Marvel succeeds again

Rating: Null/10 (31 October 2016)

It's strange but Marvel Comics seems to be able to provide an endless run of new characters for movie outings and a succession of successful screen adaptations, while DC Comics struggles to move beyond Superman and Batman and does not always score highly with its cinematic adventures.
The latest Marvel character to hit the big screen is the lesser-known American Doctor Stephen Strange, played with aplomb by British actor Bendict Cumberbatch, and we are presented with an origin story that explains who he was before he became a super- hero and how he acquired his extraordinary powers. It's clear that Strange will be back on our screens because we have two extra clips, one early on in the credits and another at the very, very end of the credits.
The story-line is pure hokum with characters like The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton at her androgynous best) and an evil one called Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen as a baddie yet again) and much talk of The Astral Dimension, The Dark Dimension and The Mirror Dimension plus copious references to energy. As The Ancient One explains: "Through the mystic arts, we harness energy and shape reality". Yeh, right ...
Yet the whole thing zips along with great gusto and is leavened with some humour both visual (such as a Cloak of Levitation with a mind of its own) and verbal (such as a reference to a WiFi password). Above all, it looks wonderful with shape-shifting buildings and cities that put the beginning of "Inception" in the shade and frequent rides into the edges of our universe and apparently the centres of other universes. The special effects are impressive and, if you like 3D (I don't), you will probably want to take your glasses along.