Visually stunning movie that still sticks to the Marvel formula

Rating: 6/10 (11 November 2016)

Doctor Strange is different than most superhero movies through its intricate subject and mindboggling visuals; however the movie fails to overcome its reputation as "just another superhero movie in the Marvel universe".
But before I discuss that, let me explain why the movie still makes the top 3 of best Marvel movies (because I do think that Marvel has the ability to create entertaining movies). To begin with, the visual style of "Doctor Strange" was epic. It had something Inception-esque to it. This aspect really brought something different to the universe and made the cinematic experience for the audience phenomenal. I think this is the movie's biggest strength. On a further note, the 3-D effects worked very well. I was very skeptical of watching Doctor Strange in 3-D because usually movies do not tend to use the full potential of this technology, but to my surprise it was far better than I expected and there were some cool scenes in which the 3-D was used perfectly.
I loved Benedict Cumberbatch. He performed his role in a brilliant manner and was definitely key to the success of this film. I don't want to spoil too much, but I can assure you that he nailed his role and the casting choice was brilliant.
Furthermore, I was really surprised by the movie's score. Marvel isn't popular for their use of music, but in Doctor Strange it's different. This gives the movie a certain "uniqueness". I loved it. However, I have a couple of negative aspects to mention. Let's start with the story. For me, the exposition was too long. Origin stories can be a lot of fun, but for my taste they spent too much time explaining Doctor Strange's background. I was also unimpressed by the inciting incident which seemed a bit too random to me.
Many people keep saying that Marvel solved the "bad villain problem". I disagree. The villain in Doctor Strange was yet another underdeveloped cliché enemy without clear intentions. (Mads Mikkelsen with a good performance though)
Although the fighting scenes were very amusing and looked spectacular, they became repetitive after some time.
To sum it up, Doctor Strange is a visually terrific movie, but still sticks too much to Marvel's formula by using a lot of funny one- liners, stiffly following the same plot patterns and spending less time to explore the depth of the villain. A lot of potential was wasted. But then again, it was finally something different and new compared to the usual superhero movies. "Doctor Strange" might not be a revolutionary movie in the industry, but it set its mark as a rather experimental superhero movie in the Marvel universe and perhaps might influence future projects. 7/10