Doctor Strange

So here are – Donald J. Trump is the President-elect of the US – a sad moment in history but life has to move on. And there are still good things to look forward to – like the movie fall/winter which is upon us. And to get myself slowly into Oscar mood – as I had already posted/announced on facebook – I just decided to go and see Dr.Strange. This was probably the very first (and maybe the last) time that I went into a movie completely cold. All I knew ahead of time was that it had a rock solid box office opening (which is not a bad sign per se) and a 90% rating on Rottentomatoes. Due to my blind trust to RT and the lack of other offerings on Saturday, I decided to drag my wife into the movies with me to watch Dr.Strange. And while it wasn’t a complete waste of time, I still thought the movie was merely ok but really has no place in the 90s league of RT – this impression however may also be fueled by the fact, that I generally think very little of the Marvel movie universe – so maybe it’s also my problem.

The movie follows pretty much the standard Marvel recipe; the main character Dr. Strange is an arrogant prick who is mostly focused on his career advancement being a gifted neurosurgeon (replace neurosurgeon with weapon manufacturing and you know where I am heading) – of course there is also a semi-love interest but they are kind of not-together. Choosing Benedict Cumberbatch as the gifted arrogant neurosurgeon turning superhero is one of the good choices the movie makes -he embodies the arrogance and being in love himself in a unique way (without being too Robert Downey Jr.-esque). And that aspect (casting) is something Dr.Strange definitely has going for it – all of them fit into their roles really well and make the movie generally better. Aside from Cumberbatch, I truly enjoyed Tilda Swinton’s The Ancient and Hollywoods new go-to-grumpy Asian character Benedikt Wong.

And like most Marvel movies, the movies does well on not taking itself too serious – it just wants to have some fun, blow up some shit and provide the audience with some kick-ass CGI. If you want to judge the movie by these three elements, one could certainly call the movie a full success. Dr.Strange cracks a few (mostly funny) one-liners mostly with Wong, even Mads Mikkelsen villain  – who often in Marvel movies is either wordless or faceless or boring or all of the above – does crack a few good one-liners. In addition the CGI in Dr.Strange is really top-notch -it probably created the most realistic car crash scene, I have ever seen in film. And even though director Scott Derrickson is “borrowing” a good amount of CGI scenes from the great Christopher Nolan – it is used rather effectively and “borrowing” from the best is not necessarily a bad thing per se as well.

So while I had some good laughs and enjoyed the CGI – I felt the movie just went a little too long and at some point I lost interest and started to look at my phone, waiting for the movie to finally come to its big finale. And while that finale again was somewhat fun – at that point, I was already a little bored and no longer vested in seeing the characters succeed. Ultimately, Marvel movies are probably just too predictable and cheesy – but if you are in just for a fun ride, this movie may be right for you. Even though if you’d ask me what Marvel movie is fun and good, I would probably recommend the Iron Man series – they are just better (except Iron Man II).

After leaving the theater, I learned one lesson about myself which I should follow in the future – I am not into Marvel movies, they are just always follow the same the recipe. Due to the lack of comic knowledge, I just can’t get to vested with these characters and thus I should just stay away from any Marvel movie coming my way in the future.