When you’re wrong, you’re wrong. And I can admit I’m wrong…which isn’t all that often but does happen. And boy, was I wrong about Dr. Strange. I saw the previews and couldn’t give less than 2 shits about this one. I know nothing about Dr. Strange. Even my comedian nerd friends know nothing about this tertiary character. So I had no desire to see this possible cash grab…until the positive reviews came in like a deluge. And so I said, what the hell, and paid 8 bucks by going at 10:50am to see the newest Marvel installment.
First off, Benedict Cumberbatch (sounds like a British kids show character) is amazing here and really, in everything he does. He’s fantastic as the lead character Steven Strange who can best be described if Tony Stark was a neurosurgeon. An automobile accident takes away his use of hands and then he heads to Nepal where he heard that a paralyzed man was able to regain limb usage. There is where he learns how magic can manipulate time and weaponry. There are several fight scenes where you think you’re watching the Matrix or Inception and it’s beautifully shot.
Tilda Swinton plays the Ancient One, Strange’s mentor. Apparently, the Ancient One is Asian in the comic book and Tilda Swinton couldn’t be more white. I didn’t have anything invested in the comic book so it doesn’t affect me but wouldn’t you think to keep the race of characters intact? Another issue I had was when you see shots of NYC, you see the Avengers headquarters. But as we know, it was destroyed and set in the middle of nowhere in later films. I asked a friend who knows about these things (uber comic book nerd) and he said this is supposed to take place after Iron Man 3.
Rachel McAdams plays Strange’s love interest and they do have some great repartee, especially when Strange goes into the spirt world as he fights a bad guy while his body is being operated on by McAdams. Lots of humor in this film and you enjoy watching Cumberbatch enjoy being a snarky neurosurgeon. This is a fun film and surprisingly, they made a, “who gives a shit about this guy” film into a, “glad I was wrong about this one.” And yes, he ties right into the Marvel universe and you’ll see where during the scene where the credits roll.
I give this a 7 out of 10.
Kevin Gootee 