I’ve never taken psychedelic drugs but if I did it would probably be similar to watching this film. Doctor Strange was an awesome journey through the world of mystical sorcery. It is like watching a more mature version of Harry Potter without wands. Benjamin Cumberbatch delivers a stellar performance as Doctor Steven Strange. Chiwetel Ejiofor brought his A-game as Mordo. This movie is packed with some of Hollywood’s biggest names, which is sometimes a recipe for disaster. However Marvel Studios managed to contain all the star power into a nice digestible bite.

Doctor Strange is one of the Marvel characters that I am most unfamiliar with. When I was a wee lad, playing Ultimate Spiderman the game, I came across a residence that was very “strange.” So I decided to Google it. That’s as far as my knowledge of the character goes. This film was a great standalone origin story. I didn’t even know there was an entire order of magical beings protecting our wonderful Earth. So kind of them right?

The best parts about this movie were the fight scenes. I never knew spells could look so cool on-screen. There were little to no verbal incantations, which brought a unique style to the story. Instead the actors used hand movements. Fun fact, Julian Daniels aka Jayfunk was the hand choreographer for the film. Through this, he further exposed the world to the street dance style of finger tutting. Cool right? Not as cool as seeing it on-screen.

I was blown away by the groundbreaking special effects! It was like watching Inception on steroids while simultaneously overdosing on hologram schematics from the Ironman movies. Interesting enough, there were some horror elements strewn throughout. Which brought a real sense of danger and vulnerability in the world they created. For being so different and mind-boggling, I give Doctor Strange a 9 out of 10. Also watch the end credits, there’s a surprise.