Doctor Strange

I heard someone's planning on doing a remake of The Matrix. Why bother? Someone already did. That's what you're getting here, if you're able to look close enough and see the similarities that are hidden under a few small particulars and many mountains of special effects. It's hard to discuss a superhero movie in terms of its believe-ability, but in this case that metric is strained to the breaking point. It isn't a total disaster by an stretch, but the motivations of the characters--especially some of the tertiary characters--seems to be a muddle, the battles with conjured "weapons" just look absurd at points, and the whole thing comes across as the "mutant and god" crowd trying to merge their thing with some old Harry Potter vibes (and trying to pull in some of that franchise money to boot). The best part comes from Benedict Cumberbatch's assured performance, and Rachael McAdams provides solid support in the second fiddle role. The Marvel run has been a lot of fun, but if it doesn't rise above this level from here on out, that run will probably end soon--much sooner than anyone expected.