Visually Stunning but Formulaic

Rating: 7/10 (6 November 2016)

Dr. Strange is well-acted and visually stunning, but this adds to the frustrating experience of the film. Marvel has certainly found a formula that works, but that formula is all too apparent in this disappointing film. Intriguing - even meaningful - ideas and discussions about the nature of existence and human purpose are lost in a cacophony of special effects and tired tropes.
Early on Stephen Strange is told that the only way he will master the mystic arts is the same way he mastered the medical arts: years of study and practice. A few short days later he is winning battles against enemies that his masters have been unable to defeat.
The mystic ability to travel and channel energy through multiple dimensions of reality is reduced to the too often repeated effect of rolling visually reality from one perspective to another. The effect which appeared exciting in trailers was repeated over and over in the movie without ever being connected to the internal reality of the movie including the multiple dimensions that were so often mentioned and so little used.
In the end we are left with stunning visual effects supporting the tired trope of a neophyte showing that his "passion" is more significant than the experience and wisdom of his elders: the partially trained Jedi Luke Skywalker somehow defeats the greatest Sith Lords in history...again.