Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Karl Mordo, Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer, Benedict Wong as Wong, Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecilius, Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One, Michael Stuhlbarg as Nicodemus West and Benjamin Bratt as Jonathan Pangborn. Directed by Scott Derrickson.
Well, my expectations for this movie was right......JUST GOOD BUT NOT A LOVEABLE MOVIE.
Doctor Strange is the fourteenth installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the origin story of the Sorcerer Supreme and does it deliever......eeeehhhhh kinda. Stephen Strange is one of the best neurosurgeon in the world and unfortunaelty, on his way to a party, he gets into a car accident which crushes his hand and is unable to perform any surgery ever again. His hands keep shaking whenever he is holding an object. So Strange finds some information from a man who also had a similar experience and he sets off to Kathmandu, Nepal to seek out the Ancient One in Kamar-Taj to heal his hands. He finds the Ancient One and he's introduced to the world of magic and alternate dimensions (multiverse) and trains to become a sorcerer.
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| Stephen Strange A.K.A Doctor Strange, The Sorcerer Supreme |
A pretty straight-forward plot if you ask me and I like that. One thing you need to take into consideration guys is that this is an origin story. Don't expect a whole of action and explosions. We got that with Civil War, earlier this year so it's nice that we have a small scale movie. But, to be honest with you, this movie was just an okay/good movie with some awesome elements. Let's talk about the good stuff, shall we?
The cast did a phenomenal job as we all expected, Benedict absoultely embodies Doctor Strange from the inside out and I'm not just talking about his appearance because he LEGIT looks like Stephen Strange. Chiwetel Ejiofor also does a great job as Mordo, you can really see that he respects the Ancient One, has a good friendly relationship with Strange and when it comes down to the action/emotional scenes, he plays it perfectly. He's not just phoning it in. Rachel McAdams especially did a great job as Christine, her job was to ultimately be a love interest for Strange. But, I really liked her character, Strange is able to connect to her from the beginning and anchors his humanity.
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| The spells were really cool. I thought Kevin Feige said that he (Strange) would be saying stuff to cast a spell. |
HOWEVER, the one who stood out to me, throughout the whole movie would have to be Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One. She absolutely brings it in this movie, I would love to see a movie about her. She's great from the start of the movie and you can really see it visually. OMG, THE VISUALS. The hallways, roads, simply put it, the WHOLE of New York City is one acid trip. Many people compared the visuals to the Inception and I can't disagree. I'm pretty sure you all saw the trailer where New York is upside down. And there are even more crazy visuals just how they did it in the comic books and that was really cool. I would highly recommend that you should watch this in 3D.
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| Tilda was the perfect cast as the Ancient One |
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| The visuals are one of the best moments in the movie |
Now let's talk about the bad because let's face it, this movie's villain was complete (beep) OMG. I didn't care about his ambition. He sort of, felt like he was just a lackey sent out to challenge Doctor Strange from his boss, which I won't spoil for you. As I said before, the plot is pretty straight-forward and it doesn't take any risks or give you something to rave about at the end. It's sort of just "here's another Marvel movie, you gotta watch". As soon as the credits were finished, I literally said: "Oh, is that it, well gotta go". It didn't left me with the feeling of wanting more, so I guess we have to wait for the sequel...whenever that shows up.
It didn't leave me with a good impression like what DC did with Task Force X movie. There wasn't any SPARK to it. I feel like Marvel was just playing it safe because they don't want to FULLY introduce the multi-verse right off the bat. So they just gave us a little sample of what's to come in the future. So I gotta warn you if you are reading the reviews online (the big reviewers like Hollywood Reporter, Gamespot, Rotten Tomatoes etc) and thinking this is going to be the best Marvel movie of this year. I think you are in a rude awakening, depending on your preference. I feel like fans of Doctor Strange will either love or hate it and be dissappointed and/or newcomers will love it. And I really disliked how they handled the Ancient One and Mordo. So I'll do a spoiler discussion about that at the end.
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| Almost my exact reaction to the movie |
I know that the cons are outweighing the pros but, I was kind of let-down of this movie. By all means, it's not a bad movie, it's just an alright/good movie. For some reason, when the second trailer dropped, I was just not excited for the movie. The best way to describe this movie, in my own opinion, is to compare it with Thor and Thor: The Dark World. If you love those two movies great, if not then I'm sorry. Side note, I'm not an expert with Doctor Strange. I just know how he became to be and I don't read the comic books.
As a whole, Doctor Strange is a good movie but, I don't think you are going to remember it for being the best Marvel movie. The cast did a phenomenal job, as we (Marvel fans) all expected, the visuals are great, the plot is just basic for what it is and that is an origin story, which is a good thing. Nothing to rave about or discuss in-depth. I 100% think that the critics are wrong, especially Rotten Tomatoes. A 98% NO NO NO. The critics are overhyping this movie way too much.
Grade D - An Okay time but, you are not going to remember it or fall in love with it. (Noticeable flaws throughout)
P.S. There are two post-credit scenes so stick around for the first one and the second one is just not worth it. But, it's up to you if you want to stick till the very end.
SPOILER WARNING, SPOILER WARNING, SPOILER WARNING, SPOILER WARNING, SPOILER WARNING, SPOILER WARNING, SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!
I'm only going to write this in a brief summary (bullet points), so you have been warned.
- The Ancient One dies 80% into the movie, I really would like to see her in the sequel to continue training Doctor Strange to become a powerful sorcerer. And then, something tragic would've happened to her. IDKY Marvel or whoever made that decision. She was so cool and wise. Really dissappointed with Marvel cutting her off so early on as well. I mean it's the first movie of a trilogy.
- Mordo becomes a bad guy at the end because he found out something about the Ancient One after a fight between Strange and movie's villain. They should have continued the friendly relationship they have in the sequel and then in the third movie, he becomes the villain.
- Rachel McAdams is not in the movie for very long, I wished we got to see more of her.
- Stephen Strange didn't seem like an arrogant person right off the bat, he seemed like a great guy to hang around with. IDK if Marvel wanted his character to be lighter. He does become a rude person after the accident.
- The accident occurs very quickly, in the beginning, I would say 5 minutes in. (I was definitely surprised)
- Wished we got to see more spells, I would say we got to see less than 10 spells in the movie.
- The villain is forgettable as we've come to suspect with the MCU. Only Ultron, Loki and Thanos are great in my opinion.
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