Marvel Studios
brings to the screen their 14th feature film with Doctor Strange. Doctor Strange is directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinister and 2008’s The Day the Earth Stood Still) who co-wrote the screenplay with Jon
Spaihts (Prometheus) and C. Robert
Cargill (Sinister).
Doctor Stephen
Strange is a neurosurgeon whose arrogance is rivaled only by his talent. He is Tony
Stark with a scalpel. Unfortunately, fate teaches Strange a lesson when one
night he is driving irresponsibly and gets into a horrific accident that destroys
his hands (his number one tool as a surgeon). After blowing his fortune trying
numerous medical procedures, Strange hears of a place capable of miracles.
Strange journeys to the far East and instead of finding a cure, he finds a new
way of life through the study of sorcery from a mysterious and powerful being
called The Ancient One. At the same time Strange becomes a student of The
Ancient One, a former student named Kaecilius is practicing dangerous magic and
leads a group of radicals against The Ancient One. Strange gets caught in the
middle and joins with Mordo, a sorcery apprentice and Wong the formidable
librarian of The Ancient One. Together they must use all of their skills and
enchanted objects to stop Kaecilius from bringing a dark dimension to our world
and in effect destroying mankind.
This is
the first appearance of Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so as
such it must be an origin tale. As origin tales go, it is very by the numbers,
but in that sense it is very loyal to it’s comic book roots. For new comers to
Strange, the film accomplishes its goal of cementing the character and his
world of sorcery. As a fan of the character and his world, I personally enjoyed
seeing things how the characters cast spells with their gestures (which were
actually based on real eastern spiritual practices that use hand gestures) and
fight with their spells. This is a type of sorcery dueling that is done without
the aid of wands. While the sorcerers can conjure without wands, they do also
have enchanted objects that carry magic of their own which can wielded in
battle. This is where the tropes of the comics really come. We get to see the
Sanctum Sanctorum, the Eye of Agamotto (which will play a role in the larger
Marvel Cinematic Universe), and the Cape of Levitation (my favorite part of the
film) all brought to life.
The cast
includes Benedict Cumberbatch (The
Imitation Game, BBC’s Sherlock)
as Stephen Strange, Tilda Swinton (The
Chronicles of Narnia, We Need to Talk
About Kevin) as The Ancient One, Chiwetal Ejiofor (Kinky Boots, Serenity) as
Mordo, Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale,
Hannibal) as Kaecilius, Benedict Wong
(The Martian, Black Mirror) as Wong, and Rachel McAdams (The Notebook) as Christine Palmer. With all of these characters
being introduced, as well the world of sorcery, we only get to see teases of
the supporting cast’s character arcs, hopefully to be fleshed out in later
films. This is likely why such a talented cast needed to be assembled, a lesser
cast might not be able to make their character shine. Even the smaller roles
have accomplished actors cast; Michael Stuhlberg (Boardwalk Empire) is a rival surgeon to Strange and Benjamin Bratt
(Law & Order, Modern Family) is only in two scenes as
a vehicle accident survivor.
This is
great cast, but for me the visual effects are what really stand out in the
film. While most of what has been advertised is the mirror world bending effect
(“inception-esque”), the real fun comes when Strange enters other dimensions.
The otherworldly dimensions are bright and trippy. They represent the Steve
Ditko drawn comics very well. The other item that stole the film for me was a
bit of a surprise. I enjoy Marvel soundtracks, but there are pieces from the Doctor Strange score which I just fell
in love with. Composer Michael Giacchino’s score ranges from the horn heavy hero
theme to a mystic vibe to the piece in the closing credits which has a rock
opera vibe from the 70’s; definitely the most unique score from any Marvel
film.
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