I just got back from seeing a Wednesday night sneak preview.

Rating: 9/10 (3 November 2016)

And I have to admit...it was pretty impressive.
Let me start the requisite elaboration by stating that I am one of the few who will willingly admit that I not only clearly remember the 1978 TV-movie with Peter Hooten in the title role and the late, great Sir John Mills as the Ancient One (aka "Thomas Lindmer"). I also thoroughly enjoyed it. So much so, in fact, that any on-line Marvel movie pastiche I read that mentioned the good doctor automatically had me picturing Mr. Hooten as him!
Well! It took them thirty-eight years. But, Marvel and Hollywood finally found someone who can measure up to Mr. Hooten: Benedict Cumberbatch. Better known to BBC America fans as "Sherlock" (the original inspiration for CBS' ELEMENTARY).
His portrayal of Stephen Strange is a little more faithful to the Silver Age origin story by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. As in; a highly successful surgeon whose brilliance is only eclipsed by his narcissism. Only to lose his ability to perform delicate life-saving operations because of nerve damage to his hands resulting from a car wreck. The only difference being that he is not reduced to Tony Stark-level drunkenness in a waterfront bar when he hears about the Ancient One (by eavesdropping on a nearby merchant sailor).
Another difference from the comic book origin is that the Ancient One's sanctum is not some underground hermitage magically carved out of a Himalayan ice cave. Instead, it's a Buddhist-like temple in the modern Nepalese city of Kathmandu. And, where comic book Mordo was an unscrupulous, power-hungry Transylvanian baron, in this movie he's Afro- European (possibly half-Romanian/half-Ugandan?). With the initially same unconditional belief in the Ancient One that Obi-wan Kenobi had in Anakin Skywalker!
As to the Ancient One, "himself?" Instead of being portrayed as an elderly male Korean mage, he is portrayed by English actress Tilda Swinton (who did such a masterful job playing the androgynous archangel Gabriel opposite Keanu Reeves as DC's CONSTANTINE). While Rachel MacAdams plays Dr. Christine Palmer. A character originally published in a 1970's Marvel comic called NIGHT NURSE!
It's not for these mild departures, however, that I'm only giving this movie nine stars instead of a perfect ten. Nor is the deduction based on lack of decent good-vs-evil action. Rather, it's the visual effects used to depict the gigantic face of Dormammu (Dr. Strange's arch-enemy). In the comics, he's always drawn with a head of flickering flame and pupil-less eyes. As if he were the love-child of the Human Torch and Little Orphan Annie!
In this film, though, his eyes not only had pupils. His whole head looked more like a giant hologram of the Red Skull's face! That might be a lot more sophisticated than the Nameless One of the TV-movie (who, in 1978, looked more like a Ray Harryhausen animation). But, more sophisticated doesn't always equal better...as any disappointed fan of the 1997 re-release of the original STAR WARS trilogy can vouch for!
All that being said, however? I would still recommend that everyone who enjoys the good doctor's comic book adventures should go see this movie a.s.a.p. Because I was most definitely _not_ disappointed in it. And, believe me; if I had been? This review would have been twice as long-winded in my expression of that disappointment!
So, let the Winds of Watoomb whisk you to your nearest multiplex without further delay.