Doctor Strange

I'll admit I didn't have much faith in this movie. Mysticism and stuff like that passes me by, Benedict Cumberbatch is starting to bore me, and I wasn't that interested in another origin stry, but Doctor Strange surprised me. Very pleasantly. Cumberbatch fits the role perfectly, and even though he practically never leaves the screen, he's great as the arrogant doctor, the broken man, and ultimately the superhero. And thanks to him, you don’t even mind the classically understated villain so much, and this time the other characters played by Mads Mikkelsen and Chiwetel Ejiofor deserve more space. But the main star this time is without a doubt Scott Derrickson, who managed to turn the film into an audiovisual orgy (OK, Michael Giacchino's music helps him a lot) and make each action scene different from the previous one. Only towards the end it was maybe a bit too much. Doctor Strange is again a step in a slightly different direction and into places the other Marvel movies didn't even venture. And it works, again, and if Stephen Strange is going to replace Tony Stark as the leader of the entire MCU, I'm not worried about the future of the brand. The character and his representative are up to it without a shadow of a doubt. (15/05/2017)

For a while it looks like an advanced version of Batman Begins, followed by a certain touch of Inception, and it ends very awkwardly, like every Marvel flick where the world is saved, at least until the sequel. Thumbs up that this time they are not destroying skyscrapers, or even entire cities, and are doing it smartly, through casual humour. One cannot but praise the casting and the dynamic music of Giacchino, who has done these fast-paced compositions quite successfully a few times before. The juiciest, however, is definitely Benedict Cumberbatch's character. I don't mean the slightly clichéd transformation into a saviour, but especially in the first half his arrogant and self-centred doctor is very entertaining and wholesome. An alternative, lighter, less bellicose addition to the comic universe, something similar to what Ant Man attempted. (18/02/2017)

Maybe I was radiating excessive expectations about this comic book movie that is trying to be different at first sight. What a disappointment it was to me when I realized that not even Benedict Cumberbatch can save a comic book movie that is an absolutely standard comic book movie and that on top of that calls for some pretty strange animations, which were evidently borrowed from the movie Inception. But where I saw the bending of the plane as an original intention, here I see that everything is just a sad effect that is trying to turn the movie into something more than it actually is. It’s a pity. He could have been a unique superhero who has the best catchphrases. But, unfortunately, even Iron Man is cooler than Doctor Strange. (07/02/2017)

The refuted skepticism that this cinematic sect has nothing more to offer doesn't make me scream with excitement. This is because the Doctor becomes a magician as if by a magic wand being used, and he also loses a lot in contact fights (despite Adkins' presence), and the villains didn’t have to be so generic. Yet there hasn't been a comic book movie this light-footed in years. It made do with a focused creator and a willingness to come up with a novel protagonist who, once integrated into the team-up game, for whom I don't predict a brighter future, even if Cumberbatch pulls charisma in from every dimension. (31/10/2016)

I’ve switched several times between three and four stars, and maybe not for the last time. Doctor Strange is a nice and fun comic-book ride that stands out mostly with its visuals; the way they bend reality is beautiful to watch. It’s very playful and clever, and those scenes have so many moving parts that if I tried to visualise something like that in my head, my brain would jump out of it. But other than that, it’s your classic Marvel flick with a lacklustre villain. Don’t they have anyone interesting in their whole universe, other than Loki? It’s pathetic already. And Ejiofor won’t pull it out in the potential sequel, either; the origin of the new villain has a pretty hollow motivation. A very important argument for the lower rating is also the total lack of explanation about the rules and limits of the world in the film. I fear that when Strange joins the rest of the Avengers, it will be such a mess that will bury everything. (27/10/2016)