Doctor Strange Review: 8 Ups & 5 Downs

1. Benedict Cumberbatch

What a pay-off for Marvel. They spent a long time trying to get Doctor Strange off the ground and trying to get their primary target for the role hired despite scheduling conflicts, and the reward is a brilliant performance by Benedict Cumberbatch. He is funny, charming, aloof and other-worldly in the right measures, offering promise of taking over from Robert Downey Jr as the leader of the MCU, and bringing a similar underlying emotional intensity.

As with Sherlock - a character very closely tied to Strange in genetics - Cumberbatch was made for this role (he was born to be the Sorceror Supreme, as the script states). He has an almost intangible alien disconnection, and his classical theatricality works wonders to build a definition between him and the rest of the grounded MCU.

Seeing him jibe with the other Avengers is going to be brilliant.

And now on to the less positive aspects of the film...