Picture this: you’re strolling down a street in New York when all of a sudden it turns upside down. The buildings are twisting and turning as you suppress your urge to purge. It stops, then you think about what you just saw. Benedict Cumberbatch walks past and then you decide you’re on drugs. That’s a rough idea of Marvel’s Doctor Strange.
The Doctor-With-An-Unfortunate-Real-Name hit theaters at the beginning of November and has been doing fantastic at the box office, having over $500 million worldwide. Now the first paragraph might make it seem like this movie was horrible, but it was pretty good. The visuals, as other critics say, was somewhat of a masterpiece. That’s a very accurate description. The twisting buildings are enough to give anyone a bit of a headache, to be honest. But that doesn’t take away from having a good time while watching. The movie was exactly what one would expect from Marvel-fun and lighthearted-while bringing in some new aspects-such as magic and the mystic arts.
For those who don’t know, Doctor Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme in the comics, being he is one of the most powerful beings in the world. He can teleport using portals, he can conjure weapons, and he also knows some martial arts in addition to being one of the most powerful magic wielders in the Marvel Universe.
But back to the movie. After all, this review is about a movie and not a comic. The movie was good, but it alike in some parts. While the main character of Doctor Stephen Strange had some character development by the end, the main villain sadly had nothing. There was some background on the villain, Kaecilius, but not much. We’re told he was a former sorcerer and protector of the earth using the mystic arts, but that’s about it. We find out his goal *spoiler* is to bring the Dark Dimension to earth, destroying it for the demon Dormammu. But we don’t know his motive besides that. Why is he doing it? Some comic research might be required to answer that question, but otherwise who knows.
And speaking of research, if you liked Benedict Cumberbatch I this, you should check out his other work. To some it seems like he’s in everything these days and that’d be because of Sherlock from BBC. This character is very similar to pre-everything Stephen Strange, as just a side note.
All in all, a very good movie. It’s definitely one of Marvel’s best, and that might be, in part, because of the balance they successfully accomplished of explaining the mystic arts while having this superhero origin. And for comic fans, expect to see some beloved magical objects in action.