One of the most action packed films of the MCU.

Rating: 7/10 (25 October 2016)

2016 has been a mixed bag on the whole for the superhero genre.
Despite the noticeable potential, both DC blockbusters 'Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice' and 'Suicide Squad' did not seem to live up to the hype with the majority. As for Marvel, it's been pretty good. It started back in February where Deadpool became more of a success then anyone could ever have imagined. It is now high up in many peoples films of the year lists. Then we had 'Captain America: Civil War', which was another very good installment from not just the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the Captain America franchise. Then in the summer we had 'X-Men: Apocalypse'. It had mixed reviews, with the majority being satisfied with it.
Now we go into new territory for Marvel Studios with Doctor Strange. The last time they went for source material that sounded pretty odd on paper was Guardians Of The Galaxy, and director James Gunn and his team gave us one of the best reviewed and most loved films within the genre.
The stellar cast and marketing certainly had many people thinking this had potential to be up there with the best. It certainly is one of the most entertaining and is a welcomed addition to the MCU.
The one element that people were most nervous about is that would the mythology work on screen to fit into other Marvel movies. Yes there is a lot of mythology, and I certainly got swept away with it. I understood it by the end of it, it got me excited when certain things were happening and it made me think how the other Marvel superheroes would cope with the mystical power of Doctor Strange.
With the film going into magic effectively, it will be hard for some people to take it seriously. I can confidently say that the cast and crew certainly knew when to take it seriously and inject some fun into it. That will be a big reason for this to be a big success in the box office and with the critics.
The cast is probably the most high-calibre Marvel have ever conjured up, and they did a good job. Benedict Cumberbatch was the perfect choice for Dr. Stephen Strange. You believed his origin story and transformation. He IS Dr. Strange. Tilda Swinton was terrific was The Ancient One. I am big fan of her work and she definitely brought it in this one. Sadly, there were moments where I was confused as to why her character was not there. But that is the fault in the departments. Chiwitel Ejiofor and Rachel McAdams were serviceable as the main supporting roles. Benedict Wong also had great comedic relief when needed. The big question in any Marvel movie recently, is if the villain will be a memorable one. While Mads Mikkelsen's character was certainly not the worst, it still was not a strong one.
The strongest parts of the film for me were the action and the visual effects. The action is certainly some of the best in the MCU and in all of Marvel's films. They make great use of the abilities are characters had, and it had moments that even Christopher Nolan would have liked to have used in Inception. I loved those moments as I consider that film to be perfect. The imagery that the visual effects used was mind-blowing and really messed with your mind at times. The fantastic opening scene and use of visual effects will certainly give you a taste of what is to come.
The only stopping me from giving a very good rating is the writing and story development. While it is perfectly fine and serviceable, it is nothing exceptional. The writing was nothing to shout about, and the story development felt the standard Marvel structure that I have seen with many of their features.
That being said, there is lots to enjoy and I had a lot of fun with this. The action and visual effects is some of the best from this studio. A lot of the acting was great and helped the source material make sense to the mainstream audience. Another thing that worked like all Marvel films do, is the comedy. There are some good laugh- out- loud moments that are all well executed, and never felt forced or out of place.
Another usual thing with Marvel films is the credits scenes. In this particular one, there is both a mid and post credits scene. The mid- credits scene is a cool idea, but I felt the execution of it pretty much felt like an spoon-feeding moment to tell everyone what is coming up next. The post-credits scene was better executed and was a nice tease to see which path the next Doctor Strange installment might go down.
Rating: 7/10