Doctor Strange Review
PG13: For Sci-Fi Violence and Action Throughout, and An Intense Crash Sequence
Marvel Studios
1 Hr and 57 Minutes
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt, Scott Adkins, Mads Mikkelsen, Tilda Swinton
REVIEW: The only connection I had to Doctor Strange began from my experience with the video game Marvel Ultimate Alliance. I’ve seen him in classic and new age Marvel cartoons from Spider-Man to Avengers and even in the Planet Hulk animated film. My father who is my personal superhero encyclopedia explained everything I need to know about Doctor Strange many years before the film’s announcement. When I heard that Sinister director Scott Derrickson was on board to helm the film, I knew it was inventible that his writing partner C. Robert Cargill was going to join. I have a personal appreciation for Cargill for I followed his work since he was one of many of my favorite film critics on the now defunct spill.com. I was personally proud of how he and Derrickson made it big with the successful low budget horror film that honestly scared the crap out of me when it was released back in 2012. As the dead spill.com continued in a new incarnation becoming Doubletoasted.com lead by his old colleague Korey Coleman, he guest appears on the show once in a while. In the controversial April 17th podcast of The Sunday Service where Cargill has a guest appearance explaining the casting of Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One, he claims how Derrickson’s Doctor Strange is nothing you’ve ever seen before. I was skeptical at first but I remembered it was Marvel who was at the time at a high winning streak and holy crap does that streak continue with Doctor Strange.
Marvel's "Doctor Strange" follows the story of the talented neurosurgeon Doctor Stephen Strange who, after a tragic car accident, must put ego aside and learn the secrets of a hidden world of mysticism and alternate dimensions. Based in New York City's Greenwich Village, Doctor Strange must act as an intermediary between the real world and what lies beyond, utilising a vast array of metaphysical abilities and artifacts to protect the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
THE GOOD: At this point, it is now relatively known that head of Marvel studios Kevin Feige is a genius taking low budget directors from different filmmaking backgrounds and genres and having them work on a film out of their realm only to pull it off in tremendous heights. Director/Writer Scott Derrickson and Writer C. Robert Cargill inner fanboys are let loose with an adaptation that is written with so much love and care to not only put you on a visual action-packed journey but also take you on a character journey of a flawed man who's heart is in arrogance over humanity. The screenplay has all the story elements as a regular Marvel origin story does rooting back to borrowed elements from Iron Man. But on top of that attempts to push the boundaries of a comic book action movie. The film doesn’t even feel like a superhero action film, but more of a Sci-Fi Fantasy film.
Besides being an origin story of Strange, it is rather a great character study of him. It centers on a man’s arrogance and selfishness that never comes across as unlikable but more tragically depressing.You see him go through this journey to fix himself and where it ends up is fascinating contextually to the film’s story than anything. Even the final shot of the film is chillingly amazing to see where Strange as a character ends up becoming. And this isn’t fully accomplished without the amazing performance by Cumberbatch. He is an actor of many talents and expressions as he mixes all of his Sherlock-isms towards this character by blending humor and emotion that perfectly balances together in order to have the audience resonate with him not much as a character but more as a human with different moralities. It’s ironic how Cumberbatch is slated to voice the Grinch in the upcoming 2018 adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Doctor Strange’s character is a total Grinch who’s heart grows 3x in the end.
But what makes Doctor Strange just extraordinary is its visuals. With each Marvel film, the studio experiments with different variations of action sequences to have the audience in their grasp. When Marvel delivers on action, they freaking deliver. The story is recycled for sure. We’ve seen the same origin storyline reincarnated again and again with different heroes, but the action sequences are innovative, fun, creative, imaginative, and in every sense of the word spellbinding (pun intended). The film sets up this mystical world with rules and regulations that are really just foreshadowed into the different action sequences that are likely to happen as the film progresses. And when the sequences do happen it embodies more of an animated spirit than a live action one. There is even an action sequence that feels like a live action version of fighting sequences in Danny Phantom. Oh yes, there is an action sequence where Doctor Strange starts going ghost. There are sequences where the physics of action resemble antics seen in Looney Tunes cartoons where it just gets both psychedelic and trippy. Don’t get high or take any hallucinogenic drugs when you see this. You will have a panic attack. And if you do, good luck. What makes it better is that it never looks cheap. The film never looks like it is on a green screen where the visuals are presented in a mystically dazzling manner that feels so real. Even the way the sorcerers are able to conjure up spells in an easy fashion reminds me of how easy it was for benders to bend their moves in The Last Airbender series. It breaks the realm of action that hasn’t been done in such a stylistic and mind-blowing manner since the Wachowskis created The Matrix. And there is no better way to experience this other than IMAX or AMC Prime or RPX. If you see the film in any three formats you’ll have a hell of a great time. Thank God there weren’t any films that was released that was set in space this year so hopefully Doctor Strange will be that film to earn Marvel that Academy Award for Best Visual Effects because this is one of the most visually spectacular films to be released this year. Oh, wait Rouge One is still coming. Oh boy.
THE BAD: As much as I praise Marvel and their visuals it is very clear now that every film the formula: Marvel + Villain = ERROR is always applied. Marvel films and villains really don’t compute and Doctor Strange is proof of that statement. Mads Mikkelsen who is known as Hannibal Lecter in the popular yet short-lived Hannibal series is truly wasted here. It is rather sad to see another great actor just be there to deliver exposition and speeches. He barely has any motivation and at this point, it’s getting really tiring. But yet as the film goes on it is revealed he isn’t the true villain. Yet when the true villain is revealed he’s not the form that you know him to be. It’s appalling how this villain is changed from his physical form into a new one that is more threatening than Thanos yet very similar to Galactus which surprisingly it isn’t. It is a change that will split fanboys down the middle, but any regular viewers wouldn’t have any judgment towards it. But even though it is weak with villains and you grow tiresome of it, prefers to entertain you, dazzle you, keep you going. The film is near exactly 2 hrs yet it feels like 20 minutes.
The story as I said is very generic where bits and pieces of the film are taken and borrowed from other films that you sort of see coming. Even when a climactic scene occurs you see how it will play out because of other films you’ve seen before such as The Force Awakens. The film shows Strange growing stronger and learning faster in more weeks than Luke Skywalker learned in years. It never tells you how long Strange studies the Mystic Arts, but show shows his progression through montage without any time and detail.
The cast besides Cumberbatch does a great job guiding us into this new world the MCU has created. Tilda Swinton is a powerhouse as The Ancient One. And Benedict Wong is a lot of fun. Rachel McAdams brings the heart that lets Strange grow as a human and isn’t there to be the romantic lead that actually has a past. The only problem I had was Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo. We all know that he is Doctor’s most formidable foe, but the film also wants to take you on the journey of how he becomes villainous and the result is satisfying. Ejiofor always does a great performance and he does here, but his character is written in a way where he comes on confident and prideful once in the beginning but when a secret is revealed and everything he was taught was a lie, he immediately just starts to whine and moan. There is no second to stop to converse about his inner situation for his reaction shift gears so quickly. Why does this happen? Because the film needs to keep moving that's why!
THE RENDY: I saw Doctor Strange at the same IMAX theater I saw Batman V. Superman at back in March. I remember coming out of the film feeling exhausted and beaten with disappointment. When I left this, I came out feeling hyped, energized, and mostly eager to see the next slate of films Marvel of 2017. It just makes me initially done with DC films as a whole. What other studios (notably DC) fail to achieve is the different variations of story and action. When the story fails the action should be there to keep the film going which is somewhat there in Batman V. Superman. But when both your story and action sequences fail like Suicide Squad, you’re going to deem as a forgettable film. And now, I’m done. To make life easier for us fanboys I beg DC to go back to awesome animated movies (even though this year has been as much of a fail as it’s Extended Universe films) and let Marvel just dominate the big screen.
LAST STATEMENT: Doctor Strange offers another accomplishment in the MCU origin canon with a detailed character driven film with spectacularly spellbinding visuals and a great performance by Benedict Cumberbatch. Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill helps Marvel drop the mic as they prove the studio hasn’t run out of material for they are continuing the streak that just keeps on.
Rating: 4/5 | 83%
Super Scene: “Bargaining” | LSD TRIP THROUGH DIMENSIONS
