Doctor Strange is the the most visually dazzling Marvel film to date
Marvel films have been doing gangbusters since Robert Downey Jr. donned the Iron Man armor back in 2008. In that time we have see a lot of characters enter the Marvel cinematic universe, but even with all the burly men pumping their chests, the one thing that has yet to enter the world is magic.
This has all changed as Doctor Strange enter the Marvel picture in a film that is a feast for the senses. But in that strive to explore a realm foreign to all of us, Doctor Strange often sacrifices character development and pacing. Yes, the world bending nature of the magic on display is like living through a LSD fueled trip (be warned if you watch this in 3D as you may lose your lunch), but the pacing the film strives for is inconsistent at best. In many ways it seems that that visuals weigh down the script, almost as if Doctor Strange was developed around them.
These plot and pacing issues crop up as things just sort of happen for Strange, and not to him, if that makes any sense. He just magically (pun very much intended) gets good at doing everything relating to, well, magic. The film really feels like its missing am entire second act as the origin story for the good doctor hits quite quickly and before long he is a master in the arts.
It’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination, it’s just that the film feels weighed down by the spectacle of it all and what it truly wants to accomplish. His training becomes the bulk of the first act and then after a battle occurs, of which he is not ready for or the bad guys let the audience on about, he just sort of becomes a master. I see this like getting a promotion to a position during a war without probably being quite ready, but as we really have no idea how much time has passed training, everything just sort of happens because the script demands it.
Doctor Strange is a fantastic character with a rich backstory, but he is by no means a top tier hero and most of his gallery of villains are difficult for the average movie goer to comprehend. He may be one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel universe, but chances are that the general public won’t know who he is, let alone what a Dormamu is/does. I’ll bet many people will be asking their comic book friends if the main villain is the purple guy from the end of The Avengers.
All that said the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch is one that is perfect for the studio as fans demanded him from the outset, he’s a solid actor, and the general public know him well enough to see a movie as him as the lead. I just don’t think the film would do as well without Cumberbatch onboard because the script does not lend itself well to a non-comic audience.
The secondary cast is also quite good, although there are so many that it sometimes feels like I’m watching an Avengers film. Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One may have pushed some fans to the edge because of casting, but she gives a standout performance that keeps the audience connected to the film and makes you believer magic could be possible. The rest are simply there to help move the plot along, and even in battle they do very little other.
Where this hurts most is in the main physical antagonist played by Mads Mikkelsen. We are told that he’s a former student that has lost his way, but we are never given a reason to hate him other than that. He is simply a bad guy because he is a bad guy. There are very small hints about his past, but nothing that even remotely makes us feel for him. The best villains are the ones we can sympathize with, but in this regard he’s just some evil guy out to end the world, or save it as he sees it.
And this isn’t only a problem with Doctor Strange, but it’s a problem with the Marvel cinematic universe. The studio has a real villain problem that is really going to need to be addressed after all the business with Thanos is addressed. Once you defeat the greatest evil in the universe the guy with a magic staff just doesn’t seem all that threatening.
But where I really liked the film was in the climatic battle scene. Aside from the Inception level visuals, magic actually made some form of sense during the battle. And while the good doctor’s tools sort of just fall into place, how he uses them is still pretty ingenious. It’s also pretty refreshing to see a hero know that he can’t win, no matter how much he wills it or uses the power of love or some other bullshit, but instead makes a choice that shows the only real character development in the entire film.
Doctor Strange is not a great film, but it is the shot in the arm that Marvel needs right now, and Benedict Cumberbatch was seemingly bred for the role of Sorcerer Supreme. The film also does a great job of setting things in motion for another film as “the bill will be due” when you mess with the natural laws of the universe.
Doctor Strange may have saved all of reality, but he may have also opened another can of worms in the process. Oh, and before I forget, I really could have done without another god damn infinity stone showing up on Earth. This “universe” seems like a very small place indeed.
“Doctor Strange is a visual delight, but that very point may be what holds it back”
3.5/5
“Quite Good”
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