Doctor Strange Reviews: 10 Big Things We Learned
4. ...But Tilda Swinton Is Great
The casting of Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One, Doctor Strange's mentor and disciplinarian (Strange is an arrogant d*ck after all), was bogged down with controversy when it was announced. Always depicted as a person of Asian ancestry, giving a white woman the mantle was met with a disgruntled grumble and with the lack of Asian parts in blockbuster movies you can see why.
Despite this, the overall opinion is that Swinton has done a great job with The Daily Beast's Jen Yamato describing her performance as 'captivating'. Adding to this is DenofGeek describing Swinton's portrayal as 'expectedly, effortlessly brilliant'. We expected nothing less from an actor of her stature.
The most detailed praise comes from David Ehlich as Indiewire who parallels the crowd-pleasing moment when "Yoda finally threw down at the end of “Attack of the Clones?” Watching Tilda Swinton roll up her sleeves is better— way better".
A passionate endorsement indeed and further suggestion that Swinton could sweep the film out from under Cumberbatch's knee-high boots.