Film Review: You will be spellbound by Marvel’s hero Dr Strange

This latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is like a visit to Woodstock with all the talk of finding one’s astral self and the need to reorient the spirit to better heal the body.

Doctor Strange has an audience with The Ancient One. Film Frame / Marvel
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Doctor Strange

Director: Scott Derrickson

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Rachel McAdams, Mads Mikkelsen, Tilda Swinton

Four and a half stars

With all the talk of finding one's astral self and the need to "reorient the spirit to better heal the body", Doctor Strange sounds a bit like an advert for a New Age retreat.

In fact, this latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is more like a visit to Woodstock. Honouring the fact that the comic-book character was created in the early 1960s, when the world was learning to tune in, turn on and drop out, Scott Derrickson’s effort is a wildly psychedelic take on the superhero-movie genre.

It does not begin that way, of course. Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Imitation Game) plays Dr Stephen Strange, a rich, arrogant and egotistical neurosurgeon who is left crippled after a car crash. Unable to work, having lost the use of his hands, he seeks out radical alternative medicine, travelling east to Kathmandu in Nepal. Here he meets The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), a bald guru who opens Strange's eyes to the dimensions beyond our earthly realm, and the incredible possibilities opened up by harnessing their great power.

Cue some ­incredibly ­“trippy” sequences as ­Derrickson delivers ­kaleidoscopic visuals.

The Ancient One also oversees a group of sorcerers (including Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Mordo) who protect the world from nefarious mystical ­forces. However, it turns out that the real threat comes from within.

Danish actor Mads ­Mikkelsen (star of acclaimed TV drama Hannibal and films including Casino Royale and the upcoming Rogue One) plays Kaecilius, a former pupil of The Ancient One who has stolen pages from her sacred texts. Desperate for eternal life, he is an intriguing ­character, certainly one of the more interesting and multifaceted villains in the Marvel movie canon.

Rachel McAdams, on the other hand, has little to do as Christine Palmer – Strange’s co-worker and occasional romantic interest – though even she gets one fantastic scene: a race against time to revive Strange.

For the most part, however, this film belongs to ­Cumberbatch, who wholeheartedly embraces the role of the arrogant surgeon on a journey towards spiritual enlightenment.

Impressively, it is the little touches of humour that really add texture – not least Strange’s never-ending battle with the Cloak of Levitation, a misbehaving magical ­garment that never quite does what it is told.

Doctor Strange will line up alongside Marvel's established heroes in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War – as hinted at in the first of two end-credit sequences. But his ability to manipulate time and open up portals to jump between dimensions adds something different to the more familiar spandex-wearing heroes, and opens up all sorts of possibilities for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It is a direction that seeps through Doctor Strange – a hugely entertaining blockbuster that is more offbeat than its peers.

As The Ancient One says: “Forget everything you think you know.”

• Doctor Strange is in cinemas on Thursday, November 3