Review 391: Doctor Strange
Based on the Marvel Comics character Doctor Strange by Steve Ditko, Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) a talented but arrogant neurosurgeon suffers a tragic car accident that ruins his career.
After exhausting all of his resources on failed treatments for his hands. He travels to Kathmandu, Nepal on a journey of healing, where he encounters the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton).
Subsequently he must put his ego aside and learn secrets of a hidden world of mysticism and alternate dimensions as well as act as an intermediary between the real world and what lies beyond, utilizing a vast array of metaphysical abilities and artifacts to protect the world from the Zealots, a group of fanatics led by Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) who are seeking to summon a dark entity and unleash it on the world.
The plot is extraordinary. With this film, we are once again introduced to a very different superhero. One who doesn't gain superpowers but one who uses magic but not magic in a literal sense, this is magic that mystic and psychadelic and requires a lot of practice, concentration and commitment to master it. We also delve into the supernatural side of the MCU with alternate dimensions, multiverses - all really cool stuff.
But if you tear away all the magic and supernatural stuff, Doctor Strange is really a human journey, a character story, with spiritual overtones.
At its core Doctor Strange is about one man, one man trying to make a difference to his life - not to dissimilar to Iron Man and Thor but it creates its own spin/tells it in its own unique way so it doesn't feel Marvel are ripping themselves off.
In other words, the movies true strength is its depiction of Strange's journey and emotional arc, showing him at the height of his career, his fall from grace, his emotional fight for redemption, his studying of the mystic arts and his ultimate and eventual finding of a new and better purpose.
All of this is staged, told and handled with extreme care and precession and it's not rushed, giving plenty of time to flash out the characters and world as well as being a standalone adventure.
There are some great spiritual overtones that help Doctor Strange to differentiate itself from previous MCU films and other superheroe films in general: When we first meet Stephen Strange he's a brilliant talented but arrogant and opinionated neurosurgeon who feels that because he's brilliant at what he does he can control peoples fates and everything has to happen for a reason.
However after his encounter with the Ancient One he goes on a spiritual journey that helps let go of being so determined a learns that there are other ways to help people and save lives.
Over the course of the film he learns to live with his mistakes, which have ruined his own life rather than needlessly try to undo them and tries too better himself as a person instead as well as the fact that he can’t always win in the end.
Time is a very prominent theme in Doctor Strange; Strange himself has a large collection of watches and keeps that one that broke during his accident with him during his training at Kamar-Taj. The Eye of Agamotto has the ability to turn back time. The Ancient One speaks of foretelling many futures and is unaging. In the end, Strange has to learn to live with the mistakes that have ruined his life and that he can't fix everything.
Writer/director Scott Derickson's direction is vibrent, energetic and passionate, this is a movie directed by someone who has huge love and respect for the original Doctor Strange comics and it defiantly shows in Derickson's staging, iconography and imagery.
The cinematography is beautiful and captures the mystical wonder of the films Asian locations, the production design is astonishing (Kamar-Taj in particular looks like a spiritual place where amazing discoveries can be found), the costumes are terrific, the scenery is breathtaking, the locations are suitably gorgeous, the score by Michael Giacchino is majestic, the make up is rich and beautifully detailed, the special effects are Jaw-droppingly, amazingly stunning and some of the best Marvel has to offer to date (the mirror dimention is a mind bending reality with strong influcnes of Steve Ditko's psychedelic style from the comics).
The creativity and visual invention of crafting all the different dimensions is just staggering (the climax in particular looks like the panels of a Doctor Strange comic come to life), the action scenes are thrilling & exciting, the tension is killing, there is also some genuinely good humour in this movie, most of it being provided by Mystic Arts Master, Wong (Benedict Wong) who serves as a dry comic relief as well as the Cloak of Levitation when Strange first acquires it providing a sort of slap-stick Buster Keaton/Charlie Chaplin style comedy.
There are times however when the filmmakers go a tad far with the humour. Yes it is funny to see Strange refer to well known music artists but it detracts from the serious and spiritual tone of the film.
When it comes to the acting department, Scott Derickson and Marvel have done a great job in casting great actors to play these characters,
Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange I thought was just inspired. He brings the character to life in a remarkable way. He plays the egocentric neurosurgeon superbly, he's is mesmerising as the broken doctor and transitions into the intellectual, enlighten and wise Doctor Strange. He’s almost like the actual comic book character come to life. Much like Robert Downey, Jr. Tony Stark/Iron Man, he's forced to reconsider his values and learn selflessness.
Tilda Swinton delivers a masterful performance as the Aincient One. Part of that is because of the characters ambiguity, there's a lot of amdrogyny about the character, a lot of mystery surrounds which makes her a really fascinating character. Initially she refuses to teach Strange due to his egotistical nature but eventually relents and gives Strange a chance to redeem himself and become a better person.
Chiwetel Ejiofor is extremely effective as Baron Mordo, more so than other heros and villains in the MCU, there's a sense of ambiguity about his character. He's not doing what he's doing purely for the sake of being evil, he's doing what he's doing because he is following his own beliefs and codes.
He's a fundamentalist, someone who gives themselves to an extraordinarily strong moral code, that breaking the process is a violent one. He starts out as Strange's guide into Masters of Mystic Arts which he enters but as the film goes on, the layers start to unravel and Mordo is played almost as polar opposite of Strange, whereas Strange accepts the Ancient One's moral contradictions, Mordo cannot accept them and goes his own way. Their rivalry and different view points make for endless storytelling possibilities.
Benedict Wong is brilliant as Wong, he's a very subverted character and very much a drill sergeant at Kamar-Taj and acts as a mentor the Strange as opposed to the manservant that fans know from the comics. He's also a borderline houmorlous with a deadpan attitude which in turn serves as an excellent comic relief.
Rachel McAdams is ernest and lovely as Christine Palmer. She plays possibly the most competent and human of "Marvel window-dressing girlfriends" as Peter Debruge put it. In an interesting spin on the love interest trope, Strange and Palmer are portrayed as being lovers prior to this film, though it is evident from their first scene together there is love between them no matter what stage of a relationship they're in. Christine at heart is a good person, she tries to see and find the essential goodness in people, which makes her one of the few people who can stand up to Strange's arrogance. She puts others before herself. She also helps anchor Strange's humanity, both after his accident and after he delves into the mystic arts. , I believed that she and Strange have had a past relationship and that like she's a fellow surgeon of Strange which makes her more of his equal than previous Marvel love interests.
Mads Mikkelsen is also very strong as Kaecilius. The most interesting part of his performance is how driven he is. He is a man of ideas with watertight logic, he's a man following a belief and thinks what he's doing is the right thing. He was once a member of the Masters of the Mystic Arts & joined them to help him deal with loss of his wife & child but has become dissalutioned with their ways.
He can’t comprehend that death is a natural part of life as opposed to a step behind humanity’s evolutionary peak. He feels that the Ancient One is keeping certain knowledge from him.
He views time and death as the true enemy to everything and that by ridding the world of said enemy, he will make it a better place.
However his actions make him a ruthless a pure sadist and megalomaniac, someone who is willing to kill anyone who gets in his way. However he justifies it to himself due to his beliefs that the ends justify the means. These actions, however, make home a delusional psychopath and a misanthrope
In some ways Kaecilius is almost like a mirror image of Doctor Strange as he displays arrogance and an inflated sense of self-worth. Making someone who may not have gotten out to the house (Kamar-Taj) and in doing so has let power & magic get to his head.
The film also features a noteworthy performance from Benjamin Bratt as Jonathan Pangborn, a seemingly selfish man who sought out the Ancient One to cure him of his paralysis but left to carry on with his life rather than serve something greater than himself. His role is small but it's pivotal to Strange discovering Kamar-Taj as well as serving as a possible example of what life Strange could have led after finding the Ancient One.
Michael Stuhlberg & Scott Adkins also appear in brief but pivitol roles both of whom deliver strong performances.
Forget everything you think you know, 4/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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