Here’s our Doctor Strange review which opens TODAY from Walt Disney Studios PH, directed by Scott Derrickson and stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Tilda Swinton.

The Sorcerer Supreme has OFFICIALLY joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a loud bang and it definitely joins the bigscreen buddies and believe it or not its AS FRESH as Iron Man. Also you guys don’t know how eager we are to publish this Doctor Strange review ever since we saw it last Monday.

So now, here are the pros, the cons and the verdict for the film that ushers in the next level for the MCU.

THE GOOD

• They seriously struck gold with casting Benedict Cumberbatch to play the role of arrogant neurosurgeon Stephen Strange. The actor brings a lot into the table playing the mystical Marvel hero. From poignant “holy shit” moments, to his arrogance in dealing with certain enemies to his arrogance towards pretty much everybody in the film, Cumberbatch plays this like a damn maestro. Not only that but you can also see how he subtly changes throughout the movie, something that we’ve seen in a stronger manner to Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark in “Iron Man”.

• Benedict Wong as Wong killed it in this movie. Ill timed laughter, some comeuppance and a lot of sass, I had this visual of what Wong would be if we see him in other media and Marvel Studios knocks that off. Watch out for a special scene in the second act where you get to love him even more.

• The visual effects for this is borderline manic. We’ve already written how much we loved the 15 minute teaser from two weeks ago and we don’t go back on our word. From rooms that move and shift to flying battlegrounds to a very trippy dark dimension, all of them look gorgeous… yes, IMAX works twice as good.

• I admired the amount of faithfulness they have for the source material. I mean they were starting from scratch here so they could have gotten away with anything and yet, they stick to the original elements from the various runs by creators.

• Those Easter eggs were as tasty as mom’s egg sandwich. Seriously I would have done backflips when I heard some choice namedropping of cosmic level Marvel characters.

• Those TWO post-credit scenes were seriously to die for.

• That touching moment between Strange and his teacher The Ancient One.

• Those fight scenes went from “oh wow” to “oh my god that is beautiful”.

• Thanks to this movie, they have really opened the door to a Marvel Cinematic Multiverse. For real. As in they kept mentioning a multiverse where some realities are “benign” while others “filled with malice”.

• Keep an eye out for the “cloak of levitation” and how it easily become’s this decade’s Magic Carpet from “Disney’s Aladdin”. Why at one point I was singing “A Whole New World”, also its totally OK because Disney owns Marvel.

• I love how they worked on Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Baron Mordo in “Doctor Strange”. You learn to empathize with the guy, see how he becomes buddies and a respected peer of Strange, then see how his vision and how he deals with things bring him down a dark path (seriously not a spoiler.) But how that was done was also anywhere between “Ok” to “awesome”. Plus his new status quo paves the way for Doctor Strange 2.

• The way they wrote and planned Doctor Strange, it really draws parallels to Jon Favreau’s Iron Man. Yeah, the structure is a  rehash but aren’t all movies these days a rehash of other movies? Only for Doctor Strange, they have fresh ingredients and top-notch talents. Still Cumberbatch won it for this movie.

THE BAD

• As usual, the villains here are weak. As in they seemed like a big trouble for the good doctor in the beginning, but by the credit roll, they have been effectively nerfed the zealots who endangered the world, but its like they were actively making us forget that these were the baddies that this and this and that to #TeamStrange. It also pisses me off that it felt like they didnt even try to make Mads Mikkelsen’s character a tad threatening and there was no real connection to the audience or at least to me. Basically he illicits no reaction.

• Rachel McAdams, also underused. In fact, she’s pretty much used as a plot device if you ask me. Sure she was a love interest but let’s be honest here, she served a much bigger role in one segment of “Doctor Strange” which involves “astral projection”.  Then we don’t see her anymore. Still the good thing about this whole mess is that they never really marketed McAdams as a strong love interest.

• While I like the inclusion of Dormammu in the film, I really didn’t like the look they gave him. Dare I say it gave me “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” feels.

THE VERDICT

10/10

Who says lightning can’t strike the same place twice? Because while it draws similarities to THAT popular armored Avenger, it still holds its own. It opens the door to a bigger universe and it gives us another reason why Marvel is great at casting. The visuals are ExCELLENT and the characters colorful.

Synopsis:

Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” follows the story of the talented neurosurgeon Doctor Stephen Strange who, after a tragic car accident, must put ego aside and learn the secrets of a hidden world of mysticism and alternate dimensions. Based in New York City’s Greenwich Village, Doctor Strange must act as an intermediary between the real world and what lies beyond, utilizing a vast array of metaphysical abilities and artifacts to protect the Marvel cinematic universe.

Directed by Scott Derrickson, “Doctor Strange” is based on the Marvel comic character who first appeared in “Strange Tales” Issue #110 published in July 1963. Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” continues the lineage of epic big-screen adventures chronicled in Marvel’s “Iron Man,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “Iron Man 2,” “Thor,” “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “The Avengers,” “Iron Man 3,” “Thor: The Dark World,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Ant-Man,” “Captain America: Civil War,” and the upcoming “Guardians of the Galaxy 2” (May 5, 2017) and “Thor: Ragnarok” (November 3, 2017).

This Doctor Strange review is powered by Walt Disney Studios Philippines