christian movie reviews dr strange

Doctor Strange

Reviewed by: Jessica D. Lovett CONTRIBUTOR

self-centeredness

arrogance and pride, compared to humility

dealing with personal tragedy

magic and magicians in the Bible

sorcery in the Bible

enchantments

alternate dimension

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personal story: Jesus Christ 2, Buddha 0

Propelled by selfish ambition to discover the power of witchcraft and sorcery in order to participate in a spiritually based faction wrought with strife

Sequel: “ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ” (2022)

M arvel’s newest comic book based film, “Doctor Strange” is the most visually stunning, creative film set in the Avengers universe, so far. Where the Avengers movies take you flying by buildings and careening over fiery explosions, “Doctor Strange” takes you through rainbow-tinted alternative dimensions in time and space and racing madly over folding scenery as it collapses around you! It is a psychedelic, extremely witty, fairy tale completely unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, though it does have a kind of Harry Potter slash Matrix vibe.

It also turns the whole superhero idea on its head, equating the power of magic with something to be attained as one gains a higher personal spirituality. For example, more difficult spells are mastered as one reaches higher levels of spiritual enlightenment. Michael Giacchino’s (composer for “Star Trek Beyond,” “Ratatouille,” “Up,” “Jurassic World”) sweeping, breathtaking score is the perfect backdrop for the impossible sights of the film. With so many films being predictable, plot-driven or remakes of very familiar tales, “Doctor Strange” certainly takes many flights of fancy that one cannot anticipate beforehand, which in itself is a treat.

Doctor Stephen Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) is a gifted neurosurgeon who seems to have all the worldly trappings of success: a penthouse apartment, fancy sports car, patients begging to be seen by him, and respected speaking engagements. His world is anchored by the dexterity and control of his hands and his renowned skill in surgery. In a car accident on the way to one of his speaking engagements, his hands are injured beyond repair, and it is all he can do after much therapy to write his name in the shaky handwriting of a 5-year-old. Seeing his existence as shattered and hopeless , he pours his remaining fortune into finding a cure for his hands in order to regain his career.

Stumbling into the story of someone in similar situation who was healed beyond predictions after going to a mysterious sanctuary in the Himalayas, he buys a one-way ticket there with his last cent. There he meets The Ancient One ( Tilda Swinton ) who ushers her new pupil into the world of spiritual warfare and the power of the mind over matter.

A much more multifaceted and deep plot than previous Marvel films, “Doctor Strange” explores many different ideas about life and the struggle that all have for inner peace. The film makes the audience come to terms with what moral or societal rules they would deem acceptable to break in order to save others’ lives. Also, exploring the themes of mind-over-matter, the validity of achievement out of hubris vs. humility , atheism vs. religion, career as idolatry, the role of a physician in the lives of patients, single universe vs. multiverse, and personal loyalty, this film turns over many philosophical themes that simply do not fit in other comic book superhero films that are have more science-based plots than does the mystical, seeking story of Dr. Stephen Strange.

Adam Frank , astrophysicist at the University of Rochester who served as a consultant for the film, explained the rift like this:

“People often want to talk about the Marvel Cinematic Universe and science, but here’s a place where really, what we’re looking at is the Marvel Cinematic Universe and philosophy. The real question here is the mind-body problem, which goes back to Plato and Aristotle, but really to Descartes. What is the relationship between [the] mind—not just our thinking, but our subjective experience of the world—and matter? Many people in science will come at a reductionist perspective—that you are nothing more than your neurons, and your neurons are nothing more than quarks, so that the fundamental objects and their rules determine everything that happens on larger structures. But a nonreductionist perspective says no, there’s actually something more going on there—that mind experience cannot be reduced just to gears in your head; there is some way in which there’s something fundamental going on about the universe at the level of experience that has to be included in the counts of atoms. That’s the way we talked about this; that’s the way in for “Doctor Strange.”

Marvel films have always had a profound respect for science and what they have done with “Doctor Strange” is take a very brilliant, scientific character who has built his entire life on the knowledge and boundaries that his science-based education has given him and put him in a compromising situation that forces him to explore the limitless spiritual side of the world that he has never given any regard whatsoever to before. That being said, it has more than its fair share of controversial material that is sure to offend those sensitive to signs of the occult .

“Occult” can be defined by “supernatural, mystical, or magical beliefs, practices, or phenomena.” There is no masking the fact that a black-and-white thinking, logical doctor is led into a fantastical world of “occultism” and that, by default, creates lots of gray areas in his newly reforming points of view about the universe. He experiences spiritual journeys though different kaleidoscope-like places that he finds difficult to fathom. In short, the word that most critics are commonly using to describe this movie is “trippy.” It is that! Mixing up essences of several world religions, “Doctor Strange” has many uses of symbolism and fictitious emblems of opposing spiritual groups to give its story gravitas, but I am honestly not schooled enough in these things to tell if any of the symbols are actually made up for the comic only or are “real” occult images.

Obviously, different groups being assigned a symbol to identify its henchmen and whatnot does not make that symbol inherently evil. However, like many films before it, “Doctor Strange” does use its beguiling imagery to make witchcraft and the occult look powerful, appealing, and to seem like a positive thing to pursue. As Christians, we are called to heed Galatians 5:20 and run from all forms of witchcraft , sorcery , selfish ambition, factions, and strife. Put in a Galatians 5:20 frame, “Doctor Strange” is a film about being propelled by “selfish ambition” to discover the power of “witchcraft” and “sorcery” in order to participate in a spiritually based “faction” wrought with “strife.” I would highly recommend not bringing teens or those who are in the process of incubating young, still-forming, worldviews to the film.

The film is surprisingly low in sexuality, with just a mild cheek-kiss scene, one mention of the term “sleeping together,” and little nudity. There are many gruesome images surrounding Doctor Strange’s surgeries—his own and his patients’. He is seen with extensive injuries and metal pins in his strung-up bloodied hands. Also, there are several violent fight scenes with swordplay, a character being strung up by magical whips, fist fights, and bloody stabbings. In one scene, Doctor Strange is killed and revived in several different violent ways by a demonic warlord of another dimension. There is no smoking or drug use, but, by overturned wine bottles, it is inferred at one point that a character has been drinking. Due to the traumatic images, I would not personally recommend it for children.

While faith Jesus Christ lifts your spirit by setting you free from the binding power of sin and giving you hope in Him, the “dark arts” secretly chain you to its rule with promises of hope and power that are propelled only by selfishness and pride and are truly rooted in the influence of evil. Though the dialog is flawlessly written, and the special effects are jaw-dropping, this very dividing, controversial film is not for everyone , and I encourage you to carefully consider before viewing it.

Violence: Heavy / Profanity: Mild—OMG (2), “h*ll” (1), “a**hole” (2), “a**” (1), s-words (2) / Sex/Nudity: Mild—passionate kiss, references to being lovers, shirtless man

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Catholic Review

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MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

NEW YORK (CNS) — The award for the most appropriate film title of 2022 goes to “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (Disney). Truly, this is a maddening, multidimensional, decidedly strange, yet typically “Marvel”-ous movie based on the comic book series.

Taken at face value, this is your basic popcorn film, designed as grand escapist entertainment. Director Sam Raimi, who helmed the popular Spider-Man film trilogy starring Tobey Maguire, checks all the requisite boxes as the action unfolds at a furious pace with eye-popping special effects. Parents are advised that the violence, though stylized, is intense and sometimes gory, and the language occasionally salty, meaning younger Marvel fans should stick to the comics.

Viewers unfamiliar with the Marvel canon and the interconnectivity of characters and plots will be hopelessly lost as the story, written by Michael Waldron, skips across said multiverse, alternative realities featuring familiar faces (and a boatload of cameos from previous Marvel films).

For the uninitiated, Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), introduced in the eponymous 2016 film, is a neurosurgeon turned grand wizard, having been trained in the dark arts and the manipulation of the astral plane by the supreme sorcerer (and sidekick) Wong (Benedict Wong).

When we last saw the good doctor, he helped Peter Parker (Tom Holland) open the door to another dimension in the recent blockbuster “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”

Old habits die hard, as quickly revealed in “Multiverse of Madness.” But first there is a wedding: Strange’s ex-fiancee, Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), is getting hitched. The former lovers pledge mutual respect and happiness before a gigantic octopus descends, a la King Kong, on Manhattan.

Ah, but this is no ordinary cephalopod. It’s from another universe, and before it is vanquished by Strange and Wong, disgorges a hostage: a young woman named America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez). She has a special gift: the ability to travel at will through the multiverse. That means all the baddies are after her, including versions of Strange in other dimensions.

Among these is a familiar face: Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), also known as the Scarlet Witch. She intends on using Chavez to take her power and travel to another universe where she can, surprisingly, live out her life as a single mother to two moppets, Billy (Julian Hilliard) and Tommy (Jeff Klyne).

But Marvel films are rarely so pro-family, and the wicked witch’s dream would wreak havoc across all universes. A titanic battle ensues halfway across the world between the forces of good (Strange) and evil (Maximoff), with Chavez as the prize.

Needless to say, the unexpected occurs, portals are opened and doppelgangers appear in droves. Strange comes face-to-face with a group of superheroes called the Illuminati, who may or may not be the next generation of Avengers.

“Multiverse of Madness” is awash in silliness and mumbo-jumbo, mixing sorcery, the occult and religious imagery. Sensible viewers will not take this seriously, but impressionable ones may need guidance that this is all harmless make-believe.

The film contains pervasive occult dialogue and action, some stylized violence, fleeting gory images and a handful of crude and profane terms. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

McAleer is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service.

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Dr. Stephen Strange casts a forbidden spell that opens the doorway to the multiverse, including alternate versions of himself, whose threat to humanity is too great for the combined forces of Strange, Wong, and Wanda Maximoff.

Dove Review

The desire to be happy isn’t wrong, but what is allowed in our search for happiness? Are there limits? Wanda Maximoff, now fully realizing her Scarlet Witch persona, has suffered great loss through her childhood and her arc in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now that she’s become ultra-powerful, she decides to do use her abilities to find her kids somewhere in the multiverse.

Dr. Stephen Strange wrestles with the same issue. After a prologue where a Dr. Strange from another universe is willing to sacrifice a teen girl, America Chavez, for what is “good,” the movie cuts to the Dr. Strange from our universe getting ready for Christine’s wedding, the woman he loves but a relationship he has sacrificed for the greater good and Christine’s protection.

America Chavez has a unique superpower – she can move freely between dimensions. However, she can’t control the power. Our Dr. Strange gets involved to protect her from the Scarlet Witch, who hopes to take America’s power, kill the girl, and use that power to find a dimension where her magical kids (from the Disney+ show, WandaVision) actually exist and live with them.

The movie is a scary and violent ride through different worlds, complete with great cameos from the MCU. Viewers would appreciate seeing WandaVision, the first Dr. Strange, and the major Marvel movies to understand the plot. The excellent special effects are amazing eye candy and help tell the story well. Dr. Strange struggles with the same theme of sacrificing for what is right rather than what makes him happy.

While the foul language is less than most of the former MCU movies, and there aren’t any problems with nudity or sex, the violence is more brutal and bloodier than any of the others before it, flirting with an R rating. The death count is intense and gruesome for PG13. Dr. Strange is a sorcerer, so the high levels of spell casting are expected, but it becomes darker with the manipulation of outright evil magic through the Darkhold, the Book of the Damned, even by Dr. Strange. The film is more of a horror movie, including raising the dead, murder, zombies, occultist symbols, and souls from hell.

The Dove Take

To its credit, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness shows the importance of choosing what is right for others over ourselves through great writing and mind-bending action, but the level of occult symbols and horror movie violence will be a concern to parents.

Dove Rating Details

Dr. Strange tries to protect America, even teach and empower her instead of use her. Wanda realizes her evil by the end and tries to make it right.

Sh*t and @ss

Gruesome deaths of heroes, monster violence removing an eyeball, zombie and horror-type elements, violence toward a mother in front of children

Casting spells, more dark horror elements, raising the dead, using the souls of the damned, using “evil” magic books, America has two moms.

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4 Things You Should Know about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

• Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
• Updated May 06, 2022

Stephen Strange is an eccentric, middle-aged superhero who is doing his best to move on from a series of life-altering events.

First, he was nearly killed in a car wreck. Then, the woman he loved – Christine – married someone else. And lately, he has been troubled by a series of realistic nightmares in which he’s the bad guy.

Unfortunately for Dr. Strange, though, things are about to get worse.

It all starts when a young woman who calls herself “America Chavez” appears in his life, claiming to be from another universe. She even claims his nightmares are a glimpse of reality from that other universe – and that dozens and dozens of such universes comprise this so-called “multiverse.” Even crazier: She says there are multiple “Dr. Stranges” in the multiverse. She also offers proof, showing Strange a bloody corpse from another universe that, indeed, looks just like him.

America is being chased through the multiverse by a demonic-like being – a being that can destroy Earth and everything we know.

Can Dr. Strange save us?

It’s all part of the new Marvel film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (PG-13), starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange/Dr. Strange, Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez, Benedict Wong as Wong, and Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff.

Here are four things you should know:

Warning: spoilers ahead!

Photo courtesy: ©Disney, used with permission

1. It’s the Sequel to the 2016 Blockbuster

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Dr. Strange is Earth’s protector against supernatural threats from other worlds and dimensions.

2. It Spotlights Dreams, Multiverses and Alternate Realities

In this newest Doctor Strange movie, every individual has alter egos that exist in other universes – alter egos that you occasionally glimpse within your dreams. That frightening dream from the other night? That was a peek at your other self. So was that embarrassing dream and even that boring one.

The film picks up where Disney Plus’ WandaVision left off, with Wanda Maximoff diving into dark magic by using the so-called Darkhold book (also called the “Book of the Damned”) to search for a way to reunite with her twins, Billy and Tommy. (In case you forgot, she used magic in WandaVision  to create the twins and to bring her husband, Vision, back to life so they could live in a magical, idyllic world. In the real world, they don’t exist.)

In Doctor Strange 2 , Wanda’s use of dark power leads her to America Chavez, who (apparently) was born with the power to traverse the multiverse – a power that others, including Dr. Strange and Wanda, don’t possess. Wanda’s goal is to steal Chavez’s power and find a universe where her make-believe family does exist.

Wanda chases America through multiple universes while Dr. Strange and his sorcerer companion, Wong, try to protect her.

Although the multiverse-centered plot gets confusing at times, it’s also – at times – entertaining. Dr. Strange learns that food is free in most universes, unlike on Earth. He also learns that red lights mean “go” – not “stop” – and that cities are covered with vegetation, not concrete.

Of course, Doctor Strange 2 is filled with sorcery, magic (both good and bad) and spells. If that troubles you, then you better skip it.

3. It’s all about Loneliness, Temptation and Regret

Don’t let the special effects, one-on-one battles and alien monsters fool you. Doctor Strange 2  is really about temptation, regret and the God-given desire for a family. (Even though, mind you, God doesn’t get verbal credit.)

Wanda, too, is living with regret – although it’s far more tragic. That’s because in Avengers: Infinity War, she had killed her love interest, Vision, in order to obtain the so-called Mind Stone and save the universe from Thanos (who wanted the stone). Ever since Vision’s death, Wanda has been tempted to use her sorcery powers to bring Vision back to life. In WandaVision and now in Doctor Strange 2 , she turns to dark magic in a Faustian-type bargain to create a family. Strange, too, is tempted to turn to evil in order to be married to Christine.

The film is only the latest major movie with a plot focused on multiverses and alternative realities – storylines that underscore our God-given desire to live forever. Of course, that’s possible through Christ. It’s even possible to obtain the joy and peace Wanda and others are chasing – without inventing an alternate reality.

That’s worth discussing over coffee.

4. It’s Part-Superhero Movie, Part-Horror Film

This isn’t a typical Marvel film. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness  includes several scenes that were seemingly borrowed from a horror flick – and that, no doubt, would give some children nightmares. In one scene, Wanda (also known as the Scarlet Witch) walks slowly toward her victim, with dried blood covering half her face. (It’s reminiscent of the 1976 film Carrie .) In another scene, Dr. Strange uses his powers to give life to a zombie-looking corpse, who then performs magic with demons flying all around. (The zombie is missing part of his face.) The phrase “go back to Hell ” is said once – and it matches the on-screen imagery.

We see one person die by being “melted.” We see another person die by having his neck snapped. Still, another person dies by being sliced in half. (We see the blood on the weapon.) Several times in the film, we see people with white demonic-like eyes. The film also contains some coarse language (much of it said by Dr. Strange – details below).

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness  has a mind-bending plot – but too few uplifting moments. The final scenes are particularly dark. For young children, it may be too much.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, frightening images and some language. Language details: a-- (3), s--t (2), d--n (1), h-ll (5), GD (1).

Entertainment rating:  3 out of 5 stars.

Family-friendly rating:  2 out of 5 stars.  

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

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Doctor strange.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 41 Reviews
• Kids Say 181 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Mysticism, humor, and action surround unique Marvel hero.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Doctor Strange is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but focuses on sorcery rather than more traditional superhero powers. At the start, the main character (Benedict Cumberbatch) is arrogant and selfish, but he slowly learns humility: to better himself and to think of others…

Why Age 12+?

Lots of mass destruction of buildings and property. A beheading (no gore shown).

One "s--t," plus a couple uses of "a--hole," "ass," and "hell."

Two characters have had an intimate relationship, and they talk comfortably toge

A character buys Kettle chips from a vending machine; sign for Yakult drinkable

Any Positive Content?

The ultimate lesson is one of humility -- i.e. "It's not about you." Arrogance a

As Marvel heroes go, Doctor Strange is closer to Tony Stark/Iron Man than he is

Violence & Scariness

Lots of mass destruction of buildings and property. A beheading (no gore shown). Frequent martial arts fighting, with some "magical" weapons (swords and whips made of light). Scenes on an operating table, with some bloody parts shown. Bloody scratches on the main character's face. Brutal car crash (character was texting while driving), with bloody hands and face. A terrible fall from a height, crashing through glass. Arguing. Some scary sequences (a brief nightmarish "journey" with grabbing hands).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Two characters have had an intimate relationship, and they talk comfortably together. Mention of "sleeping together."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

A character buys Kettle chips from a vending machine; sign for Yakult drinkable yogurt. This is also part of the Marvel franchise, which has vast quantities of tie-in merchandise.

Positive Messages

The ultimate lesson is one of humility -- i.e. "It's not about you." Arrogance and selfishness are limited, unfulfilling paths; learning to better yourself and following a path that isn't always easy provide greater rewards. Perseverance pays off. But rather than fight against a current, it can sometimes be better to surrender and use the current's power to your benefit. Argues that sometimes breaking the rules a little is necessary to get a job done. (And don't text and drive!)

Positive Role Models

As Marvel heroes go, Doctor Strange is closer to Tony Stark/Iron Man than he is to Steve Rogers/Captain America. He starts the story as arrogant and afraid but slowly learns humility -- to see a greater good outside his own wants and needs. He enters the battle even though he doesn't want to and even though he hasn't yet mastered his powers.

Parents need to know that Doctor Strange is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but focuses on sorcery rather than more traditional superhero powers. At the start, the main character ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) is arrogant and selfish, but he slowly learns humility: to better himself and to think of others. Frequent comic book-style action violence includes large-scale destruction, a brutal car crash (the result of texting and driving), bloody wounds and scenes at an operating table, and a terrible fall from a height, crashing through glass. There's also martial arts fighting, fighting with "magical" weapons, a beheading, and other brief, scary stuff. A couple is said to have been in a relationship, and there's a mention of "sleeping together." Language includes one "s--t," two uses of "a--hole" and an "ass." The doctor is an unusual, but very entertaining, member of the superhero club, and the movie's mystical elements provide food for thought as well as fun. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (41)
• Kids say (181)

Based on 41 parent reviews

Sorcery and black magic

Not a kids movie, too much blood and disturbing imagery, what's the story.

In DOCTOR STRANGE, the title character ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) is a skilled surgeon who's both successful and arrogant. After crashing his sports car, he finds that his hands are useless, and medical science can't restore them. But he hears of a man who was able to walk again after a spinal injury and seeks the source of this rumor, an Ancient One ( Tilda Swinton ) in Kathmandu, Nepal. At first the doctor mocks the Ancient One's claims that healing his spirit can heal his body, but he finds her powers genuine and begs to be taught. His training goes better than expected: It even appears that Doctor Strange might be a natural-born sorcerer. But a villain, Kaecilius ( Mads Mikkelsen ), has stolen pages from one of the Ancient One's spell books and intends to use them to bring a dark dimension to Earth. Has Strange learned enough to stop this evil from happening?

Is It Any Good?

Marvel's 14th Cinematic Universe movie has all the usual action and explosions, but it also has a different type of main character -- one who's magical and appealingly flawed but willing to change. Chiefly known as a horror director, helmer Scott Derrickson unexpectedly adds plenty of playfulness and humor to a story that could have been steeped in self-serious exoticism and mysticism. It helps that Cumberbatch and Swinton, as well as Benedict Wong as the keeper of the spellbook library, bring so much personality to their roles.

Most of Doctor Strange 's seriousness is a burden carried by Chiwetel Ejiofor 's Mordo character, but comic fans will at least know the reason why. Unfortunately, the best character moments tend to cool down and fizzle out during the big action sequences. But some of those scenes, which have beautiful "folding" effects as the sorcerers change the environment around them, are quite impressive, especially as Strange learns his powers. As the movie's climax arrives, the action becomes bigger and less involving. Still, it's thrilling to see Strange embrace his inner spirit, finding power by going with the current, instead of against it.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Doctor Strange 's violence . How does it compare to what you've seen in other Marvel movies? Is there a difference in the impact of hand-to-hand combat and catastrophic, buildings-collapsing type of explosions?

As the movie begins, how is the doctor selfish and arrogant? How does he learn to change these things? How does he demonstrate humility and perseverance ? Why are these important character strengths ?

Why do you think the Marvel comics have turned into such well-received movies? How does Doctor Strange fit in? How is he different?

What lessons does Doctor Strange learn from the Ancient One? Could you apply any of these lessons to your own life?

How does the movie address texting and driving ? Do the consequences seem realistic?

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 4, 2016
• On DVD or streaming : February 28, 2017
• Cast : Benedict Cumberbatch , Rachel McAdams , Tilda Swinton
• Director : Scott Derrickson
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Topics : Superheroes , Adventures
• Character Strengths : Humility , Perseverance
• Run time : 115 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : sci-fi violence and action throughout, and an intense crash sequence
• Award : Common Sense Selection
• Last updated : July 21, 2024

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What to watch next.

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Why One Christian Film Critic Is Slamming Marvel's Doctor Strange

While most comic fans and critics who've seen Marvel's Doctor Strange in advanced screenings seem to not only appreciate, but also enjoy, the film that Scott Derrickson has put together, there are still those who aren't buying what the MCU is selling. Predictably, one such nay-sayer is a Christian film critic, a man by the name of Dr. Ted Baehr, who believes that Benedict Cumberbatch 's introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe will also serve as an introduction to something else entirely: a life in the black arts of the occult!

Dr. Baehr and the organization he chairs, the Christian Film & Television Commission, issued a press release today that denounces the Marvel Studios film for the following reasons, complete with corresponding Bible verses:

[Doctor Strange is] a dangerous introduction to demonic occult deception. ... The Bible clearly warns against the kind of occult practices and sorcery the hero in this movie learns to do, in Deuteronomy 18:9-12 and Galatians 5:20. Also in the movie, the hero's New Age, occult guru teaches there may be no afterlife, that death is truly the end, and that this is a good thing.

As far as the Bible verses go, Doctor Strange would definitely be in trouble, as Deuteronomy pretty much states no witches or wizards, whatsoever. As for the specifics set by Galatians, "idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, and divisions," are all considered "works of the flesh." Considering that covers basically the entire film's plotline, that just sinks the film into further hot water with practicing Christians who strictly abide by such guidelines. Though, looking at the coverage for Scott Derrickson's previous films through the Christian film watchdogs at MovieGuide, this is almost par for the course.

With the obvious exception of The Exorcism of Emily Rose , which only scored a rating of "-1, Caution" on MovieGuide's scale of appropriateness, Sinister , as well as Doctor Strange , have both ranked in with the lowest rating of "-4, Abhorrent" on that same scale. While that's not a completely glowing recommendation for Derrickson's work from the site, it's amazing that the site would think of Sinister or even Doctor Strange as such vehemently objectionable material.

With the former basically punishing its protagonist for digging too deep into his investigation of the occult, and the latter depicting a hero who learns humility through sacrifice, one would think that these values would hold up with Christian viewers. However, rules are rules, and considering the occult is a big part of Derrickson's resume, his latest film must look like the latest in a line of abhorrent product. Which is a shame, because with the right framing and discussion, Doctor Strange could be an excellent parable of good moral fiber.

Thankfully, you'll have the chance to see for yourself tomorrow, as Doctor Strange will debut in early screenings as early as tomorrow night.

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness labors under the weight of the sprawling MCU, but Sam Raimi's distinctive direction casts an entertaining spell.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness delivers all the action and visual excitement you want in a Marvel movie while taking the franchise in a much darker direction.

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness review: The loopiest, bloodiest Marvel movie yet

Turn and face the Strange, one far-out multiverse at a time.

Give Sam Raimi a multiverse, and he will take a mile. The director's Doctor Strange (in theaters May 6) feels like many disparate and often deeply confusing things — comedy, camp horror, maternal drama, sustained fireball — but it is also not like any other Marvel movie that came before it. And 28 films into the franchise, that's a wildly refreshing thing, even as the story careens off in more directions than the Kaiju-sized octo-beast who storms into an early scene, bashing its tentacles through small people and tall buildings like an envoy from some nightmare aquarium.

There are monsters everywhere in The Multiverse of Madness , the first one in a chaotic dream sequence that opens the story without preamble or explanation: All that Benedict Cumberbatch 's dapper, fussy Master of Mystic Arts knows when he wakes up is that he had to battle some glimmering incubus to save a girl, and that he died trying. The girl, it turns out, is named America Chavez ( The Baby-Sitters Club 's Xochitl Gomez), and she calmly sets him straight: It wasn't a dream, it was an alternate universe, which means there are infinite Other Stephens out there, fighting the same fight.

More ex-girlfriends too, though in this world the only one who matters, Christine Palmer ( Rachel McAdams ), is still marrying a man who isn't him. More pressingly, there's an unknown quantity of Wandas ( Elizabeth Olsen ) on the loose, and Wanda wants her children back, even if she conjured them from pure wishful thinking. Because Wanda is also the Scarlet Witch, reluctant supervillain, her whims can destroy worlds — and she's already begun by coming after America, whose universe-hopping abilities are the only thing she believes will reunite her with her two little boys, alive in every dimension but the one she's stuck in.

Whether this all sounds elementary to you or vaguely insane depends heavily, of course, on your familiarity with the MCU; there are no guard rails or lit-up walkways for the uninitiated here. Raimi, who made his name with the Evil Dead series and movies like Darkman and A Simple Plan before helming the first three Spider-Man entries in the early 2000s, freely treats it as license to let his freak flag fly, though it takes him about an hour to ramp up to full pandemonium, maybe because he has so much mythology and green screen to work in. (The number of cameos from the extended cinematic universe that drew gasps and cheers at a preview screening are numerous and worth not spoiling, though the internet is more than happy to correct that for you.)

The script, by Michael Waldron ( Loki , Rick and Morty ) skims over most of what you might traditionally call storyline, frog-hopping hectically across moods and bits of exposition to get to the next explosive set piece. But he does it nimbly too, throwing off one-liners and winks to the genre like flashbangs. Cumberbatch, his body superhero-yoked and his hair streaked with two paintbrush swipes of white at the temples, picks up those bits like little bonbons and rolls them around on his tongue, delighted. Olsen is another kind of movie, often by herself: a wrecked, furious woman from an Ibsen drama, desperate to get back to the things she's lost.

The fact that actors of this caliber — Chewitel Ejioifor , Benedict Wong , Patrick Stewart , and Michael Stuhlbarg also appear, some of them for only a handful of lines — is testament to the sheer gravitational pull of Marvel; you've never seen McAdams tell a bunch of swirling zombie goblins to go back to hell, and you probably never will again. Raimi mostly lets them in on the joke, though he also sends several of them off to spectacularly showy deaths (with many universes come many spares). He generally seems to thrill at throwing out the rule book, zipping giddily between dimensions — one is made of cubes, another bright splashes of paint — and reveling in a kind of squishy, explicit gore that the MCU's bloodless violence often studiously avoids.

In a movie that already contains multitudes, finding a throughline can feel like reaching for a rope swing in the dark; characters are grounded in urgent emotional intimacy one moment, and throwing bolts of CG lightning at demon-octopi the next. Chavez, as the girl the fate of all this relies on, is plucky and smart, but too broadly drawn to really register as her own distinct person rather than a carefully market-tested symbol. (More than once, someone says "We have to save America!" straight-faced.) In many ways, Strange is a mess, and probably 20 minutes too long at two hours (which in Marvel math, is still practically a haiku). It's rarely boring though, down to the last obligatory post-credit scene — whether or not there's method in the Madness . Grade: B

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On the surface, “Doctor Strange” pushes the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a bold new direction. By eschewing the usual stories of technologically-gifted playboys and noble super soldiers for a world ruled by magic, “Doctor Strange” feels fresh. It crackles with energy, moving from one plot point to the next, not wasting any moment. This was also the first time I ever noticed the musical score on my first viewing of a Marvel film—it doesn’t create an iconic theme for its hero but imbues the film with the appropriate mood. The visuals are electrifying and CGI is used very well to build a world far different than anything else we’ve seen in superhero adaptations recently. But for all of its wondrous world-building and trippy effects, “Doctor Strange” isn’t the evolutionary step forward for Marvel that it needs to be storytelling-wise. Underneath all of its improvements, the core narrative is something we’ve seen countless times.

Doctor Stephen Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) is a genius, rich neurosurgeon with an ego that could rival Tony Stark’s. He moves through the world with little regard for the people around him. After being distracted looking at medical documents while driving (he may be smart but his ego makes him think he’s invulnerable), Strange gets into a brutal car accident that wrecks his hands. His scarred, trembling hands are a constant reminder of the man he once was and never will be again. This doesn’t make Strange rethink the way he lives. Instead, as one surgery after another fails, he becomes crueler and more withdrawn, even lashing out at ex-lover/co-worker Christine Palmer ( Rachel McAdams ), who is the last person on whom he can depend; his world of medicine and science has failed him. But after receiving a tip from Jonathon Pangborn (a charismatic, underutilized Benjamin Bratt ), Strange finds himself under the tutelage of The Ancient One ( Tilda Swinton ) in Nepal, who opens him up to worlds he never believed existed. The visual landscape of their first encounter is the film at its most daring. We’re privy to worlds full of neon purples, cerulean blues and blood reds. We watch Strange become enveloped by hundreds of hands as if out of a nightmare. He bounces between dimensions that resemble the dark beauty of outer space to those that are a kaleidoscope of colors. Even a man as arrogant as Strange can’t deny what he’s been shown.

Strange may be a character that hews too close to the model of rich, egotistical white men with which superhero films are obsessed. But the film had the opportunity to do something different, by showing the interior of a character forced to rethink everything he knows and the nature of reality itself. Instead, "Doctor Strange" falls into some significant narrative mistakes.

One of the most glaring sins of “Doctor Strange” is how quickly Strange masters magic. There isn’t much tension in his arc. While he struggles briefly at first to keep up with other students The Ancient One has taken under her care, he’s soon stealing sacred books out from under Wong ( Benedict Wong ), the sharp-eyed master who protects the texts at The Ancient One’s behest. Strange plays by his own rules, growing far beyond the skills of those around him. He even goes as far as bending time, secretly reading from forbidden texts and wielding the Eye of Agamotto. When Karl Mordo ( Chiwetel Ejiofor ) remarks that Strange seems destined for this, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Of course he was. 

In effect, Strange is proven right. Who cares about rules and breaking the laws of nature when you’re actually right, and in turn you save the world? Strange never grows much as a character since he proves to be right about far too much, justifying his ego and rank arrogance. Cumberbatch is having considerable fun with the role (although he brings nothing unexpected) but he can’t distract from how nothing in Strange’s story feels earned. You also can’t ignore that “Doctor Strange” is essentially the story of a white man who travels to an “exotic” land, whose culture and people he doesn’t respect let alone know the language of. Yet somehow he just happens to realize he’s a natural at magic and gets good enough to beat practitioners who have been doing this for years.

In this way, “Doctor Strange” reveals the precarious place in which superhero films find themselves. Director Scott Derrickson and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige have repeatedly defended this movie's controversial casting. They’re very aware of the increasing expectation of audiences. But it isn’t enough to cast actors like Benedict Wong and Chiwetel Ejiofor in supporting roles, you have to give them something interesting to do. And as fun and light as “Doctor Strange” is, it is impossible to ignore the problems inherent in casting Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One.

Swinton inhabits the sorceress with her trademark oddity and cutting humor. It takes only a careful tilt of her head or blithe remark to Strange to believe this woman has lived for hundreds of years. In many ways, Swinton’s presence seems to be from another film entirely—one that would truly embrace the weirdness of the premise beyond some trippy visual effects.

Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill have spoken at length about the decision to cast Swinton in a role that was originally a Tibetan man in the comics. They feared casting an Asian man or even woman would mean the character would fall into well-worn stereotypes. So, they whitewashed the role. If the only way you can bypass these issues is to whitewash the part (yet keep the Asian setting and vague mysticism), the problem isn’t the character, it’s your lack of imagination as a creator. The filmmakers behind “Doctor Strange” may be well-intentioned but that doesn’t soften the racism threading the movie. Despite the desire to be inventive, “Doctor Strange” unfortunately repeats many of the mistakes of its predecessors beyond uncomfortable racial politics.

There are many great actors that color the film's margins, but “Doctor Strange” doesn’t make the best use of them. Rachel McAdams plays one of the most poorly written superhero love interests I think I’ve ever seen. She has a warm, flirtatious energy that is a welcome addition to the movie. But she isn’t a person so much as a convenient prop forgotten about for long stretches until Strange needs her.

"Doctor Strange'"s worst sin in terms of casting comes in its villain. At this point, has any major franchise wasted as many great actors in thinly-written villain roles as the MCU? Mads Mikkelsen is an amazing actor who often creates an alluring mix of darkness, pathos and passion. His unsettling screen presence is perfect for this kind of story. But Kaecilius, a former pupil of The Ancient One, has such muddled motivations and little interiority that Mikkelsen is surprisingly forgettable. Strange’s battle with him ultimately comes down to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Strange doesn’t care about being a hero. The juxtaposition between Kaecilius and Strange is one of the more ill-thought out central conflicts from a blockbuster in a long time. They aren’t battling because of opposing ideologies or deep emotional history. They’re simply an inconvenience to each other. If anything, Mordo’s obsession with order would make him a more compelling foil for Kaecilius.

Undoubtedly, the best aspect of the film is its rich visuals. From costume design to CGI to its framing, “Doctor Strange” is a visual feast in ways superhero films rarely are. In the Mirror Dimension, in which the magic of the characters won’t affect people in the real world, the characters cut loose showing off the extent of their abilities. Buildings break apart, fold into each other, reform in ways reminiscent of “ Inception .” Almost every scene bursts with color—crimson, marigold, neon purples, inky blacks. “Doctor Strange” at times takes on the language of video games in ways I’ve never seen before, with its characters being dwarfed by grand, collapsing buildings. The laws of physics are inconsequential here. And after a while the Mirror Dimension feels claustrophobic, a problem that ultimately comes down to the world-building. We get mere sketches of how any of this works. Sure, it’s thrilling to watch. But without understanding the impact of the magic in the Mirror Dimension or the ripple effect of playing with laws of physics it’s hard to feel thrilled, scared or awed after a while. In the end, the beauty and visual effects of “Doctor Strange” are frustratingly weightless.

Even with these considerable faults “Doctor Strange” can also be charming. It’s a spry film brimming with great details, striking imagery and joy. It pushes the MCU into a fascinating world full of magic and villains that exists beyond our understanding of time and reality—maybe next time they’ll do something interesting when they get there.

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Doctor Strange (2016)

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action throughout, and an intense crash sequence.

115 minutes

Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange / Doctor Strange

Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer

Benjamin Bratt as Jonathan Pangborn

Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Karl Mordo

Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecilius

Benedict Wong as Wong

Michael Stuhlbarg as Dr. Nicodemus West

• Scott Derrickson

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• Jon Spaihts
• C. Robert Cargill

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• Sabrina Plisco
• Wyatt Smith
• Michael Giacchino

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‘doctor strange in the multiverse of madness’: film review.

Sam Raimi returns to comic-book movies with a parallel-dimensions Doctor Strange adventure.

By John DeFore

John DeFore

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Longtime Sam Raimi fans may be deflated by an early scene in his return to superhero films, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness . When every sorcerer in the Himalayan hideout of Kamar-Taj takes up arms against the planet’s most powerful threat, a vast, billowing stormcloud would seem to herald a battle with plenty of room for Army of Darkness­ -style mayhem. But instead of Harryhausen skeletons and whiplash camera moves, we get the usual “my magic CGI rays are stronger than your magic CGI rays” business, albeit with a bit of mind-control thrown in.

Don’t despair yet: The director will show flashes of his distinctive style in the very next sequence, and by the end, Madness will become the first Marvel adventure in which a rotting corpse rises to fight alongside the good guys and a swarm of inky demons assembles like a hellish Voltron. Cameras tilt and reflections do scary things. (Yeah, the littlest True Believers should sit this one out.)

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Release date: Friday, May 6 (Walt Disney Studios)

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Rachel McAdams

Director: Sam Raimi

Screenwriter: Michael Waldron

Though unsatisfying in some respects, the film is enough fun to make one wish for a portal to a variant universe in which Marvel movies spent more time exploiting their own strengths and less time trying to make you want more Marvel movies. (Ideally, it would be a world in which this multiverse-centric yarn wasn’t released just weeks after the wilder and more entertaining Everything Everywhere All at Onc e.)

And maybe, in that universe, this film would be the last superhero flick to employ the rapidly aging plot device in which infinite parallel dimensions contain every version of reality you can imagine, and many you can’t. The multiverse is a fascinating idea to daydream about — and, along with simulation theory, may be on track to become something like an agnostic, nihilism-friendly new religion. But while it’s great fodder for one-off films like Everything , page-turning genre novels like Max Barry’s The 22 Murders of Madison May , or the anarchic Rick and Morty , it’s gilding the lily for something like Marvel’s universe, which already contains a practically infinite number of weird characters and unlikely events. Three of Marvel’s biggest recent features (including one of its best, Into the Spider-Verse ) are built entirely upon hopping between parallel universes; throw in similar ideas like time machines that cause splintering timelines, and the conceit starts to look like a franchise-sustaining crutch.

(The multiverse is also great for pandering: Here, an extended trip to one dimension provides for fan-service cameos that tease possible new Marvel productions and briefly bring some What If…? animated characters to life.)

Given all this, it’s surprising the MCU has taken so long to present a character whose most distinctive power lets her open portals between universes. Introduced in Marvel’s printed comics in 2011 and given her own series in 2017, America Chavez (played here by Xochitl Gomez) was born in an Edenic universe and seems to have cast herself out of it: When we see her origin story in flashback, the poor child accidentally shoots her parents into another dimension when she’s frightened. (Those parents are both women; America is what our universe would identify as Latina; and in the comics she’s a lesbian. If right-wing blowhards aren’t already soiling themselves about a woke takeover of comics — “they’re coming for Peter Parker’s job!” — some will be soon.)

Stephen Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) meets America when a giant, many-tentacled cyclops monster starts chasing her through lower Manhattan. But America has met Stephen Strange already: While trying to stay alive in other universes, she has gone to other incarnations of Doctor Strange, each of whom failed to stop her pursuers. Don’t judge them too harshly — it turns out these beasties are controlled by Wanda Maximoff ( Elizabeth Olsen ), whose powers (and grief-fueled madness) have grown immensely since the events of WandaVision .

Wanda (aka The Scarlet Witch) wants to steal America’s portal-making power so she can travel to a dimension in which she really does have the two perfect sons she dreamed up for herself in WandaVision , and she doesn’t care how many people die in the process. (Why not look for a dimension in which her beloved husband Vision is still alive? Nobody asks. But even in her current state, she probably realizes Vision would not approve.)

With the help of his former sidekick Wong (Benedict Wong), who is now the Sorcerer Supreme, our Doctor Strange does manage to keep Wanda at bay temporarily, jumping with America into who-knows-where. The movie has a bit of fun blipping through strange new worlds before landing in a utopian (or merely climate-change-acknowledging) one where skyscrapers are covered with hanging gardens and wind turbines. Here, Stephen Strange is a martyr who gave his life saving the world, and his old comrade-turned-enemy Mordo ( Chiwetel Ejiofor ) reveres the fallen hero.

But all is not as it seems. Cue the aforementioned cameos, which won’t be spoiled here. Suffice to say that this Earth’s surviving heroes see any version of Strange as a threat, thanks to his penchant for believing only he can save the day.

They’re not entirely wrong. As his old flame Christine ( Rachel McAdams ) points out, this Doctor is only comfortable when he’s the guy holding the scalpel. Of the several ideas that recur in Michael Waldron’s script often enough they beg to be identified as Themes, this one’s the most persuasive: From the start, Strange has been an arrogant savior-of-inferiors, a Tony Stark without the misogyny and douchey wardrobe. (Another late-emerging theme in the script, in which people have to urge Strange to face his fears, is much harder to reconcile with what we’ve seen of him to date. Waldron, a multiverse veteran who’s worked on Rick and Morty , melded timeline-hopping and character development much more successfully in the Loki miniseries.)

The action on this Earth — let’s call it the Illuminati Universe — ends with a lot of big-deal deaths, which is no guarantee these same actors won’t play these characters in another version of things down the line. The movie hasn’t done much to give us a feel for who America is — unlike Spider-Man, she’s not so well known you can just drop her into somebody else’s movie and know we’ll fall in love with her — and the character is further diminished when, as they’re moving to the next act, she briefly seems to be here mainly to validate our hero. America has seen dozens of universes and a few Stephen Stranges, but this one, she says, is different. He’s better.

Fortunately, the movie’s last act is its best. Though never as darkly weird as its Lovecrafty title promised, Madness starts to play more to Raimi’s strengths — it’s looser, more kinetic and occasionally goofy despite the big stakes — and to offer some visions that may stick in viewers’ heads even after they’ve started devouring trailers for stories set in Wakanda, Asgard and the Quantum Realm.

There’s been lots of talk recently about Raimi returning to Spider-Man, which might be fun. But the mysteries of Stephen Strange’s arcane world have barely been tapped, and the character seems ready for the kind of left turn Thor took when Taika Waititi got the reins. The inertia of Marvel always points toward galactic-grade threats and pile-ons of superpowered heroes. But it’s fun to imagine them giving Raimi a small fraction of the usual budget, authorizing an R rating for the third Doctor Strange and saying “go make a Sam Raimi horror film.”

Full credits

Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Production company: Marvel Studios Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Rachel McAdams, Michael Stuhlbarg Director: Sam Raimi Screenwriter: Michael Waldron Producer: Kevin Feige Executive Producers: Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Eric Hauserman Carroll, Scott Derrickson, Jamie Christopher Director of photography: John Mathieson Production designer: Charles Wood Costume designer: Graham Churchyard Editors: Bob Murawski, Tia Nolan Composer: Danny Elfman Casting director: Sarah Halley Finn

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Doctor Strange

• Action/Adventure , Drama , Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Caution

In Theaters

• November 4, 2016
• Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange; Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo; Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer; Benedict Wong as Wong; Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecilius; Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One

Home Release Date

• February 28, 2017
• Scott Derrickson

Distributor

Movie review.

You know what they say: When life gives you lemons, conjure an interdimensional portal and chuck those lemons right through it.

Well, all right, maybe that’s not a common saying; not this side of Kathmandu, anyway. And it took Dr. Stephen Strange—a recognized master at interdimensional portal creation—some time to embrace its essence.

Before he started wearing a semi-autonomous cape, Dr. Strange wore surgical scrubs. He was a medical doctor, and a dandy one at that. Blessed with a photographic memory and gifted with a set of preternaturally steady hands, Strange could fix all manner of brain and spine ailments better than anyone else in the world. People marveled at his skill even as they tired of his preening arrogance. And few could argue with his spotless success rate—even as he refused to take cases that might blemish it.

But you know what they say: Pride comes before a horrific car crash in your Lamborghini. And so it is with Strange. On a dark, rainy night, on his way to accept more applause at a black-tie gala, his sports car flies off the road, flips through the air and crashes. When he comes to, Strange finds his stitched, swollen hands are held together by wire and pins. Eleven steel rods have been inserted under the skin in an effort to stabilize their structure.

Yes, he kept his hands. But he lost their magic. They’ll never work their medical wizardry again.

That’s unacceptable to Strange. He tries every option available through Western medicine. And when that doesn’t work, he turns his eyes toward the rising sun. He learns of a man who suffered a severed spinal cord injury and somehow learned to walk again. That man suggests that Strange should travel to Nepal and seek Kamar-Taj: The folks there are pretty good with lost causes.

Desperate, Strange heads to Nepal, discovers Kamar-Taj and meets the Ancient One—a bald-headed woman who looks surprisingly spry, given her name and all. She admits to helping the man. “He couldn’t walk,” she says. “I convinced him he could.” She shows him diagrams showing chakras—supposed energy points in the human body connected with yoga, meditation and Eastern mysticism. Have you seen anything like this? the Ancient One asks.

“In gift shops,” Strange sniffs. Inside, he’s as crushed as his damaged hands. He was looking for a miracle cure. Instead, he finds a rinky-dink New Age commune peddling feeble-minded hokum.

Suddenly, the Ancient One knocks Strange out of his body and sends him hurtling through unimagined realms, galaxies and dimensions. He flies through the universe and finds another and another. He spins through time and matter—soaked in color, drenched in image, places pregnant with beauty and horror.

And then, just as suddenly, he’s back, with the Ancient One gently looking at him.

“Have you seen that before in a gift shop?” she asks.

Well, you know what they say: You can’t judge a book by its cover.

(Well, except for those books locked in chains in the Kamar-Taj library with strange, glowing symbols on their jackets that we’ve not yet gotten to in this review. Yeah, those books you can judge.)

Positive Elements

Dr. Strange may be a great surgeon when the movie begins, but he’s also a big, smirking jerk. He’s reckless, selfish and often tries to embarrass less-talented doctors when he can.

When Strange invites ex-girlfriend Christine to a speaking engagement, he suggests such outings were always fun for the both of them. “They weren’t about us,” Christine says with a smile. “They were about you. Everything’s about you.”

But once he starts hanging out with the Ancient One, Strange begins to see the world in a different way—and not just because it’s constantly twisting into a Picasso painting.

The Ancient One heads a powerful, secret organization tasked with protecting the world from magical, mystical attacks. She tells Strange that while the Avengers safeguard the planet from physical danger, the group she’s a part of is all about spiritual threats. To be a part of the organization requires courage and a willingness to sacrifice your all for others. And she encourages Strange to become one of them.

“It’s not about you,” she says flatly. And eventually, Strange sees that she’s right.

The Ancient One drops wisdom elsewhere, too. Mordo, another of the Ancient One’s star pupils, says that he’s managed to conquer his demons during his stay in Kamar-Taj. The Ancient One corrects him: “We never lose our demons,” she says. “We only learn to live above them.”

Spiritual Elements

When the Ancient One tells Strange that the secret to healing his hands is getting in touch with his spiritual side, Strange pushes back hard. “There is no such thing as spirit!” he bellows. “We are matter and nothing more!” He soon sees otherwise.

Doctor Strange is a deeply spiritual movie, predicated on there being a reality unseen and untouched by science. But everything here is also blanketed by vague Eastern mysticism, magic and the occult.

There’s an effort to make the magic here sound vaguely naturalistic. The Ancient One says that she and her acolytes pull energy from the “multiverse” (an infinite number of universes) to do their thing—comparing it to, say, a mystical, computer-like operating system that works on nature, not silicon circuits. No one prays to any foreign gods here or conjures any actual demons (unlike what apparently sometimes happened in Marvel’s Doctor Strange comic books).

But these energy manipulations are still called “spells,” and their practitioners are called sorcerers. Indeed, the Ancient One is known as the Supreme Sorcerer, a title that’s been passed down for generations. Arcane ceremonies are written in ancient tomes and loaded with mysterious symbols—all trappings of what we cinematically understand as sorcery. And when Kaecilius, the movie’s villain, and his “zealots” try to open a portal (in a Christian church) between our universe and the hellish Dark Dimension ruled by a being known as Dormammu, the ceremony is filled with magical chants as if calling forth a dark, demonic entity.

The library of Kamar-Taj is filled with works of grim arcana: One book Strange studies is the Key of Solomon , a grimoire used centuries ago to allegedly cast spells and call forth dark powers. (Many of the glowing energy signs conjured by the Ancient One and others resemble pentacles published in such books.) Staves, capes and other objects can, we’re told, be imbued with their own magic. Strange and others can also exit their physical bodies and wander around the astral plane.

Kamar-Taj feels a bit like I’d imagine a Buddhist monastery would, full of robes and Nepalese trappings. Some of its teachings have a tang of Taoism—such as when the Ancient One tells Strange that when in a river one should not fight the current but submit to it instead, figuring out ways to channel its natural power.

Before reaching Kamar-Taj, Strange wanders around Kathmandu, running his hands over Buddhist prayer wheels and seeing signs for “Holy Tours.” We see diagrams depicting chakras. Christine refers to Kamar-Taj as a “cult.” When Strange tells her it’s not, she tells him that that’s just what a cultist would say.

Sexual Content

Strange asks Christine if she and another doctor are “sleeping together.” (They’re not.) The two talk about their own former relationship occasionally, with Strange insisting they were “barely lovers.” He later kisses her cheek.

Violent Content

A man is suspended by ropes of energy, groaning in pain. Kaecilius lops off his head. (Audiences see the act only as an indistinct shadow.) People die after falling from great heights. (We see their bodies lying lifeless on the pavement below). People are stabbed with semi-transparent blades of energy and presumably crushed by unfolding, moving buildings. Part of Hong Kong is destroyed: Many are presumably killed, buried in rubble or victims of some of the car crashes we see.

Hands and feet fly during frequent fights. Strange and Mordo spar, catching each other in various holds. Strange is attacked by would-be muggers who punch and kick him until Mordo arrives and fights them off. Strange and a zealot fight in their astral forms, Strange nearly dying in the process. When Christine uses electrical paddles to zap Strange’s physical body back to life, the charge hurts his astral opponent. Strange asks Christine to give him another zap: The subsequent electricity kills his astral foe. (It’s the only person that Strange kills in the movie, and it impacts him deeply. He expresses a disgust for killing, even as Mordo insists that it’s the only way to deal with these evildoers.)

Strange’s car crash is jarring and violent, and we see his hands impact the dashboard. We later see him rushed to surgery, his face bloodied and one eye swollen shut. When he awakens after the operation, he doesn’t look much better … and his stitched hands look horribly swollen and mangled. Operations feature bloody gauze and painstakingly stitched stitches.

[ Spoiler Warning ] Strange is killed several times in a potentially never-ending time loop (a clever way to keep Dormammu from destroying the Earth). He’s blasted, vaporized and impaled several times on screen, each time returning to demand a bargain from Dormammu. “You can’t win,” Dormammu tells him. “No,” Strange admits. “But I can lose. Again. And again. And again.”

Crude or Profane Language

Three s-words, a couple of uses each of “a–hole” and “h—.

Drug and Alcohol Content

After the Ancient One sends Strange on his introductory journey to spiritual parts unknown—the scene mentioned in the introduction—Strange immediately asks whether there was something in his tea. We see a character quickly drain a large mug of beer.

Other Negative Elements

Strange frequently stretches or breaks the rules he’s supposed to be submitting to, from stealing books from the Kamar-Taj library to bending the laws of time and nature. He manipulates time to save innocent civilians and to prevent a massive cataclysm, but a cohort tells Strange that breaking those laws will have consequences. “The bill comes due,” he says. “Always.”

Doctor Strange features something called the “mirror dimension.” In this dimension (which you’re familiar with if you’ve seen the trailer), sorcerers can bend reality with impunity: Buildings fold in on each other and the world becomes a gigantic M.C. Escher picture.

And in a way, the movie itself exists in a fold-’em-up mirror dimension of its own.

Look at, say, the first fold, and Doctor Strange feels a lot like most other movies that take place in the Marvel cinematic universe. In terms of its problematic content, it might even be a tad better than most. It doesn’t feature the sometimes grim violence of a Captain America movie or the frenetic destruction of an Avengers flick. (Indeed, it’s interesting that it’s most spectacular action sequence features buildings being pushed back together , not being pulled asunder.) There’s very little sexuality to speak of. Language is relatively restrained.

But fold it in on itself again, and you see that Doctor Strange is not like anything else in Marvel’s stable up to this point, what with its overt mysticism and surrealism. I’ve mentioned Picasso and Escher already in this movie, so let me throw out one more artist for you: This feels like a Marvel movie tossed in a painting by Salvador Dali, melting watches and all.

Let that fold again, and we see that there’s a lot to be cautious of. Sure, the content is minimal, but Doctor Strange’ s occultish trappings—absolutely inescapable elements of the Marvel character—are everywhere . And unlike a lot of other fantasy stories where magic plays a key role (like, say, Lord of the Rings or even Harry Potter ) , Doctor Strange’ s magic points real-world viewers in some potentially dangerous directions, spiritually speaking.

But then the story folds once more, and we see that underneath these ever-present occult elements, there are some curiously Christian themes in play, too. Consider that our good doctor doesn’t start off being so good in the beginning: He’s a selfish sinner—an atheist who believes that this material world offers the only meaning and happiness possible. Then he gets a glimpse of possibilities beyond scientific comprehension, beauties and mysteries that he can only unlock through submission to something greater than himself. He’s asked to die to the person he was and become something better. He’s asked to sacrifice his own whims and wishes for something higher. Thus, in Doctor Strange , we hear the echo of many a Christian testimony, and we see a hint of Jesus’ own sacrifice for us.

Aesthetically, Doctor Strange is a good movie, one of the strongest in the Marvel canon thus far. But is it a good movie? A movie suitable for you or your family? That depends on where you see the fold.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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DOCTOR STRANGE

"how to kill, steal and destroy".

What You Need To Know:

(OOO, FRFRFR, L, VVV, A, MMM) Extreme occult worldview with extreme, false propaganda where an egotistical, humanist doctor has to learn to be a sorcerer to restore his body, with nominalistic ontology, circular reasoning, depressing dead end world where death is the end, powerful demonic characters, sorcery, occult spells, and evil artifacts promoted; two profanities and seven obscenities; extreme violence, first with bloody operations, next with the battle of sorcerers stabbing and cutting heads off, sorcerers chopping body parts, inflicting torture and pain, and ultimately with the devil Dormammu trying every possible literal way to kill Dr. Strange; no sex, but some mild kissing; no explicit nudity; light alcohol use, use of magic potions; no smoking or illegal drugs; and, extremely explicit descriptions of occult spells and very well thought out descriptions of magical devices.

More Detail:

DOCTOR STRANGE is a well-crafted, but propagandistic and abhorrent promotion of extreme occult Hinduism. Having grown up in the occult, it is interesting to note that many of the major secret teachings of the occult find their way into this movie.

Dr. Strange is an arrogant neurosurgeon in New York City, who tackles the most difficult operations. He’s abusive to almost everyone, including the woman doctor who loves him. After finishing a nearly impossible operation, he is racing his sports car to go to an event to give a lecture when he crashes. He wakes up to find out that his hands have 11 pins in them after hours of operation and have lost their nerves and fine motor control. In other words, he can no longer be a surgeon.

Stephen Strange searches for a solution to his physical problem. Eventually, he finds a man who recovered from his extreme paralysis by going to an occult Hindu ashram in Katmandu. When Strange gets to the ashram, he mocks the woman who is known as the “Ancient One” sorcerer. She kicks him out, and he has to become humble before he can become a student of magical arts.

Dr. Strange learns one of her students, Kaecilius, joined the dark side and stole a very potent incantation from one of the guarded, locked occult books. To steal it, Kaecilius had to cut off the head of the librarian.

Dr. Strange advances rapidly and learns he has to choose between being a doctor and being a warrior sorcerer. He says he took an oath to save life, not to harm it. Now, however, he has to kill, steal and break the laws of nature to protect it.

Strange finds out there are three special sanctums around the world, New York, Hong Kong and London, that keep the world from being invaded by the Devil. When these are destroyed by Kaecilius, Dr. Strange must confront the devil Dormammu. He travels the astral universes to find and bargain with the Dormammu. His only weapons are his ability to put time into an endless loop, which wears the Dormammu down.

After several battles with Kaecilius, one of which ends the life of the Ancient One, Dr. Strange chooses to be a warrior sorcerer. The Ancient One posits that death is the end.

Ultimately, the plot of DOCTOR STRANGE peters out when the only solution to the plot problem is looping time. The weakness in the story is inadvertently expressed by Dr. Strange when he says he took an oath to save lives but not kill them but now, as a sorcerer, he’s killing people. The other weakness is when the Ancient of Days says death is truly the end and that this is a good thing.

The good news, however, is that death isn’t the end and you don’t have to kill to triumph. Jesus says in John 10:10 that “the thief comes to kill, steal and destroy” but that Jesus came to set us free and give us “abundant life.” Thus, God loves us so much that he teaches us to love one another and gives us the free gift of eternal salvation.

To sustain this movie’s miserable occult worldview, the multiverses of time and space have to be subject to mind control, not subject to the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God. Having grown up in the occult and gone to India to visit the international convention of Hindu yogis, I find that the enormity of the task of controlling multiverses and playing God is ultimately depressing and self-destructive. That is why the Gospel of Jesus Christ is such Good News. With the Gospel, we don’t have to play God, and we can love one another.

The acting in DOCTOR STRANGE is good. The music is superb. The direction is strong. However, the plot is worrisome and frightening. There’s a lot of extreme violence, but no sex, nudity or other semantic content problems.

What makes the movie really abhorrent is the boldness with which it presents occultism as the answer to everyone’s problems and tempts those in the audience who think they’re chosen to follow an occult path. All of this occultism is made more potent with lots of humor and very good dialogue. Eventually, the answer to DR. STRANGE is choose this day whom you’re going to serve: Love that sets you free in the person of Jesus Christ; or, magical arts that stroke your ego into a solipsistic prison.

Screen Rant

Christian bale's new horror movie breaks a 24-year streak after divisive 68% cult hit.

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The Bride Gives Christian Bale's A Proper Horror Movie Role At Last

Bale can add great depth and complexity to the classic monster character.

Christian Bale hasn't played too many villains, although it's arguable that Frankenstein's Monster is both a victim and a villain based on the original story written by Mary Shelley. His Patrick Bateman character is undoubtedly a monster in human form and is terrifying in many ways but with American Psycho being more of a dark comedy and psychological horror, Bale has yet to fully embrace a fully transformative role in the horror genre. Bale's Gorr character in Thor showed the depth he can add to a mythical and tragic villain, which is why his Monster in The Bride could be one of his all-time best performances.

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