Image courtesy of wallpapercave.com
Next up in the "Marvel-thon" is the installment that has the best visuals in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that is Doctor Strange.
Following a car accident that badly injured his hands, neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange is incapable of doing his job. Desperately seeking to restore them and failing to find any surgeries that would, he is informed of Kamar-Taj, a sanctuary that specializes in the mystic arts under a sorceress known as The Ancient One. He is skeptical and arrogant, but with no other options, he has to learn their ways to protect the world and time itself.
What Worked: The MCU brings in another excellent casting choice, with Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange himself. He's the medic equivalent of Tony Stark; he has an ego problem, but then something happens to him where he wants to make things right. This is his best performance in regards to movies based on a work of fiction. He actually works better as a hero than as a villain, although he's awesome at it (for evidence of that, go watch The Hobbit or Star Trek Into Darkness).
Someone else who works better as a good character than an evil one is Tilda Swinton, who plays The Ancient One herself. Her performance is really good, because casting her as the mentor-type character is more believable. She also gets some good moments.
Then there's Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo, a fellow sorcerer. The character is normally known for being a villain, but I really liked how they made him more sympathetic rather than jump right into that. He needed development that could potentially lead up to it. He's a more interesting character as a result, and it shows.
The best character in the movie is Wong, played by Benedict Wong. It may seem odd that his name is just Wong, but the movie acknowledges it in a pretty hilarious way (on one occasion, it's even referenced; all I'll say is it involves music). He's so deadpan about everything that most of the humor comes from that.
There is another character to mention before delving into the villain, and that is Christine Palmer, played by Rachel McAdams. She's one of the better female characters in the MCU because she's an example of the "audience avatar" character, where she feels what the audience probably does. Her performance is really good, too. She's also not technically a love interest; it's used as part of Strange's backstory, and that's it.
The villain here is Kaecilius, a former student of the Ancient One who leads a group of zealots trying to bring the Dark Dimension and its ruler Dormammu to our world. He's played by Mads Mikkelsen (Rogue One, Casino Royale). My main issue is with this character, but I'll get to that later.
The supporting cast is also really good; here it has Michael Stuhlbarg (The Shape of Water, which I hope to review soon) as Strange's rival Dr. Nicodemus West, Benjamin Bratt (who makes up for Catwoman here*) as a fellow sorcerer, and Scott Adkins as one of the zealots.
Now for the technical aspects.
When it comes to directors, this is another example where Marvel knows who to pick for a project, as evidenced by James Gunn with Guardians of the Galaxy. In this case, they chose Scott Derrickson, known primarily for horror films like Sinister. Since this does have some supernatural elements, it makes sense, and it works very well.
That's not to say it's entirely dark; there is some humor, and it's among Marvel's best, which includes the Stan Lee cameo. There are two great examples aside from that and the singular name jokes. The first is with the Cloak of Levitation, one of many relics on display in the Sanctum here. It's like the Magic Carpet from Aladdin; it has a mind of its own, and it's actually hilarious. The funniest one is when Doctor Strange and Kaecilius first meet.
The thing that stands out most aside from the visuals is the score by Michael Giacchino. This is one of his best scores in recent memory, another example being Star Trek; in fact, if you listen closely, you'll hear similarities to that score here.
As for the visuals themselves, they are so excellent they might be better than those in Inception. They are accompanied by gorgeous cinematography as well, which makes them stand out that much more.
The finale is also very clever; it's a rather unconventional fight.
What Didn't Work: My main issue is basically the same as my main issue with Ant-Man: the villain. Mads Mikkelsen's performance is good, but the character does not leave much of an impact.
Overall: Doctor Strange is not just a prime example of Marvel presenting other territories of the franchise... it is the prime example. I previously said Ant-Man was because of its incorporation; it's done the same way, and yet actually even better here. It may have another weak villain, but the focus is more about developing the hero and world building anyway.
It has the best effects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date, with some of the most inventive action sequences as a result.
It also makes you think to an extent: What if our reality is one of many? The best way to do that, as stated in the movie, is "Forget everything you think you know." The movie itself might surprise you even more if you go into it with that approach.
As stated earlier, there is a Stan Lee cameo. There is also a mid-credits scene and a post-credits scene.
*And yes, I've seen Catwoman. The only way to watch that is as a comedy, as will be explained when I get to cover it.