Review| Doctor Strange: Misleading Spirituality

Diving head first into the realm of magical powers, Doctor Strange brings us up to speed on the mystical forces of darkness threatening our universe, superior to whatever material threat the likes of the Avengers have protected us from already. Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), getting previous notoriety as being a threat of some kind to Hydra in Winter Soldier, is faced with his own mortality when a vehicle accident results in the inability to do that which, in his eyes, brings him value.

As an incredibly intelligent and talented surgeon, Stephen Strange rules the roost. He controls all scenarios, even deciding what surgeries will bring him the most glory. He’s entirely submerged in his wealth, his possessions, his intellect… his ego. This makes his fall from the mountaintop all that much harder. He hits rock-bottom, he’s humbled to the point of begging at the doorway of “the Ancient One” (Tilda Swinton), one whom he believes can bring him ultimate healing. He believes this because he’s been shown that this world is not all that he thought it was. The Ancient One tells him, “You think this material universe is all there is. What if I told you the reality you know is one of many?” What follows are a series of visual manifestations of spiritual, or better yet mystical, realities. And this is where my primary angst with this movie dwells.

I saw a review praising this movie as the most spiritual film yet in the MCU. I saw this before I saw the movie, and it had me excited. But then I remembered this was a major Hollywood blockbuster. Are they really going to go spiritual, or just immaterial? As it turns out there is actually very little spiritual about Doctor Strange. For all the talk about spiritual realities and alternative realms, what we’re given is a film full of sorcery and mysticism. And that’s fine, but that’s not spiritual. What is meant when someone says they’re spiritual? Or when it’s said that you’re “getting too spiritual”? Isn’t an acceptance and belief in the divine part of that description? An effort to understand or at least discuss the depths of God, his purpose for this life and our role in that? Yet such material is sorely lacking in Doctor Strange. The closest we come is Stephen realizing that the universe doesn’t revolve around him. And again, that’s fine, but let’s not fool ourselves. Stephen Strange comes to accept that the material, physical world he felt he had such a tight grasp on is not all there is. There are immaterial forces and mystical realities at play which he is beginning to understand and use to heal himself mentally rather than physically. But saying that is spiritual is like saying Tony Stark experienced a spiritual awakening when facing his own demons between Iron Man 3 and Civil War. He didn’t, and it isn’t. For all the talk of a spiritual film, we’ve yet to see a full commitment to explore the divine.

My issues with the “spiritual” label notwithstanding, this film has a lot to offer the MCU and a lot to interest the audience. Benedict Cumberbatch does what we all expected him to do and settled right into the ego-maniacal Dr. Stephen Strange. We have a better-than-expected villain in Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen), a former disciple of the Ancient One and a revealer of her hypocrisy. And we actually got to see the villain quite a bit as compared to other Marvel villains. We see him fighting, monologuing in the middle of the movie, and largely succeeding with his plan. This served to get to know him better and I think helped us give a pass to the flimsy logic used to decide to turn to the galactic darkness for deliverance.

This film will receive plenty of complaints for the familiar first act and larger than life (literally) threat to defeat, but for such an unfamiliar property those beats felt quite necessary. Especially the introduction via origin story. Audiences will get the same with Black Panther and Captain Marvel in coming years. We need to come to grips with having an origin story and start judging them on their execution. The second act is where I felt the story rushed through the development of Strange’s power and growth of his character. I would’ve enjoyed a little less of the setup and fall in the first act, less of the very scripted origin details, in exchange for some additional moments of revelation and allusions to Strange’s mistaken notion that the Ancient One seeks his physical healing rather than shaping him mentally to handle these mystical powers.

Be that as it may, Doctor Strange officially opens the Marvel Universe up to a host of other abilities, powers, and heroes that it has not yet explored. My hope would be that they at least start to touch on some threads running a little deeper than they have gone. What does it mean when a man can bend the laws of nature? Doctor Strange only tells us we shouldn’t, but why? What if that man has a belief in God and feels conflicted about playing god in some small way? We’re never told of Strange’s actual spiritual beliefs once he’s enlightened to the non-material world. These are grounds on which I hope Marvel has the creativity to tread.