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Doctor Strange poster

CAST
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH
SCOTT ADKINS
BENJAMIN BRATT
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR
RACHEL McADAMS
MADS MIKKELSEN
MICHAEL STUHLBARG
TILDA SWINTON
BENEDICT WONG

BASED ON THE MARVEL COMICS CHARACTER CREATED BY
STEVE DITKO

SCREENPLAY BY
C. ROBERT CARGILL
SCOTT DERRICKSON
JON SPAIHTS

PRODUCED BY
KEVIN FEIGE

DIRECTED BY
SCOTT DERRICKSON

GENRE
ACTION
ADVENTURE
FANTASY

RATED
AUS:M
UK:12A
USA:PG-13

RUNNING TIME
115 MIN

DOCTOR STRANGE (2016)

A superhero movie for true believers, Doctor Strange is the right kind of alternative blockbuster to balance the Marvel Studios canon, thanks to director Scott Derrickson’s masterful handle on spiritual themes and the blockbuster aesthetic.

With minor exceptions, superhero movies belong very much in the sci-fi world. Super powered aliens (Man of Steel), billionaire inventors turned avenging heroes (Iron Man), and rag-tag space warriors (Guardians of the Galaxy) all feature in films that relate more to Star Trek then, say, Star Wars. Yet there is an alternate to the norm: heroes that defend the spiritual plane (or fight evil entities who come from it). Ghost Rider and Constantine delve into such territory, but neither of those touches the quality and spectacle that is Doctor Strange, one of Marvel Comics most enduring and cultish titles that under the direction of Scott Derrickson (Sinister) is now also one of Marvel’s best movie adaptations.

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A brilliantly cast Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Dr. Stephen Strange, a neurosurgeon whose almost supernatural handle of the scalpel and keen intellect is matched by an ego that allows no alternate viewpoint. When a near-fatal car accident robs him of his ability to practice medicine, Strange exhaustive search for a logical, medical cure leads him to reach outside his limited scope and to the Himalayas where “miracles” are supposedly ready and available.

It is at this point where Derrickson really shines through as a genre filmmaker with a strong religious pulse, as Strange encounters the mysterious Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) who impressively and rather cheekily dismantles Strange’s sceptic front with a keen demonstration of the spiritual realm, Derrickson utilising spectacular VFX to whisk Benedict’s Strange around dimensions paralleled, upside down and otherwise. It’s one of many impressive visual treats throughout the film that in style and context differentiates itself from other superhero movies.

Strange of course becomes a convert to the “mystic arts” which he excels at through his intellect and determination. Soon he is placed in a battle of good v evil, when a former student of the Ancient One, Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) decides to use his powers to conjure the end of the world. Of course, such high-stakes-armageddon-awaits dross is featured in almost every superhero movie, yet Derrickson heandles it with the right kind of tact and urgency. Even the obligatory destruction of (insert city name) feels fresh, and, well, meaningful.

Cumberbatch is especially good as a man of great ego and stubbornness adjusting with his world literally turned upside down in front of his eyes. Superhero stories typically deal with transformation both physical and psychological, yet rare is a spiritual conversion in play. The “fantastic” is always an element to these kinds of movies, and Derrickson brings some depth to that element through the use of stakes that are not only felt in the environment of these characters, but within them.

As a result, the scenes where Cumberbatch and Swinton discuss the nature of the tools used to master their “spiritual weaponry” (key among them that of faith) in the eternal fight between good and evil is just as engrossing as the spectacular imagery, and hasn’t been so keenly felt since the days of Obi-Wan Kinobi teaching young Luke Skywalker about the power of “the Force” in Star Wars.

Doctor Strange isn’t high level theology, yet for a superhero movie it brings much in the way of tasty popcorn spirituality to match it’s brilliant filmmaking.

****

 

AVAILABLE ON DVD, BLU-RAY & DIGITAL!

 

 

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