Dr. Strange (2016) | Kaleidoscopic Conundrum

Despite being a fan of Marvel comics as a kid, I didn’t read any Dr. Strange comics, so he was always a bit of a blind spot for me. I knew he was powerful. I knew he was arrogant. I knew that he had a couple of gray spots in his hair. I knew that he faced off against extremely powerful villains and entities, like Dormammu. Most of that knowledge came from cameos in other comics or animated TV shows. So, I didn’t really know what to expect from the MCU’s movie about the character.

Pros

Cumberbatch always gives a good performance and is perfectly cast for Dr. Strange
Spells and special effects look interesting
Method of resolving the conflict and saving the world is cool
Interesting camera angles

Cons

Long movie that takes a while for the villains to intersect with Dr. Strange’s story
Not the most interesting plot
Underutilized characters and wasted villain

Plot & Thoughts

Doctor Steven Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is an incredibly talented surgeon whose skills with the blade are only surpassed by his ego and opinion of himself. Too bad his driving skills aren’t as good as his surgery skills, because he gets into a car accident that crushes his hands, making it impossible to rehabilitate them to their original steadiness and accuracy. He seeks out different medical procedures to regain what he’s lost, spending all of his savings in the process, until he finds spiritual help in a secluded monastery in Nepal. Desperation turns to curiosity as he becomes engrossed in the mystic arts. His training is interrupted, however, when a former member of the enclave of magicians steals pages from a sacred text, communes with an evil entity in another universe, and starts running amok in the world.

There are plenty of things to like about Dr. Strange. I think Cumberbatch does a great job with the character and is perfectly cast for the hero. I think the acting from the rest of the cast is pretty strong as well. There are some fun moments in Dr. Strange. The action is cool, and the effects are fun to watch as the camera pans around to different angles. It makes for a dynamic experience as you watch Strange and friends dispatch various foes. There are also some significant downsides to the experience.

There are, essentially, two main storylines of this movie that you are just waiting to connect. The main story is about who Steven Strange is and who he’ll become after recovering from his accident. This is the better portion of the movie in that it’s all characterization. It showcases the arrogance of Strange and how cruel he is to his friends when he’s forced into a state of humility for the first time in his life. This portion of the story also does more to build up the world of the mystic arts and the powers someone like Dr. Strange can have.

The other portion of the story has to do with the main antagonist, Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen). While I like Mikkelsen, he feels underutilized in Dr. Strange as the former student of the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) turned rogue and seeking power with his entourage of magic goons. There isn’t much to the character of Kaecilius, or his cronies, and not much time is spent on him to build him up or make him interesting. It’s similar to how the villain from Thor: The Dark World, Malekith, was just kind of there. There’s not much of a personal connection between him and Strange either, so it feels like there are two separate storylines that are just smashed together. It’s a shame that Mikkelsen was wasted on such a one-note villain because he certainly would have been great for other menacing Marvel characters. There’s something else that undercuts him as a villain.

Dormammu also makes a brief appearance in this movie as the powerful entity that Kaecilius is bound to in his quest for power. For those who don’t know, Dormammu is a world/universe-ending villain in the Marvel comics. How Dr. Strange manages to defeat him is something of a double-edged sword in terms of my opinion about the ending. On the one hand, Strange’s solution to keeping Dormammu from entering our realm is clever and also does a small bit of characterization for Strange as a man willing to do whatever he has to, no matter how much he has to sacrifice personally, to keep Earth safe. On the other hand, it also conveniently wraps up Kaecilius and eliminates him in a way that makes him even less impressive as a villain. As a side note, I also wasn’t really into Dormammu’s design, but I also don’t know what I was expecting.

TL;DR

Dr. Strange is a visually interesting movie with a few key problems. It has some decent dialogue and characterization, with solid performances from the cast. It has some dynamic camera angles that make the action sequences and magic fun to watch. It has a few neat ideas and cleverly introduces the latest Infinity Stone to the MCU. However, the wasted villain and the stumbling pacing that brings the plot together overshadow all of the positives. This movie has some significant strengths; it just doesn’t have enough to make me eager to watch it again.

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