DOCTOR STRANGE
Review
Film
·
Producer: Victoria
Alonso...executive producerStephen
Broussard...executive producerLouis
D'Esposito...executive producerKevin Feige...producer
(produced by)David J.
Grant...co-producerStan Lee...executive
producerCharles
Newirth...executive producer
·
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange / Doctor Strange, Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer, Benjamin Bratt as Jonathan Pangborn, Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Karl Mordo, Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecilius, Benedict Wong as Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg as Dr. Nicodemus West
·
Release
Date: 4 Nov 2016
·
Runtime: 115 min
·
Genre: Superhero, Action
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Distributor: Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Studios
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Language: English
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Country: America
Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a genius, rich neurosurgeon with an ego that
could rival Tony Stark’s. He moves through the world with little regard for the
people around him. After being distracted looking at medical documents while
driving (he may be smart but his ego makes him think he’s invulnerable),
Strange gets into a brutal car accident that wrecks his hands. His scarred,
trembling hands are a constant reminder of the man he once was and never will
be again. This doesn’t make Strange rethink the way he lives. Instead, as one
surgery after another fails, he becomes crueler and more withdrawn, even
lashing out at ex-lover/co-worker Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), who is the last person on whom he can depend;
his world of medicine and science has failed him. But after receiving a tip
from Jonathon Pangborn (a charismatic, underutilized Benjamin Bratt), Strange finds himself under the tutelage of The
Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) in Nepal, who opens him up to worlds he never
believed existed. The visual landscape of their first encounter is the film at
its most daring. We’re privy to worlds full of neon purples, cerulean blues and
blood reds. We watch Strange become enveloped by hundreds of hands as if out of
a nightmare. He bounces between dimensions that resemble the dark beauty of
outer space to those that are a kaleidoscope of colors. Even a man as arrogant
as Strange can’t deny what he’s been shown.
"Doctor Strange'"s worst sin in terms of casting
comes in its villain. At this point, has any major franchise wasted as many
great actors in thinly-written villain roles as the MCU? Mads Mikkelsen is an
amazing actor who often creates an alluring mix of darkness, pathos and
passion. His unsettling screen presence is perfect for this kind of story. But
Kaecilius, a former pupil of The Ancient One, has such muddled motivations and
little interiority that Mikkelsen is surprisingly forgettable. Strange’s battle
with him ultimately comes down to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Strange doesn’t care about being a hero. The juxtaposition between Kaecilius
and Strange is one of the more ill-thought out central conflicts from a
blockbuster in a long time. They aren’t battling because of opposing ideologies
or deep emotional history. They’re simply an inconvenience to each other. If
anything, Mordo’s obsession with order would make him a more compelling foil
for Kaecilius.
Even with these considerable faults
“Doctor Strange” can also be charming. It’s a spry film brimming with great
details, striking imagery and joy. It pushes the MCU into a fascinating world
full of magic and villains that exists beyond our understanding of time and
reality—maybe next time they’ll do something interesting when they get there.
| Favorite Scene 1: |
One of the film’s tragically-underused characters is
Dr. Christine Palmer, better known as Night
Nurse in the comics
(not to be confused with that other Night Nurse, Claire Temple [Rosario
Dawson], in the Defenders Netflix series), which both deprives Doctor Strange of some extra heart and continues to
perpetuate what has been dubbed the “girlfriend problem” in the MCU.
Christine shines brightest when she responds to Strange, her
ex-lover, after he comes careening back into the hospital, decked out in his
new “cult” outfit, spouting mystical mumbo-jumbo, and brandishing a
wound that seems to have been impossibly inflicted. The capstone would at first
seem to be her witnessing of a portal in the broom closet that allows Stephen
to jump back to the New York Sanctum (who would have thought that a falling mop
could be so humorous?), but it’s overshadowed shortly afterward by Strange’s
return visit. “Are you serious?” Christine exclaims upon hearing the
telltale signs of the portal re-opening – until she sees an injured Ancient One
(Tilda Swinton), which stops her dead in her tracks.
Favorite
Scene 2:
The final confrontation between good and evil, life
and death, normal-space and the Dark Dimension is just as fittingly crafted as
everything that had preceded it. Dormammu’s home is complementary to the rest
of the cosmic sequences depicted, yet different enough to make it both
beautiful and haunting, irresistible and off-putting. And the Lord of the Realm
of Darkness’s design is suitably other-worldly while still being relatable as
an emoting character that an actor could portray – a suitable pay-off to a
movie-long build-up of this mysterious being composed of mystical energies.
