The strangest marvel

It’s strange to say how much I enjoyed watching Disney/Marvel’s latest superhero outing considering how ‘copy and paste’ they all seem to be. Then again, there’s a lot about it that is unlike all of the others.

Dr. Strange is a story about a surgeon named Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) who is brilliant and adept at everything except distracted driving. Speeding off one night, he figures that he can check someone’s x-ray while zipping along a curvy coastal highway. The resulting accident offered him some incredible injuries, somehow not to his spine but to his beautiful, expert fingers.

Distraught over losing his ability to recuperate let alone operate, he struggles to find his reason to live. A chance encounter sends him to Nepal where he is instructed to seek a place called Kamar-Taj. There, he meets Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), a sorcerer and teacher of the mystic arts. She tells him that she will help heal his spirit, which will then in turn help heal his body.

Such treatment first involves her showing him astral projection and the mirror dimension, of course. Things get a bit supernatural but the good doctor is an excellent student and advances on his lessons quickly.

Good thing too, as Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen), a former pupil, is hell-bent on summoning the evil entity Dormammu into releasing the Dark Dimension on Earth, destroying everything. Strange achieves competence with his new powers just in time to demonstrate his mastery of them.

Now, it’s one thing to see the so-called ‘Hero of a Thousand Faces’ character coming from 10 miles away but it’s another entirely to see him start as an egotistical narcissist and otherwise unlikeable jerk. Credit to Cumberbatch for being able to pull that one off convincingly. Credit also should be given to most of his co-stars not just for their copious dramatic abilities but more so for not turning this into another Avengers soap opera with overwrought performances and a general lack of any kind of humour.

It’s the sense of humour that makes Dr. Strange stand apart. I laughed during the film, which hardly ever happens. The whole audience laughed. The movie connected with us. That is really a feat of moviemaking.

But, as this is a modern-day superhero movie, we must also expect the fight sequences and the special effects. Here, they are both done in good measure and to excellent effect, for lack of a better word. Imagine watching The Matrix, but set inside the world of Inception, where streets and buildings fold into themselves. Imagine watching 2001: A Space Odyssey while under the influence of psychedelic drugs, and wearing kaleidoscope glasses. It’s pretty trippy at places, unexpectedly so, but a wonder to watch. Dr. Strange the character is outstanding in his field, and likewise, Dr. Strange the movie is outstanding amongst its companion pieces. Thor should be ashamed for not living up to the hallmark established here.