Marvel opens its eyes, not its mind

Rating: 8/10 (10 November 2016)

I'm a big fan of Marvel's formula. Apart from The Incredible Hulk and perhaps Iron Man 2, they've found a winning mix of comedy and spectacle that fits an almost perfect template - story progression, character development, universe building, humour and action. Each film hits all of these points to a greater or lesser degree, and each works on similar terms. None of them are too dark, or too silly (although Ant Man almost falls down on the latter measure), while each is unique enough in its own right.
Spectacle has frequently been where the films have fallen down, and increasingly so as audiences become attuned to the final act carnage that always, always has to end each installment. You can almost see the cogs turning inside Kevin Feige's and each creative team's minds as the series goes on. Big city collapsing? Done. Big city flying and collapsing? Done. Small town being wrecked? Done. Small house being wrecked? Done.
Doctor Strange tells a familiar origin story with a mystical edge, and peppers the cast with so many first rate actors that the inherent silliness of much of the dialogue should pass mostly without annoying an audience not raised on Marvel comics. Humour is a big part of this, and Cumberbatch and Wong in particular have a huge amount of fun entoning the names of Lovecraftian staffs and capes and helmets.
These films are formulaic however, and necessarily so, and that can leave the uninitiated cold. What makes up for the unoriginality of the themes (and some of the action) is the hard work that has gone into realising the mystical world of Doctor Strange. The much discussed first 'trip' into the multiverse is as mind-melting as anything in most art-house cinema, calling to mind The Matrix, Yellow Submarine, Videodrome and Inception all at the same time. It's a bravura sequence that acts as the single unique element of an otherwise by-numbers romp.
Sidenote...
DC seem unable to recreate their own, darker model for their universe. The question of why is much discussed. It's not for the lack of technical and artistic talent being poured into making each picture look good enough. You get the feeling that the messages coming from the very top of their production team are confusing, and while Marvel keeps picking winning, off-the-wall choices to Direct (Derrickson does a perfectly passable job here, and with some brilliant visual touches), DC just keeps picking duds. Either that or there's too much interference from Corporate.