Because the Marvel Cinema Universe (MCU for short) continues to grow and interweave through each movie release, it gets hard to pay attention to, especially if you just want to follow particular characters individually (Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Spiderman). But because of the nature of the comic books themselves, it only makes sense that there’s so much connectivity between the movies. As myself (as I’ve said about previous MCU movies) I’m just watching as a fan and not as a Marvel enthusiast, so my opinion on whether a movie is good or not or accurate may not resonate with many, but I do my best from an outsider’s perspective. Doctor Strange is a character I knew, name wise, but nothing about his story or his relevance in the Marvel world (I know, I’m terrible). What I do appreciate, however, is that for the most part (with the exception of a couple of movies), the consistency of Marvel has been great in terms of their entertainment value, and that may be a hindrance to many people’s eyes, because it’ll look like it’s about all action and no substance, which could be true, but that’s not something that I particularly look for in these movies, as bad as it sounds – I’m there to be entertained, it’s not about full on depth.

However, where there is entertainment, there’s room for enlightenment, and with Doctor Strange, it does not shy away from that. Benedict Cumberbatch (an amazingly white name, might I add) plays a man who is a top notch professional by walk and talk. His confidence matched with his arrogance leads him to a horrific accident where he goes leaps and bounds to get back to doing what he did the most, but then when life hits you with a ‘you thought,’ there’s not much you can but to see where the course will lead you as your life readjusts. Playing around with the theme of space & time relativity will have you questioning just what is your own personal place in the world and whether or not you truly believe that you are in the midst of a multiverse that you have no idea about (it also doesn’t help that I’m reading Dark Matter right now, which darkly explores this topic). No one wakes up one day and decides that they’re going to be a hero, and a hero is not measured by how large or small their efforts are to make civilization a little better – it just happens, and through the personal battle that Strange has with himself throughout the movie while taking on a bigger intergalactic role, it pulls you into his character, love him or hate him for his sarcasm or straight up asshole demeanor.

The martial arts, the acting & the action made this a good movie. Not one that I fawned over, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed to see how it’ll play out as we move closer to the Infinity Wars movies to conclude the end of this decade. If you’ve yet to catch up in the Marvel Cinema Universe, there’s never a bad time to start, especially over the holidays. Happy watching. But for now, this is my opinion, this is my review

That’s My Word & It STiXX