November 22nd in St. Charles, MO. To be honest, I was never into Doctor Strange comics when I was a kid. Strange has been around since 1963 and he never seemed all that interesting to me. Well that's all changed because this picture has been very successful grossing over $200 million domestically in about 4 weeks against a $165 million budget and it's got Benedict Cumberbatch. The international market will most certainly add to its haul. Marvel has hit another home run with, in my opinion, a 2nd rate character (Guardians of the Galaxy being the other, in fact I could argue that Guardians were not just 2nd rate but obscure).
The film pretty much is a remake of Iron Man. Dr. Stephen Strange is a successful and talented surgeon who's also a bit of an arrogant dickhead (a la Tony Stark). Strange survives an unsurvivable car crash (it was worse than the Bond crash in Casino Royale) and his hands are so badly injured that he can no longer operate (like most surgeons, if they can't cut, they can't heal). Strange spends all his money looking for a cure that can mend the damaged nerves in his hands. Strange's physical therapist turns him onto a guy named Pangborn (Benjamin Bratt), a paraplegic who was able to walk. Pangborn turns Strange onto Kamar-Taj, the place where Pangborn went to learn to walk again. Strange heads to Nepal (probably the same spot where Eddie Murphy went in The Golden Child) to find the the place that can restore the use of his hands.
Strange is accepted into Kamar-Taj by the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) and his training begins. His training is pretty much a series of whimsical moments (much like Stark developing his armor) where learns from his failures and gets better at his craft. He basically gets really good really fast. He learns about the evil Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen), a former star pupil of the ancient one who turned to evil (sounds familiar doesn't it?) and recently stole some pages from an ancient manuscript that will bring about the destruction of the world. Kaecilius then starts targeting the sanctums that make up the mystic security net and the greenhorn Strange squares off against him and holds his own. During the battle Kaecilius gets in Strange's head and he begins to question the Ancient One.
This all leads to the inevitable final battle at the Hong Kong sanctum. Strange, Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Wong (Benedict Wong) arrive too late but Strange uses cunning guile to strike a deal with Dormammu (the evil mystic overlord that Kaecilius is into and who bears a striking resemblance to Galactus) and save the world. Strange takes the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme. Mordo however, already disillusioned by the Ancient One using dark magic, is not happy with Strange's solution and will eventually become a villain in the next installment.
This film has been well received by the critics and has a 91% Rotten Tomatoes rating. My feelings are this, I enjoyed the film. It seemed to stay close to the source material (although there was some controversy). Good easter eggs and mid/post credit scenes. Solid acting (I don't think that Rachel McAdams was all that great but her character wasn't much other than be a love interest for Strange, much like Stark and Potts from Iron Man). Solid pace and great visual effects. However, there was a lot that was borrowed from other films. I mean a lot (the already mentioned Iron Man, The Matrix and Inception are all too obvious connections). At the end, when Hong Kong is about to get engulfed in mystical destruction, the visual effect is very similar to the near apocalypse effect from Suicide Squad, both Avengers films and so on. I get that most of these stories follow the archetype of the romance hero that dates back to ancient Greece for crying out loud. I understand that Marvel has a winning formula and they will jam it down our throats until we as a viewing public stop watching.
This is a flawed but enjoyable film. The MCU has a plan for their franchises and I am invested in their films. As long as they're entertaining, I will continue to watch the films.
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