Beginning back in 2008 with Iron Man, Marvel Studios have produced 13 films including Captain America, Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers. Now, the newest entry into the cinematic universe is Doctor Strange.

Benedict Cumberbatch, well known from the TV series Sherlock, stars as Stephan Strange, a successful and famous neurosurgeon who damages his hands in an accident, losing his ability to perform his job. With his career and fame fading away, Strange searches for treatments to help him regain control of his hands. This leads to Strange to Tilda Swinton’s character, the Ancient One, who teaches him the ways of the mystical arts. Receiving more power than he ever could have imagined, Strange now must accept his new view of reality and place in the world, for the evil Kaecilius, played by Mads Mikkelsen intends to destroy the Ancient One and transfer earth into the dark dimension. Strange, along with other sorcerers Mordo and Wong, portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Benedict Wong respectively, must come together and save the world from being consumed by darkness.

First off, the film has an amazing collection of great actors and actresses, all of who deliver meaningful performances. Cumberbatch does a spectacular job as Doctor Strange, making the character extremely unlikable in the beginning, but turns him into an extremely charismatic person by the end of the film. Additionally, even in their supporting roles, Ejiofor and Wong play keys roles in the film as Strange’s mentors, as well as providing many moments of comic relief throughout the movie. However, Swinton steals the show with her performance as the Ancient one. Portraying the mystical teacher, Swinton makes the character intimidating but caring, ruthless but jocular, which ultimately makes the audience really care for her character. Swinton’s casting as the Ancient One was originally scrutinized, seeing as she was cast to portray a normally asian character, resulting in people making claims of whitewashing for the casting. When these cries came out, Marvel officials justified the casting as simply casting the actresses they felt would best perform the role, and after watching the film, Swinton does just that. While whitewashing is a serious problem for Hollywood, Marvel made racebent casts in the film, by choosing to cast the best qualified options, no matter their race, as previously white characters. This is proven in this film by the character of Mordo, who in the comics was white man but was cast as a black man, Chewetel Eljiofor, by Marvel.

Furthermore, a continuous problem for the Marvel universe amongst critics and fans is that they lack quality villains. The complaints are that while Marvel does an amazing job with their heroes throughout their films, the opposing villains are extremely lackluster and forgettable. Unfortunately, this trend seems to have continued with Mikkelsen’s performance of Kaecilius. The film does give Mikkelsen a scene to portray Kaecilius’ motives and try to get the audience to understand why he is trying to destroy the world. This scene works very well, but it was just one scene. If the movie had just allotted a few more scenes to Kaecilius and his past, motives, or self demons, then the film would have had extremely interesting and complex villain.

However, the best thing about Doctor Strange are the visuals that seem to have been taken directly from the comic books. The mystical spells and magical realms that Strange conjures or travels to are breathtaking, making the film a must see in IMAX 3D. The most visually spectacular scene occurs when Strange first meets the Ancient one and she exposes him to the mystical arts by sending him on a mind bending journey through different dimensions. This scene includes rushes of color and mind bending visuals, which are prime for the elevating 3D experience.

Overall, Doctor Strange is another stunning film produced by Marvel Studios and is an interesting change of pace from the normal superhero movies. Doctor Strange elevates superheroics to places and ideas never before presented on the big screen. It is, however, extremely dependent of the comics and larger Marvel universe, so if you do not have a base understanding of Doctor Strange or Marvel then the film may seem confusing to you. Nevertheless, even if you lack any interest in the larger Marvel Universe, I would still recommend seeing the film for the interesting story and amazing 3D experience.

The Parkway West Pathfinder gives Doctor Strange a 8.5/10