It's more of the same unfortunately

Rating: 6/10 (29 November 2016)

They say you're supposed to review in a magical vacuum, but that's impossible. The way I feel about things are influenced by all the other things I've experienced in my life, and I can't ride into a land of objectivity and no context, nor would I particularly want to. With that said, the fact that I've seen most of the Marvel movies already, as well as some of the DC ones and numbers untold of other generic Hollywood action films, makes it really difficult for me to find anything new or interesting with Doctor Strange. It's true that Cumberbatch does more with this role than anyone could have reasonably expected him to. It's actually a terribly-written character, yet he manages to inject likability into an utterly unlikable person who, played by anyone else, would have been completely insufferable. This is because he's an excellent actor, far too cool and interesting for a movie like this, which is neither of those things. Swinton also is far too cool and interesting for this movie. Her performance was in my opinion the best aspect of the film; she too managed to take an inherently uninteresting, uninspired character and make it somehow riveting. At least until they killed her.
I'm just tired of giving Marvel movies a pass when they're so formulaic, generically-written, and genuinely uninspired. The 6 I gave this is entirely because Cumberbatch and Swinton are so blisteringly excellent. Otherwise, Doctor Strange is more of the same.