One of the Better, though not the best Marvel film

Rating: 8/10 (25 October 2016)

Right lets get to the Elephant in the room. Tilda Swinton isn't Asian (in the comic the character comes from (Kamar-Taj (Near Tibet)) (In the film they say she is Gaelic). Doctor Strange is an American comic, created by Americans and the film is funded by an American studio, so I don't particularly care that the film is catered for an American/European audience. I also don't care that Baron Mordo is played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, when the character was originally white coming from Transylvania. What I care about is the performances and I will get to that in a while.
Right now we have got that out of the way, lets get on with the review. Doctor Strange is one of the most interesting characters from the Marvel universe and generally Marvel studio's had done a very good job bringing the character to the big screen.
Story, Direction, Cinematography and effects The film isn't particularly ground breaking and Doctor Stranges ark isn't something not seen in many of the Marvel films and doesn't hold too many surprises. The script is generally good, though I would say the villains are under written and they lack much dialogue and character. Whilst the villains are under written the opposite is true for the heroes, with some really great dialogue for Cumberbatch and Swinton (more on performance below). Marvel are very good at getting the tone of the film right, between humour and seriousness and again they succeed with this film, there are several laugh out load moments, less than Guardians of the Galaxy but enough to be enjoyable. The serious moments have enough gravitas to forward the story line and make you wonder if everything is what it seems.
Director Scott Derrickson does a good job of directing and Ben Davis's cinematography is great. Doctor Strange is very much an effects film and it must be very hard to do the cinematography for a film like this. The effects are very important to this film and generally they are very good. I watched the film in 2D but I did get the feeling they were designed for 3D, this can feel like a conflict of interest and does lose something in translation unfortunately but even then it doesn't hugely harm the film.
Acting Benedict Cumberbatch has done a good job bringing Doctor Strange to the screen. Doctor Strange is not a simple character and Benedict manages to show both the good and the bad without making him unlikable. The character does go through an obvious ark through the film.
Tilda Swindon is a great actress and for me and she lights up the screen when ever she is in a scene. She really inhabits the character and gives a great performance.
Chiwetel Ejiofor, again another very fine actor and to begin with he is very good but as the film goes on, he isn't given quite enough to convince of his final position in the film, which is a real pity.
Benedict Wong is great fun in the film (when he is in the film) and is in much of the comic relief (though not the butt of).
Rachel McAdams is OK but she isn't given a huge amount to do beyond the first act.
Mads Mikkelsen unfortunately isn't given enough to really bring his character to life, which is a shame, the character is a little understated, which is a pity as he is another exceptional actor but Marvel often don't quite get their villains right and unfortunately, this is the case in Doctor Strange.
Scott Adkins has been doing some good work in a lot of roles, often playing the main henchman is big movies (though he has stared in a few films). Unfortunately, the character is completely under developed and could have been built much better. What he does bring is his martial art skills, which whilst again being slightly wasted are used enough to create a good action scene in the film.
As for the other henchmen/woman again they are very under developed and it just feels like they are the to be taken down by the protagonist.
Score and sound design.
The score goes through various moments but ultimately there was something that bugged me, with it which I only realised towards the end. It has been done by Michael Giacchino who also did the modern Star Trek films and the riffs of the film are very similar (its similar to the way James Horner scored Battle Beyond the Stars and then did a similar version for Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (though I much prefer Horner's score over Giacchino)). This is not to say that that Giacchino score is bad, it isn't it matches scenes well and there is some good stuff, I just wish there was more original sounding stuff.
The rest of the sound design works really well giving an epic feel Conclusion I really enjoyed Doctor Strange despite its problems and I would be tempted to go and see it in 3D just for the effects. At the heart of the film are the strong performances of Cumberbatch and Swinton and they make the film worth watching on its own. I don't think it is Marvel's best film but it is a good entry and does enough to make it fun and interesting.