Doctor Strange

As with "Iron Man", "Guardians of the Galaxy" and some other Marvel characters, I had never heard of Doctor Strange previous to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If I did, I probably mixed him up with Doctor Strangelove. I do remember the buzz when Steven Strange was mentioned in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier". The MCU began with a believable high tech universe in "Iron Man" and things were shaken up three years later with a mythological injection courtesy of "Thor". Now with "Doctor Strange", we have a new side of the MCU that is even more fanciful and mystical. I was grateful for how humorous the film was and how appealing the protagonist was. The narrative pattern of the movie may be cliché but that is what continues to amaze me about the MCU. Despite how many origin stories they tell, every one of them is unique and fresh enough to cause anticipation as you read at the end of each film that this hero "will return".

A film adaptation of "Doctor Strange" has been attempted since the 80's but the production of this particular film was begun in 2010. Some things were altered from the source material and I like the alterations that avoided stereotypes. Other things are in keeping with the comic books such as Mordo. His ultimate choice is both tragic and interesting. It causes us to ask what we would have done were we in his shoes. I am curious and worried concerning his role in future films. I am glad that Wong will have an important future in the MCU. He and other characters had very good chemistry with the protagonist. Stephen Strange comes across to me as another Tony Stark in that he has arrogance but a charming sense of humor. Unlike Stark though, Strange believes his livelihood depends solely on his hands. I believe that Strange goes through a more humbling experience than Tony did in "Iron Man" so the level of drama in "Doctor Strange" is noteworthy. The villain in this movie is thankfully not one-dimensional or flat like Malekith from "Thor: The Dark World". I believe that some men are meant to go down an evil path so that when a stronger possible successor arrives on the scene, he will choose not to follow his predecessor and defeat the one who chose evil rather than good. This is seen in many film franchises like "Star Wars" and even in the MCU with the first "Captain America" film. When a famous character is adapted for the movie screen or has their origin story told in a prequel, they become the icon we are familiar with gradually over the course of the film. A lot of it has to do with the change of their physical appearance. This is done on purpose of course for dramatic reasons and when it is done just right, the feeling you have by the end of the movie seeing the familiar version of the individual fully realized is something special. In the case of Steven Strange, he becomes the comic book hero Doctor Strange only after he possesses the Eye of Agamotto and the Cloak of Levitation. The style of his facial hair also plays a part. To reveal that an Infinity Stone resides is the Eye of Agamotto was a big plot point in the narrative of the MCU. At this point in time in the universe, there is the blue Space Stone in the Tesseract being held in Asgard, the red Reality Stone in the form of the Aether that is in the possession of the Collector on Nowhere, the purple Power Stone protected by the Nova Corps on Xandar and the yellow Mind Stone in the forehead of Vision on Earth. The green Time Stone introduced in this movie ends up back in Kamar-Taj. Five down, one to go. The mid-credit scene gives a partial answer to a big question I had at the end of "Thor: The Dark World" and so I am very appreciative of this allusion to "Ragnarok". Also, I wonder whether the first patient Strange and Billy talk about just before Strange's car accident was wounded working for Hammer Industries.

Comparisons have been made between this Marvel movie with "Fantasia", "Inception", "Harry Potter" and the art of Escher. I also saw a reference to "2001: A Space Odyssey". It would have been cool for me if Mark Andrews had made "Doctor Strange" because he was on the list of directors considered for the job. The list of possible actors to play Strange is also impressive but I am pretty happy that Benedict Cumberbatch got to wear the cape. Because of his TV role in "Sherlock", this kind of character is quite usual for him. His accent in the film is pretty good but I was so used to his natural British accent that it took a second viewing for me to get used to Doctor Strange's voice. That is no longer a distraction. I still haven't gotten used to the moment in "Die Hard" when Alan Rickman used an American accent but that is far from saying he did a poor job. Cumberbatch knew fans would be judging his characters' motions so he put a lot of work into that and it shows. I saw his performance in the title role of "Hamlet" and apparently, he went directly from doing that to filming this movie in Nepal. That is impressive. Cumberbatch also plays Dormammu by means of motion capture. I have alluded to the strong chemistry between Strange & the other characters and the casting of the rest of the characters allowed this to happen. Rachel McAdams had the best chemistry with Cumberbatch. I liked her in "Sherlock Holmes" (not to be confused with the TV show I just mentioned). I also thought Chiwetel Ejiofor was a good choice as Mordo. I liked Michael Stuhlbarg in "Lincoln", "Hitchcock" and "Hugo" so it was good to see him in this film. It is always a pleasure when Stan Lee shows up. He was filmed for "Doctor Strange" at the same time he filmed cameos for future MCU films. In my opinion, it was a superhero movie that made Michael Giacchino famous but this is his first musical score for Marvel. I love how it is both unique from and compatible with other scores in the MCU. He would later compose the score for "Spider-Man: Homecoming". The "Master of the Mystic End Credits" track sounds so familiar that it is driving me nuts. It almost sounds like it came from an animated Doctor Strange TV show or video game.

The production of this film traveled to all the cities you see in the film. They didn't cheat with special effects. This movie was worth seeing in IMAX 3D but the important thing to note is that the special effects and 3D do not overshadow the story of the movie. This is probably why the effects were nominated for an Oscar. Steven Strange is an entertaining protagonist and Marvel is once again able to apply their usual origin story narrative to great effect. The MCU has been infused with a new style that doesn't clash with what we have seen in "The Avengers" but rather creates possibilities for the franchise. Well done Marvel, once again.

4 Stars out of 5