Benedict Cumberbatch plays Stephen Strange a world renowned surgeon who, after a car accident that destroyed his hands, searches the world for any kind of medicine that can repair them. What he finds is a big magical place with magic and magicians. I mean, that’s the general gist.

There is a great cast, and slightly racist undertones, awaiting us in what will be Marvel’s most unique movie yet if the source material is anything to go by.

– Play It Again, Sam

Every trailer these days has a monotonous piano note opening it so it’s probably no surprise that this one has the same. It replaced the Inception “WOMP”, although this has that too. What tickled me, however, was that this one has the main character actually playing it!

This is all just to highlight Strange’s hands because they are a huge factor in his story. But still, it got a chuckle out of me.

– You Gotta Hand It To Him

They’re starting to show his magic in action and I like how there is a uniformity with how Marvel presents its magic across titles but also how there is a similarity with Tony Stark’s holographic technology too.

– Kaecilius… Movement of Jah People

I don’t want to give away spoilers for the movie, but I really like how we are presented the bad guys in the trailer. It’s really hard to say anymore without revealing a lot, but I think audiences are going to enjoy the hero/villain dynamic in this film.

– The World’s End

If nothing else, this trailer lets you know that you’re in for a bit of a mind bending time. I like that. This is going to be different. We’re not going to get a standard action movie.

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Overall: This is going to be a very special-effects heavy movie so it makes sense that a lot of it wasn’t done for the first trailer. Now that more and more is being revealed it’s starting to look like Doctor Strange could end up being something both very different and a possible sleeper hit.

If you put aside the problematic “white saviour” motif in Doctor Strange’s story, and admittedly I’m asking you to put a pretty big issue aside, the creation of this project has been great. Benedict Cumberbatch’s casting is a great fit for the comic book character. A wonderful cast surrounds him with Rachel McAdams, Mads Mikkelsen, Tilda Swinton, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Everything looks great, right?

Sure, but only if you forget that the very idea of a white man traveling to Asia to learn their secrets and ending up the most skilled person in their dark arts is all kinds of bad. But, and here’s the crux of when things become complicated, Marvel are trying to keep loyal to its source material (which as we all know is why their films have done better than any other comic book ones). That’s great. When the source material has racist undertones, that’s not great. But they have to stay true, right? Well, they changed The Mandarin in Iron Man 3 because of racist undertones, so why can’t they do it now? Oh, it works better for you when you remove an Asian actor rather than add one? Ok, I see how it is.

Anyway, long story short, my excitement for this movie is conflicted a little. You should probably know that before you hear my thoughts on the trailer…

– Water Avatar

This shows Stephen scrubbing up before surgery but his hand movements are a nice little nod to his conjuring hands from the comics. You’ll recognise its similarity to how Wanda moved her hands in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

– Original Origin Origami

If you’re not aware of Strange’s backstory, to quote Yoda, you will be. But for now, I’ll tell you that the car crash at the start of the trailer ruins his hands and he can never do surgery again. Lots of visuals regarding that in this trailer and to be honest it’s the least interesting part of Strange’s story so to see them lean so heavily on it here is disappointing.

– Boom Shake The Room

Tilda Swinton’s Ancient One allows us to see how they’re going to show a very big part of Strange’s power, him stepping out of his corporeal form. I have to say, it looks pretty good. A lot better than the dodgy fake beard Cumberbatch is sporting.

– The Mind Trap

If you’ve ever read a Doctor Strange comic then you’ll know that most of what his adventures consist of is mind-bending visuals and head-f%$@ing ideas. It’s nice to see they’re not going to scrimp in that regard when it comes to the movie. Hopefully, some kids will come out of the cinema wanting to expand their horizons.

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Overall: I’m not particularly impressed by what I see in this trailer, which is the very definition of the term teaser. It mainly consists of footage from before anything would really happen in the movie (i.e. before he becomes the hero) and that doesn’t really interest me. Plus, I literally laughed out loud when I heard Cumberbatch’s American accent. He sounds like Doctor House who, by the way, is another Englishman doing a dodgy American accent.

I don’t know, you guys. I just don’t know…