I’m going to be completely honest; I was a little disappointed by Captain America: Civil War. Now, don’t crucify me; I absolutely enjoyed the movie. The writing was great, the sets were spectacular, and the special effects were simply amazing. I just went into the theater expecting way too much from it. I bought into the to extreme amounts of hype surrounding the film, just like I had done with Avengers: Age of Ultron. When the time for me to see Marvel’s latest installment, Doctor Strange, drew nearer and nearer, I tried my hardest to avoid the hype. I tried not to look at any of the trailers, and I tried to scroll past all the clickbait links on Facebook for articles that reveal random movie spoilers without any warning (there’s a special place in hell for the people who write those). However, the key word here is “tried,” and despite my best efforts, I failed to escape the hype.
In my defense, it is really damn hard to avoid the hype for a movie that you’ve been waiting for since you were seven, okay? The first time I opened and read a Doctor Strange comic book, my juvenile imagination was immediately enthralled by an amazing world of sorcerers, magic, and interdimensional travel. I would even dream about it after reading it, which resulted in some pretty crazy dreams. So, when Marvel announced that they were actually making Doctor Strange, the little geek inside me did a backflip, and I let out a high-pitched squeal.
Then I finally got to see it in theaters this past Friday. Oh boy.
It lives up to the hype.
Watching Doctor Strange was one of the most mind-bending experiences I’ve had since I saw movies like Interstellar and Inception. The special effects and CGI for this film are absolutely top-notch, and, in my opinion, worthy of at least an Oscar nomination. Admittedly, the pacing in the beginning of the movie feels very quick, but I believe that was an intentional choice by the writers and the directors to keep the attention of the audiences. Benedict Cumberbatch is as perfect for the role of Doctor Stephen Strange as Robert Downey Jr. is for the role of Tony Stark. It was clear that the creators of the film paid extreme attention to detail, shown in the small references and nods to places, characters, and events within the Doctor Strange comic books (Another reason why everyone should read comic books. Knowing the source material makes these movies so much more satisfying to watch). On a scale from one to ten, I give this movie a hearty nine.
The thing that interested me the most, however, were the mid and post credit scenes for this film. I refuse to spoil them because I’m not the kind of man that just wants to watch the world burn, but I will say they solidify the prospect of a sequel to the film and connect Doctor Strange to another upcoming Marvel film, Thor: Ragnarok, due to the appearance of one particular Asgardian citizen. Knowing that Doctor Strange will most likely make an appearance in Thor: Ragnarok raises my hopes for that film significantly, after being let down horribly by the weird mess known as Thor: The Dark World. But, it looks like Marvel has pulled itself together once again.
