Mini Film Review – Doctor Strange

Yesterday I watched Doctor Strange; and it was pretty good! Directed by Scott Derrickson, and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, and Tilda Swinton, and based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name; Doctor Strange is a superhero movie, about an accomplished neurosurgeon, who after losing the use of his hands in a car crash, travels to Kathmandu, and discovers he is capable of far more than just life-saving-surgery! I got my first taste of the character of Doctor Strange from the classic 90’s Spiderman animated series, but when this film originally came out, I had no real desire to see it at the time. But wanting to watch a Superhero Movie, I thought why not. It’s a pretty interesting film, which sets up a story of healing and redemption of a selfish surgeon, which goes down a somewhat predictable path, but still allows room for mini surprisies (such as the fond references to the Runaways TV series). It isn’t though a film for the medically squeamish (such as me, who nearly faints when walking into a hospital), as it does feature near detailed scenes of brain surgery, plus that scene where Strange sees hands sprouting from his fingers. The fight scenes are pretty simple affairs, but it can be rather easy to get lost with the action due to the potentially dizzying changes of reality in the background (not even Inception went that far). But despite a few little niggles, it was a decently enjoyable superhero movie, for those wanting something a bit different in a crowded superhero landscape. There is one thing though that still wanders around my head, the desire to watch a film, and not accurately assume that Mads Mikkelsen is going to play a creepy villain!