, as one of the Ancient One's former disciples Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) has stolen pages out of her mystical books for a ritual that could result in the total annihilation of the whole world. Strange has a lot to learn about the mystic arts, but unfortunately not a whole lot of time to learn it.
This film exemplifies several of the qualities that have made Marvel Studios films consistently entertaining if not always outstanding: an all-too-human, well-realized hero with complexities, frailties and insecurities, incredible production value in the form of meticulously-realized sets, costumes and locations, and state-of-the-art visual effects. Cumberbatch in particular was the absolute star of the show, which was no mean feat considering the weight of expectations he bore upon entering into the production as, arguably, the highest-profile star ever to throw his hat into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the MCU revived Downey Jr.'s career, Cumberbatch took this on while his was very much on the upswing, which made it a bit of a risk for him, albeit one which has definitely paid off in spades.
I'm happy to note that we've come a long way from the Nevada desert doubling for the Middle East (Iron Man), or Cleveland doubling for Germany (The Avengers). I loved that the film was actually shot in Nepal, Hong Kong, New York and London. It's also worth noting there's a bit of "house style" as evidenced by the presence of Director of Photography Ben Davis and Costume Designer Alexandra Byrne who, between the two of them, have worked on eight Marvel Studios films, which is over half of the entire catalog of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Little details like this, as well as the references to the Avengers in the script, are a subtle way of reminding the audience that this film still forms part of a bigger tapestry, even as it stands quite well on its own. Another regular Marvel collaborator, Industrial Light and Magic, turns in sensational work here, deftly mixing and seriously upgrading earlier reality-bending effects from films like The Matrix and Inception. These sequences looked great in IMAX 3-D.
All that said, the film suffers from some of Marvel's frequent shortcomings, starting, unfortunately, with their virtually-trademarked cookie-cutter villain, with Kaecilius' only truly remarkable feature being his wildly colorful eye make-up. It's sad to think that the reasonably talented Mikkelsen passed up the chance to play one generic Marvel bad guy years ago in Thor: The Dark World, only to play another one three years later. Equally listless here is Rachel McAdams as Strange's throwaway love interest Dr. Christine Palmer, who at the very least fares better here than in the last movie in which I saw her, Antoine Fuqua's Southpaw (in which her sole purpose was to catalyze the hero's journey towards redemption by dying), but that doesn't say much at all.
To be honest, I think Marvel should really make it a point to hire scriptwriters who specialize in creating memorable villains, as this has really been a glaring deficiency in their storytelling. To be fair, apart from Heath Ledger's Joker, the folks at Warner Brothers/DC have not exactly come up with a particularly memorable heavy, but Marvel Studios' inability to come up with a truly menacing villain (apart, perhaps from Loki), has practically become the stuff of legend (or internet jokes) by now. Marvel villains are not only not memorable, by now many of them have a distinctly generic feel to them. It's a serious structural flaw in their storytelling that needs to be remedied, especially considering their rather formidable rogues' gallery from the comic books. Also, the script made a couple of annoying shortcuts, notably Strange's immediate acquisition of serious mystical skills, as well as some logical gaffes in the climactic sequences of the film.
It's not all bad news, though. I had originally written off Ejiofor's Baron Mordo, based on what I had seen in the promotional material, as yet another black sidekick in the mold of Don Cheadle's War Machine, Anthony Mackie's Falcon and Idris Elba's Heimdall, but as it turns out Mordo undergoes his own journey in the course of the film, one that, in a way, parallels that of Strange, and is notable for the fact that he ends up somewhere very different from where Strange does. Swinton, for all of the bellyaching that her casting spawned, is marvelous in her role as the Ancient One, and Benedict Wong, as Wong, essentially the film's deadpan comic relief, is also a welcome presence. Marvel geeks will recognize the weapon he wields in the film's climax as the Wand of Watoomb, among several other Easter Eggs liberally sprinkled throughout the film.
It's still, overall, a very safe Marvel film, and one can almost see the boxes the producers ticked when they made it, but the good news is that there was room for quite a bit of extra imagination here, and for a newly-minted Marvel superstar to flex his thespic muscles. Another plus for this film is that it features a genuine rarity in Marvel Studios productions these days: an outstanding music score, courtesy of Oscar winner Michael Giacchino.
Still, one would think that after fourteen movies, Marvel would finally have gotten a handle on their more conspicuous problems like mediocre villains and love interests who are basically just attractive wallpaper. Had this been one of the earlier films in their catalog I would almost certainly have given this movie a higher score, but after all this time, Marvel should really know better.
7.9/10
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