Top reviews for Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange

The reviews for ‘Doctor Strange’ are in… and they’re pretty darn good.

At the time of writing, Benedict Cumberbatch’s turn as hotly-anticipated Marvel’s neuroscientist-turned-mystical superhero is boasting a rare 100% ‘fresh’ rating on reviews aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.

So until someone comes along to spoil the party, it means that all the reviews are good… and in some cases, great.

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Yes, there are some mitigating remarks – there are a few plot points that disappear through the gaps between dimensions – but in the main the movie appears to be a resounding success, thanks in the main to its casting.

The Hollywood Reporter‘s Todd McCarthy calls it ‘an engaging, smartly cast and sporadically eye-popping addition to the studio’s bulging portfolio’.

“You’d normally expect to find the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton and Chiwetel Ejiofor topping the cast of some thematically venturesome, aesthetically respectable British drama set discreetly in the recent past. But here these terrific actors are playing comic book characters in a film the majority of whose audience members may never have seen any of them before,” he adds.

Peter Debruge in Variety adds that the movie ‘boasts an underlying originality and freshness missing from the increasingly cookie-cutter comic-book realm of late’.

“From this second-tier side character, the studio has created a thrilling existential dilemma in which its flawed hero’s personal search for purpose dovetails beautifully with forays into the occult New Age realm of magic and sorcery where Doctor Strange ultimately finds his calling,” he writes.

The film’s psychedelic credentials are also variously remarked upon.

“More mature than its predecessors and the first blockbuster of the modern superhero era ideally viewed on a magic mushroom trip,” says The Daily Beast‘s Jen Yamato.

Says Mike Ryan on Uproxx: “Doctor Strange is basically a reboot of Iron Man, only with a lot more prettier things to look at while you’re stoned. It’s a good strategy. And it works.”

The reviews tally with the Twitter reactions early after the first screenings, which hailed the movie’s effects and ambition.

Den of Geek is somewhat more reserved, but still positive.

“On one hand, Doctor Strange is a bit too clockwork as a story to make it into the top tier of Marvel movies, but on the other hand, its fearless approach to bringing the many weird dimensions that Strange traverses into the MCU emphasizes the studio’s complete confidence in both its material and its ability to sell these heady concepts to a mainstream audience,” it writes.

The movie is released in the UK on October 25.