PicoZ

Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a genius, rich neurosurgeon with an ego that could rival Tony Stark’s. He moves through the world with little regard for the people around him. After being distracted looking at medical documents while driving (he may be smart but his ego makes him think he’s invulnerable), Strange gets into a brutal car accident that wrecks his hands. His scarred, trembling hands are a constant reminder of the man he once was and never will be again. This doesn’t make Strange rethink the way he lives. Instead, as one surgery after another fails, he becomes crueler and more withdrawn, even lashing out at ex-lover/co-worker Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), who is the last person on whom he can depend; his world of medicine and science has failed him. But after receiving a tip from Jonathon Pangborn (a charismatic, underutilized Benjamin Bratt), Strange finds himself under the tutelage of The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) in Nepal, who opens him up to worlds he never believed existed. The visual landscape of their first encounter is the film at its most daring. We’re privy to worlds full of neon purples, cerulean blues and blood reds. We watch Strange become enveloped by hundreds of hands as if out of a nightmare. He bounces between dimensions that resemble the dark beauty of outer space to those that are a kaleidoscope of colors. Even a man as arrogant as Strange can’t deny what he’s been shown.

Strange may be a character that hews too close to the model of rich, egotistical white men with which superhero films are obsessed. But the film had the opportunity to do something different, by showing the interior of a character forced to rethink everything he knows and the nature of reality itself. Instead, "Doctor Strange" falls into some significant narrative mistakes.

One of the most glaring sins of “Doctor Strange” is how quickly Strange masters magic. There isn’t much tension in his arc. While he struggles briefly at first to keep up with other students The Ancient One has taken under her care, he’s soon stealing sacred books out from under Wong (Benedict Wong), the sharp-eyed master who protects the texts at The Ancient One’s behest. Strange plays by his own rules, growing far beyond the skills of those around him. He even goes as far as bending time, secretly reading from forbidden texts and wielding the Eye of Agamotto. When Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) remarks that Strange seems destined for this, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Of course he was. 

In effect, Strange is proven right. Who cares about rules and breaking the laws of nature when you’re actually right, and in turn you save the world? Strange never grows much as a character since he proves to be right about far too much, justifying his ego and rank arrogance. Cumberbatch is having considerable fun with the role (although he brings nothing unexpected) but he can’t distract from how nothing in Strange’s story feels earned. You also can’t ignore that “Doctor Strange” is essentially the story of a white man who travels to an “exotic” land, whose culture and people he doesn’t respect let alone know the language of. Yet somehow he just happens to realize he’s a natural at magic and gets good enough to beat practitioners who have been doing this for years.

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