6 points about Doctor Strange
Six points about: Doctor strange
The newest movie in the renowned and acclaimed Marvel cinematic universe is Doctor Strange. An origin story about a brash and arrogant man who has many riches, due to his brilliance in his field of work, but goes on a revealing journey to an abnormal land in which he discovers how to be a superhero. Damn this movie is similar to Iron man. If it isn’t broke then don’t fix it I guess. Anyway, here is six points about Doctor Strange.
1. Cumberbatch and his supporting cast was pretty good
Not that this was a worry in the lead up to the movie, but any doubts were put to rest regarding the cast of the movie. Cumberbatch in the lead was very good and made this movie his own. He let the audience see the personalities of Strange in a fascinating way, and the character development of the sorcerer supreme was only enhanced by Cumberbatch’s performance. His supporting cast was led by Tilda Swinton, as the Ancient One. She had some great scenes, and delivered the dialogue perfectly, in such a way that nobody else would have given this character such influence and both show stealing and heart wrenching moments on screen. Rachel McAdams was good in the, sort of, love interest for Strange, and they had decent chemistry together. I enjoyed this dynamic in the movie and it was done in the perfect manner. Chiwetel Ejiofor (don’t even ask me to pronounce his name), Benedict Wong and Mads Mikkelsen were all functional in their roles and contributed well to the overall movie, but I had some problems with Wong and Mikkelsen’s characters, which I shall dive into later. ( A way of getting the reader to read on;)
2. The jaw dropping visuals were pretty damn jaw dropping.
This point will be a bit shorter because I’m not giving all 653 visual effects guys a shoutout, but I 100% recommend seeing this in Imax 3-D. Some of the sequences and inception-like visuals were astounding and really separated this from other Marvel movies. One now has to wonder whether or not these astonishing visuals will carry over into the future Marvel movies that Doctor Strange features in, which brings onto my next point….
3. Where will the sorcerer supreme fit into the MCU now?
This is a very valid question for anybody to ask after seeing Doctor Strange. He has very different powers to the other Avengers, and whether the otherworldly elements will be exclusive to Strange and Thor, while the rest deal with the Earthly threats, has yet to be seen. The mid-credits scene indicates that Thor and Strange will have some problems to deal with regarding Loki and Odin in upcoming movies, but how will Strange fit into The Avengers and how will he use his powers within the groups future save-the-world situations. One also has to wonder whether we will see Strange turn back time, get involved with other dimensions and have the ability to open portals in the future movies.
4. The comedy didn’t always hit
A characteristic of Marvel movies is to have comedic elements and a lighter tone. Sometimes, it felt as if the comedy was being pushed, especially with Benedict Wong’s character. His comedic timing wasn’t always there and many jokes felt forced and the payoff for one running joke, regarding Wong’s serious attitude, simply didn’t feel right and bombed in my near-full theater. Despite this, there was one very funny moment regarding Wong and Beyonce, but otherwise the jokes felt forced and flat. The dialogue in this movie was smart, snappy and clever, and if they had have stuck to this formula, the movie would have improved as a whole, instead of comedic moments that felt out of place with the situation.
5. The villain was underdeveloped and a typical Marvel villain.
Mads Mikkelsen was not the problem with the villain, and he did a fine job in his limited role. Kaecilius was given no back story, except for a couple of lines from the ancient one and Mordo, and there was little to care about as the viewer when Kaecilius was on screen. A simple 5 minutes of Kaecilius training with the Ancient One would have seriously enhanced the villain. His emotional backstory was generic and extremely under-developed and there was very little reason for the viewer to invest in this villain. This typifies Marvel villains and could have easily been solved by simply showing us his past relationship with The Ancient One and Mordo. Forgettable at best, yet not quite as bad as some of the previous villains in the MCU.
6. Overall, this was an extremely enjoyable movie and isn’t far off the top MCU movies.
This is not a perfect movie, but it certainly is well worth the watch and I personally, thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The fantastic visuals, great performances, by Tilda Swinton and Benedict Cumberbatch in particular and interesting story makes this a well-rounded movie that I would highly recommend. Despite the negatives that I listed, there was plenty more positives, some that I didn’t even mention. The question of where it stands in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in comparsion to the other movies, I would say it is just under the level of the top movies in the franchise such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man and Captain America the Winter Soldier just to name a few. The point of this article isn’t about the rating, but the round it off I would give Doctor Strange an 8.5/10.
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