Marvel’s recently released movie Dr. Strange takes a different approach to visual effects by shifting dimensions. While other Marvel movies kept to a specific location, Dr. Strange goes all around the world, visiting Nepal, Hong Kong, London and New York.

In Marvel’s other movies like Captain America: Civil War or Avengers: Age of Ultron, special effects are used as part of a character’s ability. In Dr. Strange Marvel goes a step further to use special effects to twist the many dimensions of the multiverse and change the audience’s perspective of special effects.

The protagonist of Dr. Strange is Stephen Strange a neurosurgeon who gets his life turned upside down during a car crash and hits absolute rock bottom. The car crash robs him of being able to use his hands, and he is unable to continue working as a doctor. After using more money than he had on traditional medicine, he leaves the country with interesting insight on how he could recover using an untraditional method very few people know about.

Stephen Strange heads to Kathmandu, Nepal to look for Kamar-Taj. Once he arrives, The Ancient One shows Strange the power he would obtain while getting his hands to heal from the crash such as travelling through other dimensions like the astral plane and Mirror Dimension. Strange also learns that Earth is protected by three buildings known as Sanctums which are located in London, Hong Kong and New York.

Being able to travel through dimensions in a quick-paced movie only adds to the excitement of Strange fighting against the antagonist Kaecilius and his zealots, which are his followers and dark sorcerers. In London, Kaecilius uses the pages stolen from The Ancient One’s sacred library to summon Dormammu of the Dark Dimension. During this process, the London Sanctum, one of the three sanctums guarding the world from the Dark Dimension, is destroyed, and Strange finds himself in the New York Sanctum alone until the zealots attack.

Benedict Cumberbatch does a terrific job portraying Dr. Stephen Strange. Much like Tony Stark (Iron Man), he has the same snarky personality, until he realizes the world isn’t just about him. Even after Strange’s exposure to the outside world, Cumberbatch’s character still remains somewhat snarky, but is more sympathetic and retains his humility.

Director Scott Derrickson does an excellent job of showing the struggles Strange goes through and how you can go from being at the top of your game to rock bottom. As the movie progresses after the car crash, Strange finds himself struggling to cope with life without the use of his hands. Once he visits Kamar-Taj, Strange is given the choice to return to his old life of luxury or become a guardian and help defend the three Sanctums that protect the world from the Dark Dimension. This movie teaches us that despite the hard times life throws at us, we can still recover and come back stronger.