Curtis Silvey is a junior photojournalism major and writes "The Silvey Lining" for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Curtis at clsilvey@bsu.edu.
In the last eight years, the well-oiled machine known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been pumping out movies left and right, with everything from "Ironman" to their most recent endeavor, "Doctor Strange."
"Doctor Strange" follows the story of world renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange, who ends up losing the ability to work in the operating room after being involved in a tragic car accident. While trying to find the ultimate answer to repairing his now damaged hands, Strange winds up at the fictional temple of Kamar-Taj in the city of Kathmandu, the real life capital of Nepal. Strange then learns about the reality of the mystic arts and the greater role it plays in the Marvel multi-verse. It’s then that Strange must decide whether to take these new found powers and return to the luxurious lifestyle of before, or to help stop the destruction of a much greater threat than he has ever seen.
"Doctor Strange" stars British actor Benedict Cumberbatch ("Sherlock," "Star Trek: Into Darkness," "The Imitation Game") as Dr. Stephen Strange, Chiwetel Ejiofor ("12 Years A Slave," "The Martian") as Mordo, Rachel McAdams ("Sherlock Holmes," "Mean Girls") as Christine Palmer, Benedict Wong ("The Martian") as Wong, Mads Mikkelsen ("Hannibal") as Kaecilius and Tilda Swan ("Moonrise Kingdom," "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe") as The Ancient One.
I was initially happy when I found out a little less than four years ago that Marvel was going to do a Doctor Strange movie, but I wasn’t overly excited about it. Once the studio started releasing images and concept art about a year ago though, I started to get a lot more pumped about the movie.
I was a little worried though when the studio started to release little clips here and there about a month before its initial release date of Nov. 4. I know movies that have done that similar thing in the past, and in the end it has had negative repercussions, just because the studio wanted to get people hyped about the movie.
For this movie though, that wasn’t the case. "Doctor Strange" has to be one of my favorite Marvel origin stories so far, but I wouldn’t put visuals as the No. 1 reason I like it. Sure, the visuals are spectacular and mind-blowing, the acting was on par and the action sequences were really good, but the thing I love the most is the open-minded theme that resides throughout.
It shows how some, if not all of us, could be better off (either emotionally or spiritually) if we didn’t let our egos get in the way. I also loved all of the references to spirituality, like the third eye and chakras. I also enjoyed the magic aspect as well as the ideas of a multi-dimensional/multi-universe existence. "Doctor Strange" really hit it out of the park, and I can’t wait to see Cumberbatch don the Cloak of Levitation once more.