Doctor Strange Review:

Expectations:

Doctor Strange was one of the first movies I went to see that I knew nothing about. I mean, I’ve done research on most movies I’ve seen but I wanted to go into this totally blind.

The Spoiler Free Review:

Marvel has done it again; they’ve taken a relatively obscure hero and made a movie that smashes all expectations. Just like they did with Ant-Man, Marvel created a (from what I can glean) a faithful adaptation of the Doctor Strange original story, using great actors with mind boggling visuals, and made a fun, well-made film. I loved the departure to magic from technology that Marvel movies heavily feature, which gave the film a refreshing sort of feeling. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, considering that I knew nothing about the source material. However, like many obscure Marvel movies, it suffers from a villain that’s, though well-acted, is mostly forgettable.

Characters and Acting:

            Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Tilda Swinton delivered amazing performances, complementing their compelling and complex characters, making the movie feel less cookie-cutter than some other particular superhero movies of recent years (Batman VS Superman). The villain, Kaecilius, played by Mads Mikkelsen, brought depth and sufficient motivation to an otherwise “ok” villain; however, every time he came onto the screen, I couldn’t help but refer to him as Le Chiffre, and the fact that he is known for such and iconic roll slightly detracts from his character. The movie has some very funny moments, and some not so funny moments, which all the little kids in the theater laughed at for some unknown reason. This is also not a movie for children, so don’t take your siblings below ten to see this; dudes get shanked, and people die.

Cinematography:

Doctor Strange’s visuals and SFX were, hands down, the best of any movie I’ve seen, ever; far surpassing any other movie that had the same concepts of impossible geometry, like Inception. However, I give this general warning to all; this movie has lots of brain-hurting imagery and if you can’t handle impossible shapes, reality bending floors, or the concept of infinity, or don’t like lots of flashing lights (at one point), THIS MOVIE IS NOT FOR YOU. Also, if you have epilepsy, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU SEE THIS MOVIE WITHOUT FASTFORWARDING OVER A CERTAIN SECTION AT THE BEGINNING. Other than that, I absolutely suggest seeing this movie as soon as possible; it’s a beautiful mess of crazy and I love it.

Plot:   

            The movie centers on Dr. Steven Strange, an extraordinarily gifted surgeon, who’s dedicated everything to his craft. However, one fateful day, he was texting and driving (no joke) and the resulting crash broke all the bones in his hands, causing irreparable nerve damage and constant shaking. Unable to continue his work, Steven’s life degrades to the single goal of finding a way to fix his nerves and return to his life of surgery. Then, one day, he hears of a place in Nepal that may be able to help his hands; but Dr. Strange is in for much more than he expects.

Was it good:

            It was. Marvel hit another home run with an IP that even I knew nothing about, and from the end credits scene, it is almost assured that he will play a much larger role in the MCU.

Noah’s Speculations

SPOILER ALERT: YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

The most important connection that Marvel makes with this movie is tying Doctor Strange in with the overarching plot that culminates in Avenger: Infinity Gauntlet. Thanos’ motivation has been to gather all the Infinity Stones for the Infinity Gauntlet since the first Avengers movie. Five have been directly introduced in the MCU so far: the Space Stone (a.k.a. The Tesseract), the Reality Stone (a.k.a the Aether), the Power Stone (a.k.a. the Orb), the Mind Stone (a.k.a. Loki’s scepter), and the Time Stone (a.k.a. Doctor Strange’s Eye of Agamotto).

In the end credit scene, Doctor Strange is talking to Thor about find his brother, Loki, whom Thor apparently lost in New York. Thor says that he and Loki were looking for his father, Odin. Doctor Strange offers his help in finding both Loki and Odin, after telling Thor that he was keeping track of all super humans in New York as a precautionary measure. I believe that this scene is setting up the plot to the upcoming Thor movie, Thor: Ragnarok. Ragnarok is an event in Norse mythology in which all the gods will fight a giant interdimensional snake, and LOSE. I think Strange will help in combating the more mythic and magic villains that Thor movies usually deal with, and I anticipate what they will do with this interesting concept.

Another speculation is that Marvel is planning a meet up with all the heroes that they have established in the multiverse, or all those who don’t fight earthly villains. This would include the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Norse gods of Asgard, the Inhumans (introduced in Netflix original, Agents of Shield), and now Doctor Strange. There is even a chance that Marvel could choose to follow the popular Hulk in Space story arc, as we saw Bruce Banner, in Hulk form, jetting off into the unknown. This would make even more sense, as the big baddie of the MCU seems to be Thanos, a villain that does not operate off of Earth.

The Critical Nerd,

Noah Gardner