The year designation is essential as there has already been a made for television movie that was a pilot for a failed Doctor Strange program and a direct to video animated feature film of the good doctor. (And that’s not counting the 1992 Dr. Mordid – a direct video movie that was very nearly a Strange film but the filmmakers lost the right at the last moment and changed enough names and details to avoid a lawsuit.)
My two favorite characters of the Marvel comics continuum are Tony Stark/Iron Man and Dr. Stephen Strange. The MCU started off on the right foot with a terrific adaptation of Iron Man to the big, silvered screen and continues that tradition with this week’s entry Doctor Strange.
Stephen Strange is an arrogant, brilliant, surgeon and when his life is turned upside down by a cruel twist of fate and he loses that which he cherished most he ends up on a voyage of self-discovery where he not only learns the value of things beyond self but becomes the Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme. The film is a competent and exciting addition to the MCU. If you enjoyed the other films in the sprawling saga of stories then you are likely to enjoy this one. If you are a fan of the character in particular then again this movie should work for you. Marvel is adapt at keeping the tone of their prosperities right where they need them. Serious enough that the stakes have weight but never forgetting to have fun along the way; a lesson WB and DC have yet to learn. This movie is an origin story but as the general public is unfamiliar with the ins and out of the Strange’s backstory I do not think that this is a misstep. It is presented in a established narrative fashion and perhaps they could have played with that a bit more. In a film where time itself proves to be fluid I think a non-linear approached might have been an interesting thematic take. That said, the straight forward narrative style works just as well.
One knock against the movie I have heard from different courses is that some people feel that Strange’s personal arc feels too much like a repetition of Tony Stark’s arc from the first Iron Man film; arrogant self-centered man suffers a tragic events, learns that his actions have consequences (or inaction in Strange’s part) and by the journey’s end he adopts the mantel of someone who cares about others. That’s fair as far as it goes but this arc is a well established story line, you could always look up Scrooge if you don’t believe me.
That brings be to the performances. Everyone did a good job, particularly Tilda Swinton taking a stereotyped role and giving it some life and depth, but the film either soars or falls flat on Cumberbatchs’s Strange. Just as with Robert Downey jr, Cumberbatch has tons of personal charisma and makes a character who could have been quite unlikeable one you truly care about. This is a very tricky thing for an actor to pull off. Stark, Strange, Scrooge, with all these characters if you don’t see beneath their surface and perceive a person capable of change and one you want to change, the story is going to fail. Either the change feels like it comes out of nowhere and for no reason or they never seemed that bad to begin with. Arrogant jerks are hard film characters to love and now Marvel, with excellent casting, has pulled it off twice. (Three times if you count Thor – but he struck me as immature more than jerk.)
This film is well worth the time for any Strange or Marvel fan.
