*MAJOR SPOILERS*
Back on the Marvel hype train! After seeing this movie, I am now convinced to watch Sherlock. Cumberbatch is fantastic, and I need to see more of him!
Doctor Strange is a 2016 action/adventure film directed by Scott Derrickson, and is the fourteenth film in the ever expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, and Mads Mikkelsen, as the story follows a neurosurgeon who, after a horrific car accident, discovers the hidden world of magic and alternate dimensions.
Okay, wow. This movie was so extremely awesome. I honestly have no idea where to begin, so I guess let’s talk about acting. Holy cow.. Cumberbatch was fantastic. After seeing this movie, I don’t know how anyone else could have played this role. Cumberbatch is Doctor Strange, and there really isn’t anyone who can or could do it better. His character arc was awesome, and he was such a well fleshed out character. The only gripe I had with him was that he went from zero to hero in a matter of minutes, as the film never gave us accurate representation of time during his training. I won’t hate too much on this fact, but I would have been a little more pleased to see how long it took him to train. Other than Cumberbatch, Mikkelsen was also fantastic as the villain. He had good motives, and was menacing, and the only gripe I had was that he wasn’t the true antagonist in this film. Sure, he was the most physical villain we had in this film, but it was really Dormammu who threaten Strange. Overall, this film had some great characters, which makes me excited to hopefully see them return in a sequel somewhere down the line.
The real rock star of this film wasn’t played by any person, but the visual effects team. I honestly don’t know what to say. I’m speechless. This film has to have some of the best visual effects I’ve ever seen. Scratch that. This is the best visual effects in a film I’ve ever seen. The CGI, the color reflections, the fight scenes, the different dimensions, where do I stop? I’ll note this for my future self, as this film had me totally immersed since everything looked incredibly realistic. A scene I would like to talk about more specifically is the reversal of time during the end battle in the city. I have no idea how they did it, but it just blew me away. I know I’m beginning to sound like a parrot, but this film just looked fantastic. Bravo Marvel, and their visual effects team.
As much as I loved this movie, there were a couple things that didn’t sit well with me. The most important of those issues being final end credits scene. What the hell? Having Chiwetel Ejiofor become the future villain was just stupid. He had no reason to turn dark, and it’s not like his character was lied to that bad. Sure, sometimes you have to break the rules to get things done, but damn this guy takes it to the next level. I don’t know, it might just be me, but this just did not sit well with me. I really like Chiwetel Ejiofor, but he is by no means villain material. Some of the lesser issues I had I already mentioned mainly deals with the passing of time. Strange literally goes from zero to hero in minutes, and the lack of time exposition really hurts this fantastic film. Not only that, but the end was also very anticlimactic, almost to the point where I’m questioning if that is truly the end of the film or not.
But overall this movie gives me everything I want in a Marvel movie. Was Doctor Strange one of my favorite Marvel movies? Yes, I have to give it that. This was just a fantastic film with fantastic characters and actors, yet had some very minor issues in exposition, and a pretty anticlimactic ending. So in the end, I decided to give Doctor Strange a “Very Good” on theVade Review Bar. If you haven’t yet seen this film, go and do so right now, as this might be one of the best Marvel movies you can see right now.
