"You're a man looking at the world through a keyhole. You've spent your life trying to widen it."

Rating: 8/10 (1 May 2017)

Recently I think people have forgotten why we go out of our way to see a film in theaters. To me it's to experience something unique, entertaining, just to have fun. Almost every studio these days, it's all about the NEXT film, the bigger and better film. With Doctor Strange it comes to a new level, it's got flare, originality and that's why I think it's above most comic book films.
Don't get me wrong I adore the team films and I love sequels but one day for me they'll get boring, that's why we need films like Ant-Man and Doctor Strange to show we can have original concepts yet still strive in a larger universe. The greatness of the film of course comes from it's ability to have an excellent story and it's visual storytelling to be through the roof.
Let me first say that in my opinion Benedict Cumberbatch is a superb actor who gives an outstanding performance as Dr. Strange, who at times is an ass but at the same time he's able to portray him as sympathetic. He allows his character to "consume" him and gives his whole which shows and results in him becoming one of my favorite characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Despite the lack of her in the first half Rachel McAdams also gives a great performance outside her usual rom-com roles. She wasn't one of those defenseless love interests, she had a part to play and I love that. All three of the mystic team; Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, and Tilda Swinton, as the infamous "Ancient One" are all fantastic in their own rights as well. Mads Mikkelsen, oh my god, he is so good in this. I've seen him in close to nothing and now I want to watch every things he's in.
Scott Derrickson, who I've never seen a film from, manages to have all these components put together beautifully and uses slick and smooth direction to enhance the experience and result in a hell-of-a ride. His pairing with the best cinematography I've seen all year result in the most beautiful looking film all year. Okay but seriously Doctor Strange has the best visuals I've seen in along time. It's just oozes magnitude. I was in shock and in awe for every sequence, my eyes were glued to the screen and I was so happy for that.
Although it follows the mainstream marvel origin story, Doctor Strange still manages to not feel like every other superhero movie. Of all the Marvel Studios' origin story's like Iron Man and Thor thankfully Doctor Strange is in the top tier. I'm really excited to see where the MCU takes this character because he has a lot of potential and had a great start here.