By George Haerle

For The Daily World

Don’t let the headline fool you, “Doctor Strange” is a wild acid trip without the acid.

The mystic vibe and kaleidoscope of reality-bending special effects are worth the admission alone, and it makes you wonder how many Washingtonians will be stopping by their local pot shop before buying a ticket to “Doctor Strange” — a prerequisite I can neither recommend nor condemn.

But “Doctor Strange” seems to be a very familiar movie in many ways, especially in its story and villain, the weakest points of the film.

However, the weakest points in a Disney/Marvel production are still above average compared to most others.

The biggest drawback of “Doctor Strange” is that the story is essentially just a trippy retelling of the original “Iron Man.” This might be fitting, though, as it seems that the movie seems to try and set up the character of Strange as an eventual replacement for Iron Man within the Avengers.

Even with all of its “Star Wars” and theme park money, Disney can’t employ Robert Downey Jr. forever, and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Stephen Strange is more than capable of filling the hole. In fact, he’s pretty much the exact same character as Iron Man/ Tony Stark. He’s arrogant, quick-witted with a sharp sense of humor and disgust for personal failure.

There are so many rules and magical mumbo jumbo bits of lore that relate to some of the finer and better intricacies of the plot, but the core of it is, as I said, the same as “Iron Man.”

Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a brilliant neurosurgeon instead of an arms dealer and tech developer; he has a semi-romantic and strained relationship with a co-worker (Rachel McAdams) just like “Iron Man’s” Pepper Potts, and the movie tells his journey of starting as an arrogant, selfish, funny jerk to a less-flawed likable jerk with super powers. After a car wreck takes his most valuable feature to his profession, his hands, Strange goes to the opposite side of the world to find a way to heal the traumatic after effects of his injuries. In Nepal, he finds his way to the temple of the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton, who’s great), who introduces him to the world of mysticism and magic as a long-term path toward physical healing.

What starts as a path of recovery turns into a battle against another underdeveloped Marvel villain (played by the terribly underutilized Mads Mikkelson, who is usually awesome) to protect the world from yet another doom vortex in the sky. Yes, this is the umpteenth superhero movie, which has a finale that includes a portal of doom in the sky of a major city. This time it’s Hong Kong. Annoying, but a minor nitpick. In addition to that, don’t expect a knock-down, drag-out brawl at the end like most of these movies have. “Doctor Strange” has a finale that goes for a smarter route in terms of resolution.

The villain is very familiar as well, but not in a good way. Kaecilius is barely developed. His back story relegated to some dialogue spoken about his past. Mikkelson plays him well, and it’s a shame they didn’t give him more to work with, because he is awesome at playing a bad guy. Kaecilius is just a stand-in for a greater villain behind the scenes, and this is where the familiarity of the character comes in: Marvel does not do villains well, at all. Their stories are invested into very fleshed-out main characters and supporting good guy characters, which is great and all, but some of these movies would be significantly better if they gave you a reason to be interested in these villains — why they do what they do rather than just relegating them to a essential plot device. Not every bad guy is going to be Darth Vader levels of awesome, but Marvel isn’t even trying with their villains anymore.

“Doctor Strange” has all of the elements of a really great superhero movie, but its familiarity of plot and the lame villain relegate it to just being a pretty good one, like difference between an A-plus and a B-plus.

All of the performances are top-notch and very entertaining, especially Cumberbatch and Swinton, who completely own their roles, and the depth of all the other characters, who are great except for Kaecilius. The special effects are mind-blowing, and many of the action scenes are fresh and really cool. Just don’t expect anything near as great as “Guardians of the Galaxy” or “Captain America: Civil War.” But you should still go see it.

Note: There are two scenes after the movie ends, one in the middle of the credits and one at the end. Stay for the one in the middle, and stay for the one at the end only if you really want to.

“Doctor Strange” is currently playing at the Riverside Cinemas, 1017 S. Boone St. in Aberdeen.

George Haerle is a 2008 graduate of Aberdeen High and holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing for media and lives in Cosmopolis.