Movie Review: ‘Doctor Strange’: Newest Marvel Movie Unlocks True Origins of Avenger Superpowers

Mark Jackson
Updated:

PG-13  |   |  Action, Adventure, Fantasy  |  4 November 2016 (USA)

A man gets sick. Medicine can’t cure him. So he goes searching in the East. He finds a spiritual teacher (or guru, sensei, lama, shifu, rebbe) and learns to cure himself through ancient practices.

This is typically how a path to spiritual enlightenment starts. And this is precisely the path depicted in “Doctor Strange,” the first Marvel movie to finally start telling the reality-based version of where Marvel comic book superpowers come from.

Scratch all that pseudo-science involving radioactive mishaps that begat Hulk, the Webslinger, and a whole mess of superheroes. That silliness got started during the Cold War when Americans were still planning on hiding under desks to (very effectively!) counter the coming A-bomb mushroom cloud.

But hard science has been taking the study of human supernormal abilities very seriously for a while now—like telekinesis, levitation, clairvoyance, precognition, and so on.

When I saw the strange strangeness Dr. Strange was up to in the very captivating “Doctor Strange,” I thought, “Aha! Now you’re talkin'!”

And So It Begins

(L–R) Dr. Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) and Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). (Jay Maidment/Marvel)
(L–R) Dr. Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) and Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). Jay Maidment/Marvel
Mark Jackson
Mark Jackson
Film Critic
Mark Jackson is the chief film critic for The Epoch Times. In addition to film, he enjoys martial arts, motorcycles, rock-climbing, qigong, and human rights activism. Jackson earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Williams College, followed by 20 years' experience as a New York professional actor. He narrated The Epoch Times audiobook "How the Specter of Communism is Ruling Our World," available on iTunes, Audible, and YouTube. Mark is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic.
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