Pick A Card, Any Card

Its been almost a decade since Marvel launched the MCU by taking a punt on Iron Man, and lets not kid ourselves it was a huge risk putting Tony Stark and his metallic alter ego on the big screen as the character was something of an unknown entity outside of the world of comic book readers.

Yes they had Robert Downey Jr in the lead role but in a world that was only just coming to grips with more recognisable properties such as the X-Men and Spiderman making Iron Man a success was far from a sure thing.

The nine years that have passed since then are old news of course and we all find ourselves living in a world where the superhero movie is king and anything less than a billion dollars at the box office is considered less than a success.

Other unknown properties have followed suit and have smashed it out of the park (Guardians of the Galaxy I'm looking at you) and Marvel, Fox, Warner Brothers etc are producing a constant stream of films in this genre, in 2016 alone there was five and in the coming year we are expecting a further six over the next twelve months.

I have already spoken about my feelings towards the genre of superhero movies in a previous post and the fact that I am feeling less than enthusiastic towards the majority of the films out this year is perfectly demonstrated by the fact that for the first time since the MCU began I did not rush out to the cinema to watch Doctor Strange when it was released as I simply had no desire for anymore superhero action following Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad.

A little time has passed and so I figured it was time to give the Sourcerer Supreme a chance to plead its case and I therefore sat back to see how good, bad or indifferent Marvels latest offering actually is.

The film begins by introducing us to the villain of the piece Kaecilius (played by Mads Mikkelesen) who steals some pages from a mystical book before he and his disciples have a battle with The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) which wouldn't look amiss in Christoper Nolans Inception. In fact this is the biggest bone of contention I have with this film and is a concern that I had had from the moment I saw the first trailer. The effects are impressive and I would go as far as to say that they are the best that we have seen in any MCU movie to date, BUT many of the battles in which buildings are warped and twisted just look like slightly glossier versions of what we have already seen in the aforementioned Inception and due to this they lost some of their impact as it all felt like we have seen them before.

There have been complaints about Swintons casting as The Ancient One who is historically a male character but I have no feeling on this matter as I don't know anything about the character of Doctor Strange or his supporting cast and therefore am not upset by this change.

Back to the plot of the film and we get to meet surgeon extraordinaire Stephen Strange (Sherlocks Benedict Cumberbatch) who along with being a genius is a bit of an ass who's ego is as big as his talent. After a brief interlude where we get some character and relationship building Strange is in a huge car crash which leaves him unable to perform surgery as his hands are badly mangled. He then hears about a potential cure which leads him to The Ancient One who after warping his fragile little mind with some more spectacular effects initially refuses to assist him before of course letting him into their secret fraternity of magic which not only heals his hands but allows him to become a master of the mystic arts.

Whilst his training is taking place Kaecilius is taking a magical mystery tour around the globe to destroy as many of the magic folk as possible as he wants to unleash the evil force Dormammu unto the world but of course Doctor Strange is now fully immersed in the magic world and stands front and centre in the battle to stop the crazied baddie.

Cue to the big final battle and Doctor Stranges inevitable victory which in turn leads to the obligatory mid credits scene which shows us Doctor Strange talking to Thor which indicates that he will be in either Thor Ragnorak or Infinity War aka Avengers 3 or maybe both. The post credits scene shows a bit part character by the name of Mordor who during the film learns the truth about The Ancient One, a truth leads him to leave her side and in the post credits scene take it upon himself to right magical wrongs as he perceives them which indicates that he will be the villain any potential Doctor Strange 2.

So did Doctor Strange deliver, in certain ways yes it most certainly did. It is a masterpiece visually although as I have already said some of the effects do have a been there, done that vibe to them which detracts from the overall effectiveness of the movie as a whole. The acting is perfectly serviceable although Cumberbaths accent does slip from time to time and I did struggle to see past him as Sherlock but that is my own personal take and I'm sure others would disagree.

The big question is whether Doctor Strange served to reinvigorate my passion for the Superhero genre and to be honest whilst it is not a bad movie it has not left me wanting more. In the grand scheme of things this film is better than both DC offerings from 2016 but in the world of the MCU it would rank below most of whats come before, including Antman.

As for a score well I'm going to give Doctor Strange a respectable 7.5 out of 10, it was a good effort but in an overpacked landscape of lyrca clad superpowered men and women Strange is simply ok rather than magical.