I was relieved when the rushed, stiff and cliche Batman Begins-lite, Eat Pray Love opening of Doctor Strange...

Rating: 6/10 (18 February 2020)

...gave way to a joyous, refreshingly creative, kinetic visual treat with some superb flourishes of VFX and some snappy dialogue moments even if they are all lifted from the How-To Guide for Marvel Superhero Movies(tm).
The (highly underrated) Scott Derrickson, director of modern horror masterpiece, Sinister, shoots confidently, and despite the palpably brisk pace hopping over lots of obvious scene trimmings; the film moves from whizz-bang locale to genuinely interesting introspective scenes with aplomb.
Derrickson knows how to take and distill the influences of comic books and videogames and build something less like Inception, and more like Ninja Theory's DMC game; fight scenes take place in the mirror world; a beautiful kaleidoscope of flowers and rocks and exploding, bleeding plateaus like an Arkham City battle arena. Weapons imbued with magic and a cape to rival Aladdin's Carpet (sure to be used more in the next instalment) all of them designed straight from sub-culture inspirations like Final Fantasy. That stop-motion-esque scene with that apple is bloody fantastic.
The sparse but excellent cast and the very clearly defined globetrotting locations mean that the film can look rich and uniquely designed with tremedous costume and make-up work, great lore and contained moments without inflating the budget. It's a smart move, worked on by talented collaborative team in the early stages with the freedom to create something cohesive.
When Strange uses time to defeat a timeless being it's a little bit clever, a lot bit beautiful and pleasurable on the whole. Unlike recent blockbusters (I'm looking at you Ghost in the Shell) the themes are seeded well, consistent and clear and the film doesn't rely on crappy opening descriptive text for idiots or stupid generic ending voice over to cap it off because of confusion.
The only disappointing beat is Chiwetel Ejiofor's unearned and misguided post-credits turn to the dark side. But that said, Doctor Strange is the little film that could; like Iron Man and Thor before it. Let's just hope the same team can build upon the foundations and expand all of the little moments and doesn't end up an Iron Man 2 or a Thor Dark World.