THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Doctor Strange has been one of the many iconic characters of Marvel Comics since 1963. The character has appeared in animated series, video games and has an animated film. Aside from that, the only time the character was referenced in a live action was in 2004’s Spider-Man 2. Since then, fans and moviegoers wondered how a film of the mystical superhero would play out. Thankfully, we got that in 2016 as the character officially entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
PLOT
The film follows neurosurgeon Stephen Strange who injures his hands after a car accident. He goes bankrupt after multiple failed surgeries. When encountering recovering paraplegic Jonathan Pangborn, he tells him to go to Kamar-Taj, where he recovered. There, Strange meets the Ancient One and her student Mordo. They teach him sorcery, meaning that Pangborn regained the ability to walk through magic. He learns various abilities overtime and becomes a sorcerer himself. When discovering, ‘The Eye of Agamotto’, an artifact that can bend time, he learns of missing pages of a book stolen by Kaecilius. The particular pages he stole contain spells that will summon Dormammu from the Dark Dimension. Mordo and bookkeeper Wong explain that Sorcerers protect Earth from mystical threats of other dimensions, with the use of the Sanctums of London, Hong Kong and New York that they must protect. When Kaecilius attacks the London sanctum, Strange is hit straight to the NY sanctum. There, he fights him and multiple zealots, being aided by the Cloak of Levitation in the process. During the conflict, he discovers that they can bend fold matter at will and that Dormammu promises immortality, being stabbing the former doctor. Strange goes to his ex girlfriend Christine Palmer, to stitch him up. There, he defeats one of the zealots (Scott Adkins) in astral form. When regrouping with Mordo and the Ancient One, he reveals what he was told from Kaecilius that the Ancient One gains her immortality as long as she draws power from the Dark Dimension. She leaves but he and Mordo fight together when Kaecilius returns with more Zealots, in the Mirror Dimension, where there won’t affect the real world. When the Ancient One returns and reveals the said source, she is stabbed by Kaecilius. Before dying, she urges Strange to break the rules in order to defeat Kaecilius. When he and Mordo arrive to the HK sanctum, they see that Kaecilius has already summoned Dormammu, slowly consuming Earth. Strange uses the Eye of Agamotto, which contains an Infinity Stone, to reverse time in order to reverse the destruction. He then goes to Dormammu but puts him in a time loop with him until a bargain is made. The bargain, Dormammu leaves Earth and never returns, along with his Zealots, in order to be free of the loop. As that happens, the invasion is prevented but Mordo leaves as he became disillusioned of nature’s laws being defied. The film originally ends with Strange deciding to watch over the NY sanctum but there is a mid credit scene where the Sorcerer offers to help Thor (Chris Hemsworth) find his missing father Odin. There is also an after credit scene where Mordo takes Pangborn’s power claiming there are too many sorcerers.
THOUGHTS
When watching this film in theaters in 2016, I was afraid that I would not understand it due to discovering that our titular lead has much complex abilities in the comic books. Thankfully, it didn’t feel that way as this becomes a standard origin story where you can understand the basic lore for this character. Director Scott Derrickson successfully makes this movie a unique standout for this ongoing franchise. Everything introduced in this movie felt easy to understand and that matters a lot in a superhero movie. Seeing things like the astral or Mirror Dimension, it is quick to be invested because it’s so intriguing to witness. This movie is bold in its own way because there is more than meets the eye here. The fact that this film introduces the multiverse, implies that there are bigger things to come. As the franchise progressed after this, you can tell that the particular story arc was handled very well. Like Thor, this one mainly leans into the fantasy genre, which felt fresh because it had been a while for that genre to be part of the series, due to the gap of Thor movies. Even though this is still in the MCU and has a fair share of references like spotting Avengers Tower, it does a way better job distancing itself from the bigger picture until the after credits. I should expect comedy to be part of these movies but every time I see one, I forget about it when it starts and the jokes become funnier than expected. I recall laughing the most from Mordo giving Strange the wi-fi password reminding him that being a sorcerer doesn’t make you savage, Wong listening to Beyoncé as Strange steals books from him or Michael Stuhlbarg’s character Dr. Nicodemus West grabbing an extra bag of chips during the astral fight. The biggest laugh for me was the Cloak of Levitation. That artifact which becomes part of Strange’s costume, has a personality of its own that reminded me of the magic carpet from Aladdin. Not sure if that was the intention, but it was cool to see. It made me laugh a lot mainly due to how it defends Strange when fighting the Zealot by constantly pressing him down by the head. It is a given to have great visuals for a blockbuster like this but without exaggeration, this feels like the best use of visuals besides the Avengers films. Seeing every dimension or seeing characters’ powers in display, it all felt so real, earning its Visual Effects Oscar Nomination. The selling point of its visuals is when The Ancient One shows Strange multiple dimensions at once as they first meet. That was jaw dropping for me and gets me every time, as it felt like I was taking the trip with him. Even though I enjoy this movie a lot, there were some problems that bothered me. The first was during the beginning. If doctors were face masks during surgeries, it felt odd how Strange and Palmer chose to put them on midway. I also find it odd that he doesn’t believe in fairy tales because according to the Ancient One in Endgame, he was performing a surgery when the Avengers defended New York against Loki. The news exists and he knows that went down, so it’s hard to believe he’s not open minded considering that Thor was originally a fairy tale. Another flaw would be that Kaecilius took a while to summon the spell he stole. If he was serious about summoning Dormammu, I feel like he should’ve done that immediately after escaping Kamar-Taj. I thought it was cool seeing the relics during the training sequence, but Mordo doesn’t use the staff at all during the third act, almost making cool artifacts few pointless. The last will be the oddest Easter egg I’ve ever witnessed as Stan Lee reads The Doors of Perception by Aldous Hexley. I don’t understand how a book about the subject of philosophy is hilarious. If you ignore this, you can enjoy the rest of this movie. Returning to the goods, most superhero films do well because there is always an ensemble to back it up, making this one no exception. Benedict Cumberbatch owns it as the titular protagonist. Every scene he has, you feel that he was meant to play this role. This is a great character in general due to how this journey changes him more than he’d realize. Like Tony Stark from Iron Man, he’s someone that is selfish but becomes selfless during this journey. The fact that he chose to die for eternity in a time loop to save his planet shows how much he’s changed. ‘Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain’ will oddly become a clever line to remember due to how Cumberbatch delivers the line and repeatedly says it to his foe. What I learn from this character is that you can’t attach your life’s purpose to your work because you will only lose your life’s purpose so easily. He loved his work as a surgeon and when his hands got injured, it broke his spirit. And the adventure he went through helped him realize that his passion is not bigger than the rest of the world. I also got to give credit for his secondary role that is Dormammu. He is unrecognizable with this motion capture performance, accurately making the character just as intimidating as depicted. That scene in which Strange reversed the destruction brought the most fresh air because we’re so used to destroyed cities by the end of a superhero film. Considering how powerful Dormammu is, I can’t help but wonder if the character will ever return, yet time will tell. I thought Rachel McAdams was okay with Christine Palmer but in comparison to her prior roles, I think she is misused here. She does sell her reactions to what she transpires when reuniting with Stephen, but she didn’t have to be a love interest. Benedict Wong is actually pretty good as Wong. The character’s normally written as a man servant but here, he’s a sorcerer himself, erasing the stereotype. I like that he’s someone who appears to take things just as serious as any sorcerer. The only takeaway here is that we don’t exactly get to see him in action, due to focus on our titular lead. I definitely enjoyed Chiwetel Ejiofor here as Mordo. He’s not straight up evil like the comics depict him, but they’re not trying to take the sympathetic route with him like some villains in the franchise. He’s someone that is confused and is disappointed on how rules have to broken, since he spent most of his time believing they shouldn’t be. It is a shame his post credits scene didn't have a proper buildup for his return in the Multiverse of Madness because it would've been more special than what the said sequel ended up providing. I think Mads Mikkelsen was good with what he got for Kaecilius. He’s accurately depicted as an underling for a bigger villain. I think as we see him, you can believe that he believes in what he discovers. And his downfall is a given when one’s beliefs have gone way too far. I’m not gonna go crazy about Benjamin Bratt as Pangborn because I don’t recall watching a lot of his roles beforehand. His first scene with Strange reminded me of how Yinsen met Tony Stark in Iron Man and recalled how selfish the lead was. However, I was convinced in the after credits scene where he casually drops after Mordo takes his power, making me believe that he really just got paralyzed. Lastly, Tilda Swinton was very interesting as The Ancient One. This character was originally written as an Asian male, but casted a Scottish woman to avoid stereotyping/typecasting. What I like about her is that when you look at her, you sense strength and power any character can have. And she ensures that here with the Ancient One. She was wrong to use power from the Dark Dimension but you respect her for admitting she hated it. Her death scene is sad because of her speech on how death gives life meaning. It is very true because if you live life as immortal (if possible), then you won’t enjoy what you have. Seeing her buying time as she talked to Strange felt like something anyone would do. The shot where they look at the lightning in slow motion is the most gorgeous scene to witness. Overall, Doctor Strange is another great addition to the MCU for making it’s mind bending concept work. So if you love superhero movies, don’t hesitate checking this out.
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