‘Doctor Strange’ is the 14th entry into the highly profitable and extremely successful Marvel Cinematic Universe. ‘Doctor Strange’ stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange and includes the likes of Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo and Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One. ‘Doctor Strange’ ends the run of comic-book movies in 2016 and an introduction to many other realms in the Marvel Universe. Ignoring the fact that I only find four of the Marvel entries to be great films, I believe that ‘Doctor Strange’ is a mediocre movie for half of the time. Before I get into the good, the bad, and the flat out ugly, let me mention that this will be the hardest review I will ever write. Considering I don’t ever include spoilers I will (as always) do my best to make sure you have little insight as to what to expect from plot points and twists. So, the beginning, the first half, the introduction to Stephen Strange and the self-centered world he lives in. From the word, “GO”, I was captivated, enthralled, and immediately hooked into this film and was prepared to go on the adventure. The exchanges between Strange and Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) were fantastic and the insight to Strange’s behavior, past, and present life was captured beautifully. For the first time in a while I finally felt like I was witnessing a lead character in the MCU actually have multiple layers and dimensions. While Stephen Strange is a self-centered and very egocentric rich white guy, you understand why and you aren’t supposed to like him. Early on, the writing is pitch perfect and the script does a really good job of keeping your interest. Strange’s tragic event that cripples his hands is captured beautifully and makes us feel for Strange despite his flawed personality. In the following sequences we get masterfully handled relationships and scenes of Strange trying to overcome this disability. Early on, we are feeling for our main character and this is important for any movie to have and this is the first time since ‘Iron Man’ where I feel like a Marvel movie has captured that perfectly. As we approach the one-hour mark of the film, ‘Doctor Strange’ completely pivots and it takes a turn for the worst. A while back we had heard about the re-writes for the film and it is as clear as day that the second half of the film is almost a complete departure from the first. While the first half of the film feels nothing like a Marvel movie, the second becomes exactly what I feared it would be. A visually beautifully adventure with characters we don’t care about and another terrible villain. It is the film I feared it would be, and that hurts because of the positive buzz it has been receiving. While people haven’t been over the moon about it (it averages just around a 7 on Rotten Tomatoes), the buzz is there and it is apparently another solid entry to the MCU. Without going into spoilers, I don’t know where to begin on how to tell you how annoying and frustrating the second half is. After a great set-up and fun character interactions, ‘Doctor Strange’ becomes the same hosh posh Marvel film that MOST of us have begun to expect from each outing. Jokes are thrown in at a nearly jarring rate, Stephen Strange’s arc becomes unbelievable and lazy, Strange earns NO moments, and everything just becomes unbelievably dull. The action is fun, but it made me feel nothing. The twists arrive, but it made me feel nothing. ‘Doctor Strange’ is ultimately a whole beautiful bowl of Fruity Pebbles with no milk to give you the full experience. With no surprise, we are given yet another villain that is completely wasted despite a strong performance from Mads Mikkelsen. On multiple occasions we are sent into a spiral of exposition heavy sequences from our antagonist. We are told, and not shown. It’s like ‘Doctor Strange’ showed up to class for show and tell and told us about the cool thing they were supposed to bring to class but left it at home. We learn early on that our villain once had a past with The Ancient One and we see no development of this relationship between Kaecilius (the villain played by Mikkelsen) and The Ancient One. So when they have their interactions they hold zero weight and it does not allow us to sympathize, relate, or understand the characters. This is a fatal flaw in ‘Doctor Strange’ and many other movies like it. I understand that the heroes are the centerpieces of your films but the lack of a good villain can really hurt your film in more ways than one. Before I potentially venture off into spoiler territory let me just finalize my positives and negatives with how truly bad the finale is. With some of the most beautiful visuals and unique ways of going through a film’s climax, our big, end of the film battle is moronic. While the metaphors are there and I get the subliminal messages, the film delivers a lazy, uninspired climax that needed to be great to salvage an average film up to that point. Some may consider this a spoiler, so be wary heading forward, but our hero seizes the day and walks off supreme because his opponent became annoyed. That is all I can say and will until I post something more in-depth about the film. In conclusion, ‘Doctor Strange’ gets off on the right foot and looks to be headed into the promised land of being yet another great origin story. Instead, at the halfway point we are taken on an adventure chalked full of dimensions but plays like a dimension-less motion picture. It becomes formulaic and contains an awful third act that is certainly one of the worst in the MCU. Despite the strong cast, promising first hour, and most visually beautiful Marvel film to date, Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange’ is a mediocre outing from the studio and is one of their worst films to date. ‘Doctor Strange’ gets a 5.8/10