The next Marvel movie is out there for mass consumption.
Dr. Strange.
I was really curious to see what/how they would deal with the Sorcerer Supreme.
It did not disappoint.
Dr. Strange, for the masses is the wizarding world aspect for the Marvel universe, well he was when I was deep in comics.
Yes this is a very paint by numbers origin story and has a feel like the first Iron Man.
I was ok with that. Dr. Strange needed an origin story since he is not a Bat, Super or Spider man.
- Meet Dr. Steven Strange awesome cocky super surgeon
- Life changing incident/accident that ruins his awesome super surgeon hands
- Love interest issue- blerg!
- Learn abilities through crazy Kung-Fu-ish wizardry
- Small montage-
- Insert one –off villain
- Rekindle love interest- double blerg!
- Sprinkle in some action set pieces and amazing visuals
- Sprinkle in a dose of humor- that was needed to keep this from being too heavy handed
- Final conflict
- Set-up sequel
The plot is really simple and the pacing is great. It was super easy for the Marvel muggles to follow. I was really wondering how they would pull magic into this movie universe. I mean there is enough science and technology in the Marvel movies, but magic has been over looked to boot. Oh sure they dabbled a little with it in Thor, but not nearly as much as they would have to for Dr. Strange. I was really impressed with how they introduced the magical component and am super curious to see where they go with it next.
The Cumberbatch did a great job but that was to be expected. This phase of Marvel films might have his Dr. in the role that has been run by Tony Stark in the first two phases of these films. Well at least that is what I am hoping they do with this character.
Chiwetel Ejiofor is great and needs more work! His Baron Mordo has the potential to be delightful in future films.
Mads Mikkelsen was sadly under used as the toss away villain Kaecilius.
The look of the magical side of Marvel was so spot on, like it should be. They didn’t deviate from the standard look of Dr. Strange and his bit of the Marvel-verse. Was a bit giddy once the official Dr. Strange uniform was fully donned. A really cool look and what every wizard I have ever roll played looked like in my head. Plus it also help to give us Dr. Orpheus from Venture Brothers too. Baron Mordo was toned down a bit, but still had his trademark green, but was lacking the crazy cape.
Well enough about the cast, the action and visuals is where this film really shines. Holy crap snacks the various dimensions they whisk through, the magical battles, the world altering spells was just amazing! New York warping like some M.C. Escher drawing. Seeing alternate dimensions that are off of a Steve Ditko comic page was just so cool. A little bit of Salvador Dahli added in at times for good measure too. Then throw in sparkly spells and glowing floating runes and magical combat on top of that. It was a visual spectacle for sure. Hell even if you hate all this stuff the movie is worth a watch just to see all the visual craziness.
Great characters. A easy and well-paced story. Crazy cool visuals. Descent action. A fight that has a nod to the Dr. Strange story “The Oath,” which I really recommend reading. Nods to….the Living Tribunal, Brother Voodoo, the Wand of Watoomb, blerg the Night Nurse, the mention of Valtorr as in the spell the Vapors of Valtorr or the dimensional entity Valtorr, Dr. Nicodemus West from “The Oath” story arc (seriously go read this), Master Hamir, The Book of Cagliostro, was that the Staff of One making a cameo? A lot of Dr. Strange lore that I noticed and probably even more that fell
beneath my radar.
 |
| Tina Minoru? |
Oh yeah, a mid-credits scene that was a delight.
Sure there was a lot of awesome going on here, but what about the bad that inhabits every film. Was there that?
Well I would say the Rachel McAdams was pretty worthless. Her Dr. Christine Palmer was a bit of drek. It was a shoehorned attempt at a love interest. Plus if they want to make her Night Nurse then that sucks too. Rosario Dawson , as RN Claire Temple, is doing much better with this character in the Netflix Marvel shows. Give that title to her and not Rachel McAdams and her giant face mole.
Why did they make Tilda Swinton the Ancient One? Seriously? She does fine in the role as a creepy bald not David Bowie trying to be the Last Airbender, but why use her? Did they want to move away from the old Asian man Kung-Fu stereotype? Still a bit of a head scratcher as to why this move was made. Especially in the current state of cinema where screams of “white washing” are ever abound. Not a strong move if you ask me. It doesn’t pull away from the film, just a very…strange choice (see what I did there. Strange choice!)
Dr. Strange, not the best Marvel movie (but it is easily one of my soon to be favorites in this series), but it is really enjoyable and great kick-off to the next phase of this ever expanding comic book universe/ story.
No comments:
Post a Comment