Strangely Hypnotic

Rating: 9/10 (8 November 2016)

Dr. Strange (RATING: ☆☆☆☆½ out of 5) THIS FILM IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. IN BRIEF: Stunning visuals elevate a good film to an excellent one. GRADE: B+ SYNOPSIS: After a serious accident, an arrogant surgeon discovers a much greater power on his road to recovery. JIM'S REVIEW: Trippy! Far-out! Rad! Cool, dude! These dated expressions of awe serve a purpose in describing the latest heady concoction known from the Marvel factory, Dr. Strange. Fate creates the man...the man being Dr. Stephen Strange (played to the hilt by Benjamin Cumberbatch). Strange is an egotistical gifted surgeon who befalls a serious car accident and seeks help on a more mystical bent. Traveling to Nepal he meets Mordo, a trusty guide on his road to find out. (Chiwetel Ejiofor, another talented actor who deserves a more challenging role but still offers much class to his role.) Our hero eventually connects with The Ancient One (a racially miscast but quite enjoyable Tilda Swinton) for enlightenment of the mystic kind. This oracle shows him the ins and outs of magic and healing while imparting him superpowers and mind-game control (plus a nifty Cloak of Levitation) to fight evil forces (with the help of terrific state-of-the-art CGI). Our superhero's journey to self-discovery takes over the majority of the screen time before he does fly into kung-fu combat, as most Marvel heroes do, following the formula of most action fantasies. His nemesis is a worthy villain, Kaecilius (nicely played by Mads Mikkelsen), a convert of The Ancient One who has conveniently gone off to the dark side. The screenplay by C. Robert Cargill, Jon Spaihts, and the director tries to keep predictability at a minimum and doesn't always succeed, but he does develop his characters well with enough depth without sacrificing the adrenaline rush that we has been accustomed to expect from this genre. While the film is continually creative and imaginative, it lacks some originality in its story and visuals, owing other sci-fi predecessors, specifically The Matrix Trilogy and Inception, big time, but director Scott Derrickson masters his film's visuals astutely. There is much eye-candy to behold and the action is non-stop thrilling. Probably no more spectacular than a memorable soon-to-be-classic set piece involving mirror images and buildings that effortlessly folding under each other. This phantasmagorical origami lesson is a kaleidoscopic marvel of CGI inventiveness. (M.C. Escher would be proud of this visual op art of suspended architecture and other worldly structures on the move. Even Hieronymus Bosch would smile wryly at the surrealism hinted at elsewhere on display. The look of the film is truly a thing of beauty. (See this movie in the IMAX 3-D format, if possible, for total immersion.) Benedict Wong and Rachel MacAdams offer fine support in minor roles. But it is the strong production values that had this moviegoer transfixed throughout this blockbuster pop entertainment spectacle. The film is a remarkable technological achievement, a instant classic and one of the best comic book superhero films ever. It wisely allows strong character development, a clever narrative, and stunning action sequences to merge effortlessly. Marvel Studio's Dr. Strange does live up to its moniker. It is just that...strangely hypnotic and a visceral marvel. Go see it.