This is the latest movie based on a Marvel comics character, and I have to admit I’m unimpressed. Maybe you have to be a Marvel fan. Or a 13-year-old boy. Then why did I see it, you might ask? Because Benedict Cumberbatch in 3-D seemed promising. But two hours and many, many dimensions later, I remained baffled. The story, in a nutshell, is about a pompous, self-absorbed surgeon, Dr. Stephen Strange (Cumberbatch), seeking a cure for his mutilated hands. They were destroyed when he crashed his luxury car by driving irresponsibly fast on a treacherous, winding road. He ends up in Nepal consulting The Ancient One (a bald Tilda Swinton), searching for a cure. But this is a spiritual journey, he is told, one in which he is supposed to gain selflessness and humility. Even by the movie’s end, he shows very little of either. He does, however, learn to wield a light sabre pretty well, and to enter weird portals that lead to alternate universes. The best part is how cool he looks in his red cape. It is, of course, endowed with magical powers.
Should You See It? No. It was neither clever nor exciting.
Viewed at Wehrenberg Galaxy 14 Chesterfield
