DAVID ADAMS watches Doctor Strange…
Doctor Strange (M)
In a word: Surreal
Hollywood’s love for eastern mysticism comes to fore in the latest film set in the Marvel Universe.
A stand-alone “origin” film directed by Scott Derrickson, the plot follows the story of arrogant neurosurgeon Dr Stephen Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) whose belief that the normal rules don’t apply to one so talented leads to a terrible accident which maims his hands, the key to his success.
Having spent his fortune trying to heal his damaged hands, like Batman before him (remember Batman Begins?), he ends up in the far east (Kathmandu) in search of a mysterious organisation in the hope that they possess powers which he can employ to do so.
It’s there that the sceptical Dr Strange meets The Ancient One (played by a bald-headed Tilda Swinton) who, along with her cohorts Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Wong (Benedict Wong), introduces him to a way of life centred on a spiritual world in which yet another group of guardians (that is, not the Avengers) ensure the world is protected from the powerful evil spiritual entity known as Dormammu.
Cue the increasingly powerful Dr Strange (along with his trusty ‘cloak of levitation’) and his new colleagues confronting this evil being in order to defend the world from obliteration.
No doubt about it, Marvel must have a challenging time coming up with a new bad guy for each film (this is, after all, the 14th in the franchise) and so this time they’ve set the ultimate battle between good and evil (or strange and evil) in a different plane of reality. This does seem a bit of a stretch, especially when, given the power of this evil being, this is, to my knowledge, the first time we’ve encountered him in the franchise. But, hey, maybe I’m overthinking it!
Be warned – there’s lots of emphasis on the spiritual here and much talk of practices like astral projection (although while some Christians may not want to engage because of the depiction of such practices, it is worth noting that for others, the film could provide a point of engagement or open some conversations; at the very least it brings up the idea of a ‘spiritual’ world beyond this one).
It is a visually impressive film (but would have been even more so, had we not already encountered folding cityscapes in Inception). There are also some solid acting creds on display here including by Cumberbatch, Swinton and Mads Mikkelsen (playing initiate-gone-rogue Kaecilius) as well as Rachel McAdams (although McAdams, who plays Dr Strange’s apparently unflappable colleague Christine Palmer, isn’t really stretched too far in the role).
Doctor Strange is a divertingly bizarre and at times humourous movie, albeit heavy-handed in its promotion of eastern mysticism. But how well the now all-powerful Dr Strange, given he’s fighting on a different plane, merges into the rest of the Marvel milieu remains to be seen.
