Quite Normal Really
Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) has made a name for himself by being a brilliant neurosurgeon, partly by having expert skills but also by picking only the patients he knows he can help. But his world comes crashing down when following a major car crash he wakes up in hospital, post surgery, to see that his hands shake and that he suffered major nerve damage. Desperate to cure himself Stephen's strange quest leads him out of the USA and to Katmandu where he is introduced to The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) an a world of mysticism, magic and alternate dimensions which is in trouble due to the evil Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) stealing spells from The Ancient One's personal library.
As a movie fan and reviewer I often look at another, more popular movie website and I don't think I have come across a single Marvel movie, at least from the recent batch, which has not been rated 7 out of 10 or higher. And I guess the producers of these movies must not only be happy but also be doing something right as they are clearly delivering what their target audience want. But I have to be honest and say I don't rate these movies as highly as others and as such whilst I enjoyed "Doctor Strange" the end result is not a movie I feel desperate to watch again or own.
Here is the reason why; beyond two things the movie comes up short. Let me expand; firstly Benedict Cumberbatch certainly makes Dr. Stephen Strange an entertaining character with a real sense of ego. At the same time "Doctor Strange" is filled and over flowing with special effects which are simply quite staggering, in fact the visual nature of the movie is so elevated to another level that I find myself in the realms of the Happy Mondays as I say it twists your melon man. But beyond the entertainment of the confident Dr. Strange and the out of this world special effects the story left me wanting and it was a case that I would say 90% of "Doctor Strange" was about the look rather than what.
What this all boils down to is that I can appreciate why fans of Marvel movies loved "Doctor Strange" but for me this movie was lacking the narrative depth to cause me to want to watch again to make sure I hadn't missed something.
