Dr. Strange treads his "venerable" path with praise-worthy integrity

Rating: 9/10 (8 November 2016)

As a fan from the original comic book genre version, the Dr. Strange movie did not disappoint me. In fact, I presently think it's the best rendered Marvel comic-to-movie yet. You may recognize references to the Eye of Agamotto, The Living Tribunal, The Wand of Watombi, Dormammu and more. Wong, the original "man-servent" of the Ancient One, is here portrayed as a librarian and takes his place as a comrade, as does Mordo, who renounces the path afterwards, which is true to that character's original story arc. But it is Dr. Strange alone who travels the dimensions to confront Dormammu in the climax, fighting to save our world from the dark dimension, as frequently occurred in the original Stan Lee plot template.
Every aspect that moves this from flat, two dimensional comic book story to a slick, special effects, superhero movie is done with finesse and respect for the original story and an adult audience. The humor is always on point. Consider the "Cloak of Levitation," which was a plot contrivance from early on. It faded into being a mundane, yet integral part of the costume after years of the literature, but imagine the neophyte Strange struggling to control it. It actually has a life of it's own, with a fickle affection and it's own ability to kick ass.. in a comical way.. it is just a friggin piece of cloth. A sublime moment of humor arrives when Dr. Strange masters the cloak, pops his collar, and finally announces his character name properly. You see, he egotistically prides himself on his earned "Doctor" title. It is initially, repeatedly, and sometimes intentionally, misused as Mister Strange and even Doctor Mister, thwarting Cumberbatch's "must have" moment to announce his character (as in "Bond's the name, James Bond").
Yes, Dr. Strange, as well-known from his comic book origin story, was an arrogant, egotistical, self-absorbed, narcissistic etc, etc, surgeon (played with smarmy perfection by Cumberbatch, who also nailed it physically.) A tiny fault I would have with the plot is that, as Strange progressed beyond this persona, as would befit his evolution into "master of the mystic arts" he would still carry on as a smarmy deliverer of one liners far too far, yet always more laugh-worthy than inciting a groan. Also, hard to believe the self- absorbed famous surgeon would drive so recklessly to cause that automobile accident which precipitated his defining motivation to change his life and seek "The Ancient One."
Tilda Swinton nails it as "The Ancient One" (my other initial gripe.. The Ancient One was never no chick), helping Strange to overcome that worldly ego and to become a proper Master. Condensing about 10-years of Marvel real-time story plot, the "venerable" (they almost always invoked that adjective) Ancient One passes. This was a devastating development in my comic book world, but now a necessary plot contrivance for a movie that must sell the franchise in less than two hours. This does not mean we won't see The (transcended and apparently trans-gendered) Ancient One elsewhere since the Marvel Universe has now officially extended beyond life and death and time.
If you're like me you may have even shed a tear as Stephen Strange makes his pivotal life-choice. He can have the healed surgeon's hands of his quest and return to his normal life as a celebrated surgeon with his nice, and loyal, and fairly tolerant surgeon- girlfriend or he can toil in unacknowledged glory defending the entire world and various other swaths of reality, battling evil in alternate harrowing dimensions. It is the well-worn Buddhist and Christian path of renunciation, but that is not mentioned nor is it important to feeling the poignancy of his choice, as he appears in astral form to guide his girlfriend into saving his life on the surgery table, only to rise from death and tell her, "sorry babe, I got to go."
Conjecture with me as Dr. Strange got conceived in the early sixties with Stan Lee, kicking it in the Marvel offices with artist, Steve Ditko (R.I.P.). Gangly Stan would have his feet slung up on the desk, the lone creative writer for "the Mighty Marvel house of ideas," spinning out stories like a spiderman's web into a handful of pulp literature titles by each one's demanding monthly or bi- monthly deadline. He turns on Ditko and proclaims, "Hey, howzabout a new comic superhero using magic powers." (This was not a highly original notion and DC comics had "Dr. Fate" way back in the "Golden Age" as part of "The Justice Society," a precursor to "The Justice League of America." Some of those Justice Society characters made appearances in the DC movie, "The Watchmen.".. but I digress). And then Steve Ditko would have told Stan, "Let me see what I can do for this magic guy's illustration."
I have noticed a historical precedent in many great comic book origin stories that the artist earns equal credit with the writer (perhaps due to costume design and other character features being extra-significant to graphic media ?) So I wonder, and it's probably easily answered, if Steve Ditko's artwork wasn't a great contributing inspiration to crafting their magic-powered super-guy into an awesome dimension-hopping avatar. The Dr. Strange comic magazines were always visually stunning. Early stories would include references to astral projection, ectoplasmic forms, and spells, which gave the feel of a bonafide venture into mystic and occult possibilities. Mr. Lee always "did his homework" out of respect for the intelligence of his readers, and he garnered legions, young and old alike.
This is what made Dr. Strange so appealing. All comic book stories stimulate the imagination and tell epic tales of heroism and good vs. evil, but Dr. Strange was out to mess with your mind and extend the boundaries of your reality. I would say of the movie as well, "Mission Accomplished."