Doctor Strange Review
Even before I went into the movie, I saw some review that praised the visual but not the story. Knowing that, I was kind of disappointed as the recent Marvel movie has been very generic, even with Civil War, and has become more of spectacle kind of a movie.
As it turns out, it was exactly as the critics said. The visual was absolutely spectacular, but unfortunately bogged down with a scene way too long, a very slow origin story, and a very very weak villain. That being said, I can say that this movie is exactly 2011's Green Lantern done right.
Before I goes into the review, lets talk about the plot. Doctor Strange revolves around Stephen Strange, an arrogant doctor who chasing for reputations and fame. When he involves in a car accident that take away that cause a massive injury in his hand, he decided to travel to Kamar-Taj to find an alternatives treatment. There he explores the idea of magic and sorcery, that lead him to the path of becoming Sorcerer Supreme in order to stop the villainous Kaecilius.
So why do I say this is Green Lantern done right ? Compare this element of Doctor Strange to Green Lantern; The good and bad guys use magic construct to fight, the villain is someone who works for a bigger fully CGI villain, and in the end, one of the protagonist mentor defects. It even got a post-credit scene that establish the sequel villain. It is pretty darn similar isn't it ?I'm not saying that they stole the plot, but it is a by-the-number plot.
The plot of Doctor Strange was so generic that without that spectacular visual, it would just be another Ant-Man, worst Green Lantern. That being said, they certainly love this visual too much as the scene where Strange met The Ancient One was way too long. That make the training scene at Kamar-Taj felt equally too long and too short. Also if you watch all the trailers, you essentially watch the whole movie.
The story in itself peak at the middle of the story, as the very final fight was so frustratingly weak and pale in comparison to the rest of the story. Also, they still use the blue light in the middle of the city and full CGI villain, as if they didn't learn anything from Suicide Squad, RIPD, Fantastic Four 2, and even Green Lantern. This particular part hurt the story overall as it makes the villain looks weaker and lame.
In term of character, with the exception, for some reason, Wong, the rest felt under-develop. Strange while his cockiness, and his skill in surgery were nicely develop, there was a bit of jump from he couldn't do magic and he could do magic.The worst jump ? On why Mordo see greatness in him. As I mentioned earlier, the training scene felt too short and too long at the same time. It feel like his training was only within weeks when we knew that the accident happen during at least before Avengers 2 and the ending by the time of Thor: Ragnarok (that's maybe three to four years).
The villain is by far the worst villain ever put on screen by Marvel. The whole Kaecillius backstory and motivation are told in two scene of expositions.In fact, I bet the audience had the exact same reaction as Strange hearing Kaecillius exposition. The concept of alternate dimension and multiverse were only touched briefly during that first meeting of Strange and Ancient One, even that was very confusing. Added with Kaecillius near to gibberish exposition, I was like, "I don't care anymore about you, just go die".
The Ancient One and Mordo are sort of complicated as they are well develop except for the one crucial point of their character. The Ancient One has a big reveal in the middle of the story that somehow affect Mordo towards the end, but that reveal was there just so that people get on board with Strange, which to me is a cheap tactic. Mordo on the other had was so well develop, until the post-credit scene as the jump from the final scene to that post-credit scene doesn't make scene.
Despite all the flaws, all the cast brought their A-game into the movie, in particular Benedict Cumberbatch as the cocky and arrogant Strange as well as Benedict Wong as Wong. Rachel McAdam's Christine Palmer act so well as the 'Jane Foster' of the movie, while Chiwetel Ejiofor did a good job as no-nonsense Mordo.
The highlight of the movie was always the visual. There is some spectacular visual in the movie . Despite some of it goes on way too long, you still wonder how anybody gonna top that especially since it certainly top what Inception has done before. The magic visual and enchantment was nicely done thought they have less hand-movement that Scarlet Witch, it still consistent with the look of MCU. Though it seems like Marvel still trying to shy away from putting magic into their universe as they are more related it to dimensional energy.
Overall, Doctor Strange while have spectacular visual, possess massive flaw in other area hence hurt the movie. That being said, it is still worth your money to watch this movie for its visual and the performance of the cast. In the end, I have to give Dr. Strange a 2.5 out 5.0. Spectacular visual, great performance but the weakness of the plot, story, and villain bogged the story down. I know weak villain is what you should expect from Marvel, but I think it is time to expect a little bit more.
What do you think of Dr. Strange ? Have you watch it ? And do you agree with me ? Sound off your thought in the comment section. Stay tuned for Comikrew November preview later this week by following and liking Comikrew Studio right here or on Facebook. Don't forget to subscribe to my comic at Tapastic, and finally be sure to follow and hit me up on Twitter.
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