The impossibilities are endless. That is what Marvel’s newest film, Doctor Strange is telling us over and over. This film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Mads Mikkelsen, and Tilda Swinton, and is the The 14th film in the now critically acclaimed Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU for short). Directed by Scott Derrickson, who was also the director of The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, the film has released in North America on November 4th, 2016, and has been met with immensely positive reception upon release.

With all this good news in the movie’s favor, it was no surprise that I approached its North American release in high anticipation. I pre-ordered the tickets a week and a half in advance, and on November 5th, I walked into the theater with the greatest of expectations. Unfortunately, I walked out after 112 minutes sadly disappointed. To elaborate, Doctor Strange is by no means a failure. However, compared to what other MCU entries gave, the film offers significantly less.

What certainly lives up to the promise are the visuals. In fact, I’d say that Doctor Strange is a film you should watch on the big screen if to simply experience the visuals. Less than an hour into the film, we already get a testament to that, when the Ancient One sends Strange into the Astral Plane and then through the countless dimensions. While the rest of the movie doesn’t come to that level of queerness, there are still several great scenes where magic is unleashed. Cities fold. Buildings twist. The very air becomes a kaleidoscope. With all this, Doctor Strange turns out to be the best visual not only in the MCU, but in modern cinema.

The film does offer more than just eye candy, as it is backed up by a firm cast. Benedict Cumberbatch doesn’t disappoint, pulling off the rude and justifiably cocky attitude of the doctor excellently. Tilda Swinton, despite the whitewashing controversy surrounding her casting, pulls off the Ancient One fantastically. When you look at her, you get the sensation that she’s not tied down by age, gender, or race. She is wise and kind, yet she has an underlying dangerous side to her that tells you she’s not someone you want as your enemy. Chiwetel Ejiofor is another favorite, as he, while serving his role as a sort of sidekick to Strange, undergoes his own character arc which I won’t spoil right now. But what I do know is that should this film get a sequel, it’s going to have a great villain.

However, the other members of the cast is where my gripes about this film start, though it’s more due to their characters rather than their acting skills. There is an old saying that all MCU villains are poorly written, save for a very few exceptions. While I personally don’t agree with that, the villain Kaecillius won’t help my case in the slightest. Surely there were better ways to use Mads Mikkelsen, like how Hannibal (2015) or Casino Royale (2006) did. To his credit, he does carry around a quiet charisma around him, instead of being a cackling maniac bent on destroying the world, buy the problem is, he’s made out to be an antithesis to Strange, in that they are both arrogant men who are staunch in their own ways. However, the film never takes the time to expand on that part, and since we never see how Kaecillius turned to the dark side in the first place, it makes him even less intriguing.

The biggest problem of this movie, however, would be arguably the most crucial component of all – the plot. While I can say I did enjoy this movie as a spectacle, I can also say that it won’t win over those who look for more substance beyond the mind-bending visuals. Simply put, Doctor Strange’s plot is generic, simple, and rushed.

I can excuse the opening act for skipping over a major chunk of the film, but the film never stops cutting out what could have been interesting scenes, instead choosing to rush it all by so I can barely keep up with what’s going on. For instance, it’s unclear as to how much time Strange spent training under the Ancient One, but it is implied that it was at least a year or two, and the film doesn’t do a good job in conveying that passage of time.

It also doesn’t do a good job in escalation. Instead of slowly building up the threat with repeated encounters or scenes pertaining to the villain, the film decides to drop the entire climax on us after a little over an hour and move along to the ending. When the film goes from a rushed but quiet training montage to a rushed and explosive battle montage, it feels clunky to no end and I think the film suffers because of it.

Personally, I think 112 minutes was nowhere near enough to properly flesh out the story. The previous MCU film, Captain America: Civil War, got a whole 147 minutes to itself; couldn’t this film have gotten extra time to see more of Strange training, the villain’s past, and more encounters between the two conflicting sides?

Doctor Strange is certainly a blast to watch, and its visual creativity is second to none. But what’s good effects and action when its story is unwieldy and rushed? I can say with confidence that this film is a visual milestone of cinema, and I would rewatch it in a heartbeat if only to experience those marvels onscreen again. But the final product is a drab origin story that fails to establish its identity outside of its visuals.

Final Verdict: 3.5/5

Doctor Strange‘s mind-bending action and visual creativity smartly mask its rushed pacing, by-the-book story, and an underdeveloped villain.