Doctor Strange - Challenge for Benedict Cumberbatch's Talent ?

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Dr. Stephen Strange, a brilliant surgeon whose hands are damaged beyond any medical repair following a car accident. Determined to cure himself, he travels to Nepal to seek out the less conventional healing powers of the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), a monk-like character who harnesses great magic. Strange is taught how to tap into this sorcery (almost like the Force in Star Wars) and is enlisted by the Ancient One in her efforts to thwart Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen), a former student gone bad. Along for the ride are Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), another, more dutiful, student of the Ancient One, and Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), a doctor at the hospital Strange used to work at and his former flame.

Donning a slightly strange American accent, Cumberbatch is nevertheless an assured casting as Stephen Strange, never quite as smarmy as his Sherlock Holmes but exuding just enough egotism that he can share an inevitable chest-pounding confrontation with Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark in the next Avengers.

The talents of Mikkelsen, whose portrayal of Hannibal Lecter on TV series Hannibal is worthy of sharing Anthony Hopkins’ prized role, are wasted on what is essentially a paint-by-numbers villain no more discernable than Thor: The Dark World ’s Malekith or Guardians of the Galaxy’s Ronan. This is perhaps Marvel’s biggest problem in its cinematic universe; that beyond Avengers and Captain America films the villains could simply be assembled on a factory line and instilled with one egomaniacal character trait or another, whether world domination or eternal life.

~ Tufayel Ahmed, Newsweek