Solid and Really Enjoyable Marvel Flick

Rating: 7/10 (6 November 2016)

For the 14th movie in a franchhise, Doctor Strange feels like one of the more original movies in Marvel's catalogue, even if the plot is kind of paint-by-numbers. Cumberbatch and Swinton stand out among a great cast with no real weak links. Strange as a character seems like a cross between Tony Stark and Gregory House and Cumberbatch taps into that hybrid fantastically, to the point where he now seems like a Robert Downey jr in the sense that you can't imagine anyone else in this role.
Marvel is clearly getting weirder and the subject matter in this movie comes completely out of nowhere. Oddly, that never really bothered me as it doesn't really even feel like an MCU movie apart from the style of humor and occasional Avengers references.
The villain is, again, kind of weak in presentation. He is portrayed deftly enough but there just isn't enough meat on the character to chew on. And thats really my only real gripe about this otherwise amazing new chapter in Marvel. I can't wait to see where they take him from here.