Doctor Strange ** (2016)

In the latest from the Marvel Factory we are introduced to the mysterious Doctor Strange. Played ably by Benedict Cumberbatch, the first half of the film is engaging. Cumberbatch does a great job with the origins story, playing a brilliant neurosurgeon who loses the use of his hands in a car accident and then searches the ends of the earth for a cure.  One of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's creations from the 1960s, the character was a unique fixture in the Marvel Universe, one who used magic and sorcery to protect Earth from mystical threats.  Being a Marvel film, the second half collapses into a pointless CGI extravaganza. That's not to say all the visuals were boring, there's a colorful journey into another dimension that channels the star chamber of 2001: A Space Odyssey. As the 14th Marvel movie, the question is raised: Can the cinematic experience replicate that of the comic book? I suppose so, but the recent slate of these movies offer little but diminishing returns. As mere escapism, Dr. Strange will suffice.