REVIEW: Doctor Strange

We are living in the adolescence of the MCU. For a while, it was enough to have multiple characters from different films on one screen. The Avengers is a film that, in hindsight, got along nearly entirely on being a novel spectacle. Once that became commonplace, it came time to branch out and release adaptations for more obscure, less instantly-marketable characters. Ant-Man. Guardians of the Galaxy. Jessica Jones. And now that Rocket Raccoon is a household name, it is time for the MCU to evolve once more, lest it become the franchise equivalent of a shiftless twenty-something who lives at home and refuses to get a job. By 2018, the MCU will have existed for an entire decade; ten years, twenty films, six Netflix series, and several billion dollars. If this constant flow of content and money is to continue, then innovation must be a constant rule; the second the formula begins to get stale, the series is finished. Marvel Studio's latest release, Doctor Strange, is in many ways a step in the right direction. In other ways, not so much, but I feel as though it can definitely influence the way things are done at Marvel from here on out.

As one might expect, this is another origin story; we follow Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), an arrogant, self-absorbed neurosurgeon who owes his distinguished career to his steady, unshakable hands. After a car accident leaves him with severe nerve damage, the good doctor finds himself out of a job. Desperate to return to his former glory and with no other option in sight, he travels to the mysterious Kamar-Taj in search of a cure. It is here that he learns of the mystic arts, under the tutelage of the Sorcerer Supreme, an enigmatic woman known only as The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). After a cabal of zealots led by the evil Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) steal a dark rite from The Ancient One's personal library, it is up to Strange and his fellow sorcerers, Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Wong (Benedict Wong), to stop Kaecilius from invoking the dread Dormammu and condemning the Earth to a dimension of total darkness.

Right off the bat, I want to say how much I admire how weird this movie is willing to get. Whereas most Marvel movies are full of explosions and shimmering pillars of light, this is a film packed to the brim with astral projection, mirror dimensions, and alternate plains of reality. There's no cop-out "magic is just science we don't understand yet" nonsense like in Thor; now that they've established themselves as a money-making powerhouse who can market Ant-Man as a successful summer blockbuster, Marvel Studios is completely unafraid to say "magic" with a straight face. This is the aspect that sets it apart from the rest of the MCU. Not once do we see a city block get demolished during a grey, dusty climax. In fact, we see a city block get put back together during a bright, vibrant climax. This is a movie that is, for the most part, very clever in how it avoids adhering to the same old Marvel formula. However, there are naturally a few pitfalls that the filmmakers simply couldn't avoid, despite their best efforts.

Rachel McAdams plays what could possibly maybe be called Strange's love interest, Dr. Christine Palmer. I say maybe because she really doesn't have much to do in terms of the story. Her chemistry with Cumberbatch is very organic and lends itself to some strong moments (such as an icy confrontation while he's recuperating from his accident), but at the end of the day her character still feels tacked on in an attempt to fill the usual niche of "female lead". Some have speculated that her inclusion was to dispel any fears that could lead to feelings of gay panic; Doctor Strange is a man in a flowing, Liberace-style cape who cavorts about with other, similarly flamboyantly-dressed men in a monastery where the only female is an androgynous, non-sexualized Tilda Swinton. Clearly we have to give him a tumultuous relationship with a former lady-love so that there's no question that he's a big, tough, masculine superhero. I'm of course exaggerating, since I honestly don't think that that was the intent of the filmmakers in any way, but one must wonder what they intended to accomplish by including this character in the story. Their "romance", if it can be called that, is entirely half-baked and has no bearing on the plot whatsoever. I'd be fine with this subversion, where the male and female leads come out of a romance just being platonic friends, but that doesn't change that the character of Christine Palmer is barely a footnote in the actual plot of Strange and his band of merry magicians stopping Hannibal from sucking Earth into another dimension.

Speaking of, Mads Mikkelsen was entirely wasted on this story. I remember hearing that he was cast and being overjoyed; who could he possibly be playing? Dormammu? Mephisto? Had Marvel secretly gotten the rights to Doctor Doom? No. Instead, this incredible talent is used on a one-shot villain who not only has no bearing on the MCU as a whole, but who will likely not be remembered by the time Thor: Ragnarok comes out. To be fair, I don't mind Kaecilius' plan; honestly, it's a pretty good plan. He sees The Ancient One as a hypocrite, using forbidden rites to extend her own life well beyond what is naturally possible. In his eyes, the power of eternal life is a gift that should be embraced and given to the entire world, even if it means submitting to a cosmic demon from the realm of shadows. His motivation is sound, which is a good first step for a one-off MCU villain, but he's completely lacking in pathos. There's a throwaway line about how he began studying the mystic arts after his entire family was killed, but that's essentially all he gets in terms of characterization or backstory. This is a character who had the potential to rise above the usual, generic "dark reflection of the protagonist with a similar powerset" mold that the MCU seems to love so much, but doesn't quite measure up.

For all my griping, I think it's worth saying that, despite these flaws, I really did enjoy this movie quite a bit. The special effects are imaginative to the extreme; if there's one thing that gives me hope for the future of the MCU, it's the recent trend of spicing up the tried and true formula with really inventive action setpieces. Ant-Man took full advantage of a protagonist who shrinks. In a similar fashion, Doctor Strange takes full advantage of having multiple characters who can bend the fabric of reality at will. While the story is pretty standard, the action is thought out and calculated in really nifty, original ways; I especially enjoyed the climax, though I won't spoil what happens here. The effects look like a Steve Ditko fever dream brought to life; in all honesty, this is probably one time I should have sprung for a 3D showing. 

I also really enjoyed all the performances here; Benedict Cumberbatch is the clear highlight, managing to pull off the role of the smarmy, cocksure genius without feeling too much like Robert Downy Jr's Tony Stark. Chiwetel Ejiofor acts as a strong foil for Strange, coming across as more of an ardent fundamentalist. It's a classic dynamic between two partners, one fastidious and the other more flexible, which translates surprisingly well to dignified masters of the arcane. Tilda Swinton was a definite highlight as The Ancient One; while her casting brought on accusations of white-washing (in what screenwriter C. Robert Cargill accurately referred to as a Kobayashi Maru of a situation), it's not as though the character's original design (that of a Fu-Manchu bearded old Asian man) would have been met with less controversy. I've always figured that the rule of thumb with race-swapping characters in film adaptations is "it doesn't matter, so long as the actor does a good job". Tilda Swinton does a fantastic job, so as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter.

Doctor Strange is a solid entry in the MCU. It didn't blow me away (at least in terms of story or characterization), but it managed to overcome its various flaws to deliver a fun, unique, and entertaining superhero adaptation. Despite the flat villain, groan-worthy "jokes", and breakneck pace of the plot, the mesmerizing special effects and inventive action setpieces won me over in the end; I had a great time with it. That said, I feel as though this represents something of an omen for the future of the MCU. Doctor Strange has its issues, but they are easily outweighed by its innovation in other key areas. That's more than fine for now, but this approach won't necessarily work for Doctor Strange 3 or Thor 5 or Avengers: We Got the Rights to X-Men down the line. All of the things holding this film back from its truest potential are inherent in the established Marvel formula; the forgettable villain, the shoehorned love interest, the uneven plot. These are the same issues presented in so many other Marvel Studios productions. Granted, the studio is likely set until 2020 no matter what they put out, but I should certainly hope that they start giving these recurring problems serious attention in the coming years. Avengers: Infinity War is just around the corner. Once that's finally over and done with, Marvel Studios is going to have to do some serious innovating to hold the attention (not to mention hard-earned cash) of the moviegoing public. Hopefully Doctor Strange will live on as a precedent of innovation in an iconic film series, rather than a sign that the Marvel formula isn't going anywhere anytime soon.