Film Review - Dr Strange (2016)

Doctor Strange is the newest Marvel Studios production and concerns Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) a New York Neurosurgeon who loses his gift in a car accident that severely damages his hands, despondent he travels to Kathmandu in India to seek the wisdom of the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) but this journey will involve learning a new set of skills and facing down dangerous enemies.

I was a little hesitant heading into this movie primarily because I was very unimpressed with large chunks of Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe I felt that it was too timid, too risk averse and all too willing to throw in not that funny one liners into films like Captain America Civil War which were meant to have a more serious tone but Marvel's recent Comic Con show showed me that perhaps Producer Supreme Kevin Feige and Co were now willing to become a little bolder and more risky given where the MCU is now heading.

And this gamble is one that has handsomely paid off as I really really enjoyed this movie for these reasons:

- Firstly the Visual Effects here are Stunning, simply Stunning if this movie does not win the Best Visual Effects Academy Award then something will be seriously wrong as there are scenes here that just make your jaw drop and it made me think that this is what CGI is meant to do, put things on film we can't do with practical effects and it demands for this movie to be seen on the biggest cinema screen you can find and this has already had me drooling of what the Infinity Gauntlet is going to look like in action.

- Secondly Cumberbatch anchors this entire film really well and watching him here reminded me a lot of Robert Downey Jr in the first Iron Man film in terms of seeing an actor completely owning the character they're playing on screen and it makes me very excited to see him in further MCU films, Swinton is okay here while Chwietel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong and Rachel McAdams were okay as well.

- Lastly I also loved the tone this movie set here, it does have humour in it but it never feels like it intrudes on the film as a whole and I was pleasantly reminded of one of my fav shows Dragon Ball and the mystical tone both that show and this film was on show a little bit here.

Unfortunately what really holds this film back is Mads Mikkelsenn playing Generic Marvel Villain number 562 and there's a real irony to this in that Marvel Studios has built this enormous cinematic universe and gone to great lengths and spent lots of time and money to carefully plan out each film and each phase and drawn upon decades of history from the comics and in return have been very very handsomely rewarded with box office success and a loyalty most franchises could only dream of having.

And yet something as basic and as fundamental as having a strong adversary for their heroes seems to elude them, Loki has been the one real exception and that was mainly due to Tom Hiddleston being a great choice for that role but all the others including the evil monk guy (Sorry I forgot his so very forgettable characters name) have been deathly dull and film killing in each way but this is so very much Cumberbatch's film that I didn't mind all that much THIS time around but Josh Brolin's Thanos is the one Mr Feige and Co MUST and I repeat MUST!!! get right because if they don't Infinity War is dead on arrival.

And so that was Dr Strange and this is a film well worth seeing on the biggest cinema screen you can find and stay for the mid credits scene as it is a VERY exciting tease and look I'll be honest and say that I have had my criticisms of the MCU and of Mr Feige but this movie has made me a fan again and Phase 3 is off to a very nice start, 4 out of 5.