Review of Doctor Strange (2016) by Anuj & A — 14 Jun 2017

Cumberbatch and Adams do a good job with their roles - however the rest of the cast falls flat a and feel out of place in a movie that does not mostly take place in Marvel's "New York", but instead in Nepal and China. Because of the 4 main characters, there are 2 white dudes, a bald Tilda Swinton and a black dude, they simply look out of place. Benedict Wong has a very unimportant supporting role, making his casting feel like a token nod just so it can be said "Look! An Asian actor! See?" Attempting to be the 1st "Iron Man", with its hero starting off as a self-centred rich-boy jerk and ending up a self-centred rich-boy jerk with some pretty nifty super-powers. Some lessons about responsibility and sacrifice are also doled/handed out, there's a bland mid-level villain lurking about and there's an extraordinarily chaste romance between the leading man and a woman who should know better.

We're given no reason to care for our title character. A man who clearly only became a Doctor to be the best at something (noted by his choice to not help people but only taking on cases that will bring him nonliterary.) Our lead gets hurt driving like a douche in his super-car while texting on a windy road. Who then wanders the world feeling sorry for himself while acting like the same pompous douche until he starts ignoring his teachers and breaking rules to defeat the villain but again, not to save people, but to show his new magical community that he is now on top. And that they must answer to him. Coincidence is a terrible story tool. And again, why should we care? The character doesn't grow, he is helped and steps on others along the way, and ends up the new leader tho he's the least experienced in his arts. Adding nothing to the MCU - this movie falls the way of "Suicide Squad" or "The Amazing Spider-Man", just overall useless films that didn't need to be made.

Washed out colors (due to a poor colorist and the continued decision by MARVEL to NOT shoot on film) and gimmicky CGI carry this filler-episode-type story that had a lot more potential coming into it than was actually realized. The colors of the magic don't stand out and everything looks gray, whether the characters are walking through what should've been a bright fluorescent hallway or outdoors in a vibrant, lively city. These, along with a rushed pace and a lack of explanation for simple things (like WHY is the Cape of Levitation sentient), make for a very disengaging and ugly film. The movie poster has more vivid colors than the film itself.

Overall - a disappointing movie from a studio we've come to expect better from than average films. The Marvel studios are apparently not quite ready to tackle a fantasy film. Even "Jupiter Ascending" looked prettier than this and that sucked too.

It's like watching 2 hours of a pretty crazy/bad acid trip to end up making very little sense of anything other than the "reveal" in the end to set up the next picture... Which I'm sure we all guessed what that is going to be because that is the same way all these movies have ended thus far.