Doctor Strange

Per Gunnar Jonsson 5/16/2024 3:21:15 PM 8.4

It is actually quite some time since I watched Doctor Strange but somehow the movie must have slipped between the cracks since I appear to have forgotten to review it. So I am about to remedy that now. To put it in simple terms: This is an excellent movie. It is a wonderful display of magical fireworks with a decent enough story to keep it together. I have to confess that I have not really read many of the comics containing Doctor Strange so it is a bit difficult for me to comment on the aspect of the film versus the comics. From the little that I have read I got the impression that the comic book version of Doctor Strange was a wee bit more dark, serious and mature. This movie starts from the beginning of his career though so I guess there is some justification for the less mature Doctor Strange in the movie. Doctor Strange is a skilled neurosurgeon but a bit of an asshole. Actually more than “a bit”. He gets involved in a accident, that he pretty much causes himself due to his arrogance. Fast forward to the interesting chapter were we get to see Doctor Strange being, reluctantly, admitted into a scruffy looking monastery on the other side of the planet. That is when the fun starts. Doctor Strange is in for a ride. Slowly Doctor Strange gets knocked into him that magic exists and he is expected to practice it. The time at the monastery, or perhaps we should call it a school, leads to a few funny episodes and I do like the head monk’s bantering with Strange and the way she does things. Talk about getting thrown into the deep end of the swimmingpool first. Strange’s continued arrogance and immaturity is a bit annoying from time to time though. That has to be said. What is the use of super heroes if there are no bad guys around. So after Strange having trained for a while, and mostly failed miserably, the bad guys starts to crash the party. So no more pretty living room magic for Strange. It is time to go head to head with some serious competition. Unfortunately, for a good chunk of the first fights Strange mostly falls on his arse. They are still cool and beautiful to watch though. Slowly Strange starts to get to grip with this whole magic thing and he also starts to shed some of that arrogance of his and take some responsibility. About time since the despicable bad guy are, of course, working towards freeing the real BIG bad guy, father of all evil and mother of everything else bad you can think of. Time for a showdown. As the fighting escalates so does the user of special effects and personally I though the special effects were both beautiful and spectacular. I really liked them. I am not sure Cumberbatch would have been my first choice for Doctor Strange though. To me he do not really project the image of the wise and skilled Wizard I expected. He is not bad though. The only other person that stood out for me was the chief monk and The Ancient One which I also quite liked. The rest of the characters, well to me they mostly lived in the shadows of these two, even though they were in general likable and sometimes fun. There were a few rather hilarious parts where Strange has to reveal the truth about what he stepped in to his former girlfriend. I have a soft spot for the surprise moments in both movies and books. I rather not get started on time travel since I generally hate it as a story element since it almost always leads to paradoxes or is simply so poorly done that it is blatantly obvious that someone tried to cover up for a lazy and shoddy story. However I guess I have to mention that screwing around with time is an important part of the plot in this movie. Luckily it is done in such a way that it do not, in my opinion, negatively impact the movie. Actually, to my surprise, it is used in a rather cool way. So, bottom line, a movie I liked quite a lot. 5 out 5 stars kind worth of liking.

Watcher 6/23/2021 3:57:56 PM 8.4

I thought marvel was going to far with all the releases.I was right about this one,Dr Strange was like Inception on DMT.Far to much CGI!.And for the story it started off in the right direction then it just ended up going STRANGE.All in all worth a look.But nothing special.

Reno 5/16/2024 3:18:34 PM 8.4

**When a science person was the chosen one in the spiritual world!** You would have not expected it from this director if you had seen his previous films. This was based on the Marvel comics that I haven't touched. So basically I had high expectation to witness another side of Marvel universe with another set of (super)heroes. And surprisingly, it was very entertaining, nothing like other Marvel's heroes/story, except the possession of superpower to fight evil forces. Firstly, Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead in a Marvel film, I did not think it would work. All I knew is he was a great sidekick, but that image has changed here. He was wonderful, definitely I'll be looking forward to its sequel as they had confirmed at the end. The theme wise, it is similar to most of the superhero tales, but some new concepts were added to it, I mean the superpower and that's what made it so unique. Just like 'Thor', this film as well had taken the spiritual believes only for the basic platform. The rest of the developments are the clear mix of fantasy (illusion) and science. So it means the film is for theists and atheists. I am one of those who did not like 'Inception', which I think an ordinary action film with multiple layers. But this one was so awesome and it is for the people like me who think 'Inception' failed. Visually spectacular. I regret missing it out in digital 3D. Its Academy Awards nominee in the category of Best VFX tells the story. There will be a tough contest, even I'm up for 'Jungle Book', but I won't be sad if this wins. The success story of Marvel continues. Not everybody reads comic books, but film goers are the majority. So adaptations like this are people like me. Let them keep coming, I love this format better. This film is not just for the youngsters, but old, families, as well as kids can enjoy, so I hope you won't miss it. _8/10_