Stranger Things

Rating: 6/10 (17 December 2016)

Benedict Cumberbatch has made a name for himself by mispronouncing the word "penguins" and playing the asshole genius role in many a film and TV show. He's been Alan Turing, Julian Assange, Sherlock Holmes and Khan, but now Cumberbatch plays Stephen Strange... An asshole who is also a genius... Well if it ain't broke don't fix it am I right? Doctor Strange is a decent Marvel film that doesn't quite reach the ranks of other 2016 Marvel films Deadpool or Captain America, but at least it's better than X Men Apocalypse.
The film is overall well acted, Cumberbatch plays the type cast role as good as ever and works rather well together with Chiwetel Ejiofor. The two together provide theatrical level acting as if they were cast in a critically acclaimed dramatic stage production rather than a MCU film. The British duo are also joined by Rachel McAdams who does fine in this film as well as Tilda Swinton, who controversially plays the Ancient One. Although the Ancient One wasn't played by an Asian actor luckily Wong is. Played by the aptly named Benedict Wong this character was the best and most entertaining in my own personal opinion. Now, we know that every blockbuster film is often only as good as its villain. So that explains why this film felt average as Mads Mikkelsen's Kaecilius joins the ranks of pretty much every Marvel film villain... Pretty much you will forget about them fairly quickly. Be that as it may this is not down to Mikkelsen's performance at all but more the lack of things for him to work with.
Which leads onto the next point about the film itself perfectly. The film feels generic. The dialogue is typical of superhero films in which the fate of the world is at stake and some of the visual techniques are as well. The one scene in particular that screams the word unoriginal is the scene where Kaecilius and the Ancient One circle each other while they talk before fighting. The film is hard to pin down as I enjoyed its simplicity by being generic but it is also just too generic to the point of not bringing anything new besides kaleidoscope visuals to the table.
The film is visually beautiful with its kaleidoscope styled visual effects and its magic portals etcetera, but overall the film lacks originality and to an extent substance. Doctor Strange is an average Marvel film similar to the first Captain America film but nonetheless I'm intrigued to see what the MCU plans next for Stephen Strange... Maybe some more bargaining?