Doctor Strange Review: ‘When the Dragon Warrior goes on an Interstellar Overdrive’
When Benedict Cucumberbatch was cast as Doctor Strange you can’t fail to notice that this is the second Sherlock Holmes entering the MCU after Robert Downey Jr. On top of that they had to cast RDJ’s Irene Adler — Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer. Makes you wonder that Iron Man and Doctor Strange have personalities that probably share a pin code. We’re talking about an exceptionally talented-super intelligent rich dude with a serious ego problem who unintentionally becomes a super hero.
While RJD confirmed that there will be no further instalments for the Iron Man franchise, MCU made a smart move by making Doctor Strange fill in for the vacuum that might occur from the lack of one of their most successful characters. Although for a lot of Marvel fans and even others, Doctor Strange having his own stand alone movie might have seemed rather odd but after witnessing how they managed to make Ant-Man an enjoyable experience, you realise the MCU people know their shit quite well.
First things first, Doctor Strange is a visual feast. With its constantly bending realities seen through twisted kaleidoscopes and a cornucopia of colours splashed across the screen leaving the viewers questioning their sobriety. Unlike other MCU movies where they stick to a rigid colour palette for a particular superhero, Captain America movies tint to shades of blue and Ant-Man has a sepia toned wash throughout the film, Doctor Strange is relatively a unicorn farting intergalactic rainbows when it comes to it’s colour treatment. Which makes all the more sense considering even Pink Floyd shares its psychedelic DNA with Doctor Strange.
The big decision of casting The Ancient One as woman has left a lot of fanboys foaming at the mouth, but Tilda Swinton with her alien-like mystique coupled with a surprisingly balanced performance brings new life to the character. Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange wears the skin of the character like a neatly tailored suit quite effortlessly. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Rachel McAdams sadly are only as good as the screenplay allows them to be, which isn’t much a talking point. Marvel’s tradition of having weak villains maintains status quo with Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecilius scoring only a notch above ‘cat with claws on your new carpet’ on the threat level index.
The plot is alarmingly close to Kung Fu Panda to the extent that it had me eagerly expecting an easter egg shoved in a scene as acknowledgement. Fortunately it doesn’t necessarily affect the fabric of the film adversely, considering the source material came first.
The biggest offence in the movie sadly is the training montage…or whatever it was meant to be. The time it takes for Stephen Strange to become a full blown Dumbledore from a novice is so hastily done that it makes winning a pulitzer prize for your first click bait article on your blog that no one reads a normal occurrence. This is compounded more due to this exchange that takes place right before the “montage”:
Dr. Stephen Strange: How do I get from here to there?
The Ancient One: How did you become a doctor?
Dr. Stephen Strange: Study and practice. Years of it.
The movie also falls prey to revealing most of the best moments from the film in the trailer itself, a problem that has been addressed quite frequently for modern cinema. And yes, the finale with an overtly CGI sculpted villain and McGuffin time logic can be a bit of a wet blanket after the enjoyable inter-dimensional carnival.
In spite of these relatively minor issues, Doctor Strange is still a fun watch. And it never makes you obnoxiously aware of how formulaic it is. It reinforces how the MCU has successfully created a behemoth that expands every year churning out newer things to get excited about. A reason that makes them the highest grossing Movie franchises of all time. And they seem to be far from stopping.
