Rating of
2.5/4
"Doctor Strange" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 02/11/19
A brilliant but arrogant surgeon loses the use of his hands after an automobile accident, and while attempting to find a cure he discovers a secret society that uses the mystic arts to protect the Earth from attack by other dimensions.
Yet another in a seemingly endless stream of superhero movies, Doctor Strange at least stands out from the crowd thanks to its concentration on magic rather than extreme fisticuffs. This gives some hefty scope for eye-popping visuals as the manipulation of the environment – in a very similar vein to Inception and The Matrix – bends and twists city-scapes to the combatants will. But to be honest, this often makes the action scenes very difficult to follow and I often could not see the point of it all beyond purely superficial visual flashiness. The main villain Dormammu was also a disappointment as he seemed to be nothing but a huge computer-generated cartoon face about which we learn virtually nothing aside from the fact that he’s “the baddie”. The saving grace of the film is found in its excellent cast, Benedict Cumberbatch managing to prick the po-faced absurdity of the entire premise with some nice comic timing and his ensemble supporting cast are all charismatic and likeable.
As a whole Doctor Strange is very much a case of style over substance that struggles to survive the problem I have with magic-based stories in general; namely that if there are no physical rules then the story inevitably lacks any real structure and therefore any strong narrative momentum. But it is worth a watch if only for the cast alone.
