Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) casts a forbidden spell that opens up a portal which unlocks the Multiverse and pushes its boundaries further than ever before. Journey into the unknown with Dr. Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, including Wong (Benedict Wong), America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), Dr. Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) and others, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary, Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). This adversary subsequently threatens where it may be too big for his team to handle.
Others to round out the cast are Michael Stuhlbarg as Dr. Nic West, Sheila Atim as Sarah, Adam Hugill as Rintrah, Ako Mitchell as Charlie, Momo Yeung as Hong Kong Master and Daniel Swain as London Master.
This was incredibly well directed by veteran Sam Raimi ("It's Murder!" '77, "The Evil Dead" '81, "Crimewave" '85, "Evil Dead II" '87, "Darkman" '90, "The Quick and the Dead" '95, "For the Love of the Game" '99, "Spider-Man" '02, "Oz the Great and Powerful" '13) plus others, TV, shorts and videos. By his very resume, Raimi was born to direct this, or films like this one. His ability to control his actors and their emotions considering how many different film units this film includes is astounding. Sure, there are 2nd unit directors, 1st and 2nd assistant directors along with cinematographers, and the like, but to assist in the making of this, but, at the end of the day, it is the director who ultimately calls the shots and the final decisions. This veteran proved, as he has in the past, that he can handle the responsibility with relative ease. With so much going on in this story, Raimi simply showed us how fluid his directing was in spades. It was interestingly written by a virtual newcomer to feature films, Michael Waldron (TV and a short). Whereas Disney and Marvel were able to commission a talented, veteran director, why did they cheapen the film by hiring a writer whose never written a screenplay (that's been produced) for a feature film at all? Surely, natural writers do come along, however in the case of this film, it needed a lot more polish. The story meandered along too much and the more the film was attempting to find the story, the more it couldn't do so. Don't get me wrong, there were moments that succeeded, and kudos for the writer with those places, but this premise originally housed a somewhat more complex plot, and with that, Marvel et.al. really needed to hire a more experienced writer with more under their belt. This writer either needs to hone his talent on more TV or maybe tackle feature films with less complex premises. Although the story went from universe to universe, I believe that the visual effects were still over done a bit. With the brunt of the visual effects predominantly being designed by ILM (Industrial, Light & Magic), Luma Pictures and Digital Domain, which were stunning, the amount used seemed a bit over done.
I know this going to be shock, but Dr. Strange will return. This is no spoiler, since all 'comic book films' continue as long as they keep raking in the bucks. Cha-Ching! It certainly is a visual feast for the eyes, and for this reason is why one might want to see it on the big screen, but if you're looking for a taut script, it loses steam. It is presented in an IMAX format for that up, close and personal feeling.
Out of 4 Stars: 2 Rated: PG-13 126mins.
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