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COLINS FILM CLUB REVIEW - Cinema DOCTOR STRANGE (12A)

Marvel likes to take a gamble... when the first Guardians of the Galaxy film was announced there was quiet disbelief it would succeed, then along came Ant Man, again - it didn't look like it was going to make for a great film, and now Marvel has gone for the hattrick and given us Doctor Strange, another story and character that given the challenges to put it on screen must have seen daunting to almost sheer impossible at the start. For this to work, the film had to find that special blend from the comics that melds magic and mysticism into one along with an actor capable of being a believable Steven Strange. Benedict Cumberbatch IS Steven Strange.... That's all that needs to be said.

The film begins with Cumberbatch playing Strange as the egotistical and self centred neurosurgeon who ends up in a career altering car crash and partially loses the control of his hands through the injuries from it. Set on a path to correct this and regain his former prestigious life, he learns of a possible means to a cure in Kathmandu under the guidance of the mysterious "Ancient One" played by Tilda Swinton. Strange trains and learns the mystic arts to become a Sorcerer Supreme... But things in the Astral plane are not always smooth. Mads Mikklson turns up, takes a page from a book containing forbidden secrets which could bring about the end of the known World and is generally not very nice, and along with his zealot followers will stop at nothing to gain immortality, granted by an evil entity from the darkest of realms. It's up to Strange to stop him and save the Earth. The plot, for what it is, could fit on an A4 piece of paper, and is just as thin, but it doesn't matter, for here just for once it's awe and spectacle which move the story forward, with floors and rooms warping and transforming into impossible directions, and whole cities being rearranged like in Escher style pictures, it's like Inception with magic not machine guns, and like Inception - this film dares to dream a little bigger darling.... Cumberbatch is fantastic. I've already said he is Doctor Strange and with good reason, less than a few minutes into the film and he looks and feels right for the part. It's also the most demanding role we've seen him in since Star Trek Into Darkness with a lot of running, jumping and fighting. His wry humour is both comedic and at times deadpan whilst his journey towards being Sorcerer Supreme is not smooth and centre's around the inability to repair his hands and his life. However both Strange and the audience discover that there is more to all this and that his old life should stay behind him. It's a shame that Mads Mikklson is so ineffectual as a foil to him, as the main bad guy Mikklson is leaden and lacks bite. This is no Ultron or Loki here but the role demanded menace rather than panda eyes, and a villain worthy enough to have to ability to stop Strange in his tracks. Not so with Mads. Another seemingly bereft individual is Rachel Adam's Christine who we only really see whenever her medical skills are required. But as was already mentioned, Doctor Strange is more spectacle than character driven, and the visual treats come thick and fast. When the Ancient One first gives Strange a hint of what lies ahead we follow him on a seriously trippy ride through the dimensions which at one point sees him disappear into his own eye...!!! With Strange now firmly established into the MCU, the third time gamble has definitely paid off. So confident is the studio of how it's films can follow a set path which will inevitably conclude with the next Avengers films that the formula has become a magic one. And with future goodness in the guise of Galaxy 2 and Spiderman Homecoming to look forward too, if the magic can hold then we are in for a treat.

A couple of things to note. Early in the film there is a wide shot of New York in which can clearly be seen the old Stark/Avengers tower. Stan Lee makes yet another cameo, the humour level is right up there with Galaxy and Ant Man with some great jokes and as is normally the case with a Marvel film in these ongoing series, DO stay seated for the End of Credit cut scene - I'm not going to reveal anything here but let's just say it points to and interesting direction as to where we see Steven Strange next time...!!

Doctor Strange is a triumph. It hits the right mix from the go and gives the fans of the comics everything they have always wanted from the character. But even more than that it has created millions of possible dimensions and alternative universes and realities to branch out into for future stories to reveal. It's such a visual treat that it's hard to think your watching a Marvel film because the third act doesn't end with most of a city being destroyed. This maybe a comic book caper but at times its also got its thinking hat on, directing the viewer onwards to another higher level of existence. Or at the very least it's just one huge wonderful ride of a film...!!

With Marvel in its stride and seeming to do no wrong, I think you would be hard pushed not to like Doctor Strange. Conjure up some cinema tickets, put on your Cape and get your goatee-faced self down to your nearest cinema now. Do NOT miss this experience...

Another daring entry into the MCU catalogue, Dr Strange is a wonderful mind-warping experience which heralds an exciting addition to the likes of Thor, Ironman and Captain America, and rubs shoulders with the daringness that is the Guardians of the Galaxy films...

COLINS FILM CLUB RATING: ****