What hasn't been mentioned yet was Mordo's fall, which I think was pretty well handled.

He lost everything before going to the monastery, was broken and put all his faith in the ancient one and her teachings. At the end he learns, that this pillar of faith was just a lie.

 

Spoiler

Alright. As always with my movie reviews, this is more of a collection of random thoughts than a coherent piece.

Visually, the film is stunning. While there were some scenes/sets that were pretty much standard movie fare, where the detail is hard to see and appreciate, everything about the trippy Inception stuff and the Dark Dimension looked incredible. Well done. Even non-fantastical stuff like Strange getting ready for his night out before the accident, the drawer with spinning wristwatches, costume design - the shot of Strange flicking the Cloak onto his shoulders was coolness visualized - well fucking done. The scene where he uses the Eye for the first time, simple but effective.

Cumberbatch as Strange is perfect casting, though Marvel has a history by now of finding the right actors, but I think Ben here is a match made in heaven. I could easily see him replacing RDJ as the face of the MCU. I thought Tilda Swinton was very good as the Ancient One, though mine is the opinion of a non-reader of comic books. Really, all roles were cast as well as they could have been.

As for actual character development, the film suffers from the prevalent MCU disease of a villain that leaves something to be desired. While his scene with Strange gave some insight into his motivation, it had no grounding for why he wanted everyone to live forever. I think there was a mention of his family dying(?), but it's thin. Also, when he attacked the library in the beginning, why not just take the whole freaking book? Having studied under Tilda Swinton, wouldn't he know that "warnings come after the spells"? It dumbed down the antagonist to a simple-minded chaos-wreaking Ascended Mook, a step above a puppet.

I have no complaints about Palmer, and not just because I'm unable to look at Rachel McAdams critically. As was said above, probably the best LI in the MCU, next to Pepper (fuck you, I like Pepper).

Karl Mordo and Wong were cool too. I very much enjoyed Mordo's arc especially, the righteous believer who feels betrayed by his teacher. Well done and a good setup for what looks like a future villain to potentially rival Loki.

Ancient One was good, not much more to add here.

Now, doctor Strange. I liked his portrayal in the first act, his lingering arrogance throughout his training, but with a hidden depth (I became a doctor to show off, but I also take saving lives seriously), then the finale, where he's both the hero but still also retains a bit of his arrogance, which is shown well in how he deals with Dormammu. I'm sacrificing myself, but not really, because I'm an asshole and you are too and I know you wouldn't want to be trapped in a loop, I know which buttons to push to outsmart you. He completes an arc but he's still Stephen Strange, very much like Stark. In hindsight, it makes sense that the film shares some DNA with Iron Man. I think it's kind of a weak point there, but I suppose if you're gonna rip off yourself, rip off your best stuff and do it well. I'm sure if Iron Man came after Strange, I would be saying the same about it ripping off Doctor Strange.

I'm not surprised I liked this film, considering it's basically Iron Man with a new, very stylish, very exciting paint job. The film did what it did well, but I can't help putting it next to Iron Man and so I'm kind of on the fence about drawing those parallels. Though maybe it's not the most legitimate criticism. It's, after all, an origin story. How much can you really shake up the formula here, I wonder?

My biggest criticism echoes others in the thread. How long did Strange's training take? I liked that his changing outfits were an unstated clue to his progress and I suppose Palmer's reaction is kind of an indicator towards months rather than years, but I still say that the second act was laid on the altar of sacrifice for the very solid beginning and end.

One more thing that bothers me is the fact that Strange, a rookie, really, was able to hold off the bad guy in the middle of the film. I suppose the Cloak fought a big part of the battle, but wasn't the bad guy supposed to be drawing the forbidden power with his fancy phantom blade and whatnot? Was this supposed to be an implicit indication of Strange's aptitude for magic? He took so well to it that he basically saves the world from a hostile god after a few months of training? I guess I can kind of see that. Still, the sloppiness of the second act is only more visible when contrasted with the rest of the film. Iron Man did much better here.

But overall, it's a very solid film on its own and a great addition to the MCU. Plus the scene with Thor is just gold-plated golden gold. I still think Iron Man is better, just by a hair, as far as origin movies go, and it's not on my MCU podium, but it's up there among the best. Enjoyed it. Would bang again. Can recommend.

8,5/10 - can't rightly give it a full 9

 

Dormammu, I've come to bargain!

 

"Beyonce."

 

Speaking of "Beyonce" I liked the way they fit "Wong" in the move while the ators name is also Wong.

 

His first name is also Benedict

 

I know the actor's name is Benedict Wong, is the Marvel character also called Benedict Wong?

Edit: Nevermind

 

You could say he is the Wong Bennedict.

 

liked the casting, liked the effects, definitely liked the jokes, damn near rofl'd during the climax.

disliked pacing of the second act, minor nitpicks regarding some of the scenes (why would you let a retired/fired/no-longer qualified dude into surgical scrubs again?)

regarding the opening scene:

Spoiler

i might need to rewatch it, but yeah i see no reason for mikkelson's char to simply rip the page out rather than just take the whole tome.

instead i'd imagine more if he tried to sneak it out first, gets caught by librarian, fails his bluffchecks, heads roll, tries to march book out again, gets caught by ancient one, THEN rips page out...

again i might need to rewatch that scene, but i was left with the impression that he was rushed far earlier than he had to be, other than plot-reason to leave it for strange to find.

 

I'm going to try and explain in a convoluted manner why he didn't take the whole book:

He didn't need the whole book. He only needed those few pages. Let's say you're at the shops, you want to buy a particular flavour of crisps (Chips for you Yanks) but that flavour only comes in a multipack with ten other flavours. You only want the one flavour but it doesn't cme in a single pack.

If you could, wouldn't you just rip out the one flavour you want and leave the rest?

P.S: This is the struggle I go through every time I want just Roast Chicken Walkers Crisps.

 

Saw this yesterday. 10/10 for special effects, but besides that? Meh.

The whole plot felt stunted and stupid. What is the real tension here? The villians and the Ancient One remain completely two dimesional throughout the movie. Doctor Strange (the character) is also pretty flat; the love interest doesn't develop at all, and he has no powerful dialogues besides the one with the Ancient One.

The humor, while funny, felt out of place with the pace of the movie. Overall it was enjoyable, but not particulary noteworthy. 6/10, mostly for the beautiful shots.

 

Strange was anything but flat, the 'love interest' wasn't intended to be a love interest - it was a good subversion of the trope even, especially if you consider they already dated before. His conversation with Dormammu (I've come to bargain'), the way he tells Dormammu to 'fuck off' and keeps dying until he annoys it to submission, hell, when Strange mentioned that he became a doctor to save lives, not to kill people. That isn't good dialogue?

I'm wondering if we watched the same movie.

 

imho, no. Then again I don't like most well-liked super heroes movies, so I guess I'm a harsh critic. But really, is it too much to ask for a sensible plot and villians that aren't totally generic? The whole genre feels very formulaic, and this movie was no different. If you like that then great, I'm just tired of it.