Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Rachel McAdams

Synopsis: Dr. Stephen Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) life is forever changed when he gets into a car accident, effectively destroying his hands and ruining his career as a surgeon. When normal medicine fails him, he searches for both hope and healing within a mysterious enclave. He soon realizes that the enclave is in the middle of a battle against unseen dark forces with the sole goal of destroying reality. Strange is then forced to choose between his life filled with both fame or leave it all behind in order to defend the world as the most powerful sorcerer that had ever been.

Acting: The acting was as expected for a movie with so many A-list actors: incredible. Both supporting and main characters were truly given a breath of life, and this has become a norm of Marvel movies for a few years now. Benedict Cumberbatch was brilliant as Strange, churning out what I feel may be one of his best acting jobs in his career. Tilda Swinton was also spectacular as the Ancient One, utilizing her role to truly express herself with the admittedly odd character. Overall, the acting within the movie was incredible.

Visuals: This was the highlight of the film. Both the extremely advanced computer graphics, as well as the kaleidoscopic action sequences, induced a trance upon the viewer as one experienced the progress that visual effects have taken. The incredible effects were a delight to watch, and they managed to mask the lackluster storyline for the majority of the film, which was an accomplishment all in itself. Overall, the visuals in the movie were both beautiful and awe-inspiring.

Plot: The plot was the biggest faltering point of the movie; however, it was not necessarily bad. Compared to the spectacular visuals as well as the amazing cast the plot was just lacking, which has also become standard for Marvel films. While the exterior of the plot seemed like it would be complicated yet interesting, “Doctor Strange” decided to forego in-depth exposition entirely and focus on action sequences instead. This effectively ruined the place of any gripping scenes in the relatively simple plot within the movie, and it only made “Doctor Strange” feel even more sluggish than it already was. Overall, the plot of “Doctor Strange” was disappointing, yet expected based on Marvel’s previous films.

Overall: Although “Doctor Strange” possessed some of the best visuals I have seen in a film in a very long time, as well as an excellent cast, the plot manages to weigh down this movie by such a factor that it leads the film as an entirety to become a sluggish and uninteresting mess towards the conclusions.

75%: A visual and acting slugfest that was let down by its standard plot.