I've made no secret in the past that I'm a HUGE fan of the Stan Lee/ Steve Ditko creation known as the Sorceror Supreme, Doctor Strange (see my over-blandished rant on the subject HERE). Of all the product that the immensely successful Marvel Studios division of The Disney Company has put into production mining the Marvel Comics properties, DOCTOR STRANGE was the one film I've went into with heightened expectations, scrutinizing every bit of casting, plot. and piece of production design imaginable.
I loved it.
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| Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange |
Benedict Cumberbatch turns in an impressive performance, which is joyful to watch because he's clearly having fun doing it. His ability to juggle the arrogance and pathos involved in Strange's comic book backstory (which the film adapts pretty literally) while maintaining the feeling that, deep down, Stephen Strange is a likeable, funny guy worthy of redemption possessing the merits to finally become a hero is truly something to watch unfold. Sure....it takes one a few minutes to get over hearing Cumberbatch sans his UK accent...but I blame that on my also being something of a SHERLOCK fan, as well.
The plot of the film is lifted straight from the classic Silver Age issues of STRANGE TALES: Brilliantly talented, yet arrogant and vain surgeon Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) suffers injuries in a car crash that leave him with inoperable nerve damage to his hands. Exhausting his means exploring experimental medical procedures to correct his condition, he then begins to seek out potential spiritual and holistic cures. This leads him to Nepal, rumored location of the Ancient One (Tilda Swanson), a supposed spiritual leader possessed of mystic healing abilities.
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| Ejiofor as Baron Karl Mordo |
Once accepted into the Ancient One's order of followers, which includes Karl Mordo (Chitwetel Ejiofor....try spelling that without reference) and Wong (Benedict Wong), Strange is given the knowledge of the order's true purpose: defense of the world from malevolent other dimensional occult and mystic threats. They do this though educating themselves in ways of harnessing the "Mystic Arts"....which to me appear to work like this: Imagine that the reality we perceive is basically the interface or desktop to an operating platform....kinda like Windows...and "sorcerors", such as Strange and the like, have figured out the backdoors and cheat code to it, allowing them to bend and change it to their whim...kinda like tinkering with the source code of the Universe's software.
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| Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecillius |
It is then that Dr. Strange learns of the plot of one of the Ancient One's former pupils, Kaecillius (Mads Mikkelsen ), who plans to destroy Earth 's outposts, or Sanctums, of mystical defense allowing an evil otherdimensional tyrant known as the Dread Dormammu into our realm of existence to generally fuck things up for us, good ol' Mankind.
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| Steve Ditko's original 1960s design for Dormammu, and a more contemporary interpretation below |
First of all....and this is me revealing my deep cut Marvel Comics fanboy underbelly....but, holy shit. I've finally lived to see a big screen version of Dormammu. It's impressive, and I'd have liked to have seen the character design go a little more....flamey. ..in the head design....but awesome nonetheless.
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| Benedict Wong....Beyonce fan #1 |
Real standouts in the supporting cast are Ejiofor as Mordo, Rachel McAdams as Strange's love interest/ connection to his former life, and Bendict Wong, who gets some of the best jokes in the film, the best being his secret love for the music of Beyonce.
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| The Cloak of Levitation....potential comedy goldmine |
Speaking of funny, the CGI creation that is Strange's Cloak of Levitation, is a brilliant character all of it's own, and some of the better bits of humor are played out by this whimsical bit of pixel generated garment.
If you're a fan of good adaptations of comic book source material on film, DOCTOR STRANGE is not to be missed.
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