Somehow I just can’t get enough of this movie, although it is similar to Inception, a movie which I did not fully understand. But, as I said, Doctor Strange got many things that make it great and many things that are not very smoothly integrated or just feel strange. (haha, did you spot the joke?)
This review is just about the movie from 2016. I do not know any comics or whatsoever.
This movie is something you should be familiar with. After killing a librarian and the vandalism of books, it went fully Inception in like 5 minutes runtime.
After that mind-blowing introduction of what we will see in (not even) 2 hours of runtime, the movie introduces Doctor Stephen Strange, a brilliant neurosurgeon who apparently got invisible speaker in his operation room, because I cannot see any when I pause the movie. Also he is so good at was he does, he is more concentrated on the music than on the patient he performs open-brain-surgery on. Please note that I don’t want to be a patient of Doctor Strange.
He also is so good that fellow doctors come to him to seek advice. Or let him check the x-ray-picture where the bullet in a patient’s neck (?) was clearly visible on the monitor. Maybe Strange is not that good but everyone around him should tear their medical degree immediately. So, his colleague, Christine Palmer, asks him to safe her patient (with the obvious bullet on the x-ray) and assists him in surgery, where Strange is distracted by a clock, but was not distracted by the Swing he listened to 10 minutes ago in another surgery…
The classical journey
Like Count Dooku in Star Wars always said: “Twice the pride, double the fall.” That describes Stephen Strange. A brilliant doctor, but twice as arrogant. I mean what did you expect from a guy who owns a cupboard full of watches that is able to turn them? On his way to a dinner, where he speaks at, which seems to be not in New York but in a mountain region (which is not in New York), he is answering a phone call, looking at x-rays on an iPad while driving about 120 km/h and, how convenient, crashes in a phenomenal looking crash, where his Lamborghini is reduced to the size of a soup can. So, Kids take notes: Do not look at your iPad while driving! Somehow though, he is found and taken to his own New York Hospital, where the doctors try to repair damage done to his nerves. A quote worth mentioning is: “I could have done better”, right after he wakes up from surgery. Well, apparently you couldn’t because you were too busy driving your Lamborghini into a river, so no, you could not.
Desperate times call for desperate measures
After his crash, he desperately tries to repair his damage but ultimately fails. He fails not in healing himself but also in life. His injuries destroy his life, and lead to everyone to leave him, which leads to more self-pity. A vicious circle, he desperately tries to escape. His physician sent him the files of Jonathan Pangborn who was completely paralyzed but somehow is able to walk and even play basketball now. Strange visits him and seeks directions, which Pangborn gives him. He sends Strange to a place called “Kamar-Taj” where he learned how to heal the body through the spirit. Strange apparently believes him and makes his way to Thailand to find the place Pangborn spoke from. Walking around a temple he is heard and followed by Mordo, a sorcerer. He takes him to Kamar-Taj, where the Doctor meets the Ancient One, the sorceress supreme, who shows Strange how he can heal through the astral-dimension, which he not believes, although Pangborn told him EXACTLY that earlier in the movie.
So after showing him the secrets of the sorcerers, the Ancient One casts him out, but with the help of Mordo (is it wrong to think of The Lord of the Rings every time I see him?) she accepts him and he starts to master the arts of magic.
Mistake
So now comes something that bothers me: As the Ancient One and Doctor (!) Strange introduce themself to each other, she calls him “Mister Strange”, to which he replies with “Uh, Doctor, actually.” The Ancient One follows with “Well, no, not any more, surely”. So now I don’t want to correct someone who is that ancient and wise as The Ancient One, but just because his hands doesn’t work the way he needs it for his job, he still is a doctor by degree. I mean he studied it so that knowledge is still there, right?
Shamballa
Not a mantra, a wifi-password. And a mystical kingdom in Hindu traditions. These little things make you love the movie every time. The little things in general are so well placed. The quote in the back of his watch from Christine, the wifi-password and others. Also these things bring some funny moments to the table, who ease up the whole plot a bit. The bromance with Wong, the little jokes Strange makes to ease up the conversation, all these things bring some comical elements to the movie.
Leaving Strange on the Everest, to bring him to master the art of the Sling Ring is a bit harsh. The Ancient One tells him about the shock he will go into after the first two minutes, but he is way above the clouds, so he should suffocate way before that.
Movie elements: Music and Screenplay
It sounds hard, but the movie isn’t worthy for that Soundtrack. Michael Giacchino wrote a wonderful piece of score for this movie which completely lost in this visually stunning movie. So my thesis is this: You can either concentrate on creative visuals or a soundtrack that is not describing the picture. Because in every Marvel movie you have a soundtrack that is completely generic and predictable.
Scott Derrickson, the director of the movie stated: “[Giacchino] is doing what good scorers do, which is he is not just creating music that supports the images, he’s adding a third thing to the movie.[…]”, which is a not true. Michael Giacchino made a beautiful soundtrack, I agree. But it is too much of a support for the picture and not an own element. I talked with another Marvel fan about the music and I even played a few parts of the soundtrack and the only one she recognised was the slow, emotional piano score from Stranges` recovery called “The Hands Dealt”. I think the thing why it is working in this scene is that there are no monumental crashes or epic space-time continuum thingys that lure you away from the music. It is still predictable but out of context a beautiful thing to listen to. Give it a try!
Visually stunning is a sentence that would describe that movie. It continues to throw picture at you, you haven’t probably seen since Inception. Besides that it possesses a visual element like no other. A street in Thailand that is full of people who are actual people and not supernumeraries is just one example of how this movie divides itself from others.
Summary
Benedict Cumberbatch proves once more that he is one of the greatest actors of the 21 century. With a performance that is outstanding, but limited by the script. The effects are not limited by that, and because of that by far the greatest thing in this movie and you can see that by the four awards Doctor Strange achieved just because of the effects. Tilda Swinton won a Saturn Award as best support actress and it is deserved. She fills the mentor role completely and fits perfectly in the setting.
All in all you can say Doctor Strange is a great comic-to-movie-implementation and has a great soundtrack. But it limits itself with dumb jokes and stupid moments. Finally I can give it a rating of 65, just because I have seen movies with more depth. I think it is a really great movie, but missing a certain charm to make it even more appealing as it already is.
Rating: 65/100
Pros:
- Soundtrack is really good
- VISUAL EFFECTS
- A great set of actors
- Compelling to watch
Cons:
- Soundtrack perishes under the visuals
- Jokes feel dumb and crude.
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