“DOCTOR Strange” is the intellectual property of Marvel Comics. Handsome, wealthy, a surgical genius, obsessed with his superiority to the point of being socially obnoxious, he’s convinced of his invincibility. Wrong.

He may drive a sleek Italian sports car, but he does that badly. When he leaves hospital, those hands that once wielded a scalpel so dexterously no longer work.

Director and co-writer (with Jon Spaihts) Scott Derrickson guides the good doctor’s first appearance in the world of the moving image since a telemovie released in 1973.

The plot joins medicine and mysticism with that dramatic element without which no sci-fi fantasy can get off the ground – domination of the universe. Cities crumble, time comes to a standstill (surely, the most difficult trick in the book) and aliens arrive to dominate our planet. The mixture as before, but Derrickson’s talented image fakers come close to making its flaunting of every proven law of nature seem, if not convincing, then at least possible.

Playing the good guys are Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo the fighter whose influence sometimes restrains Strange’s enthusiasm and Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One. Benedict Wong plays the sidekick without whom no hero can hope to prevail. Mads Mikkelsen plays the villain Kaecilius.

Viewed dispassionately, “Doctor Strange” occupies the triangle formed by silly, stupid and improbable. What saves it is style. The special effects are close to breathtaking and often beautiful.

At all cinemas