Movie Review: Doctor Strange
So, I watched Doctor Strange and boy what a forgettable movie it was. Nothing about it felt like it was its own thing. It was just stealing ideas from left and right without ever managing to grow an identity of it own.
The selling point for example is the trippy visuals which are constantly warping reality into a psychedelic kaleidoscope. They do not have an in-story meaning for looking like this; it’s just for the cool factor. Inception did the same thing a few years back and although it was a lazy representation of a person’s psyche, it was meant to be a representation of their minds.
Not only Doctor Strange does not excuse why things warp the way they do, it goes as far as using the stupid mirror world copout, where all the battles are taking place in a copy of reality and thus nothing gets actually damaged in the real world. Hell, nobody even notices it. Despite the flamboyant presentation, nothing actually happens. It’s a bunch of chuunis having make belief battles in their minds.
Pretty colors aside, there is still nothing much going on in the movie. Since it’s an origin film, means that most of it is spent on the protagonist beginning as normal, then finding a power, and then training how to use said power. By the time he is capable enough to count as a superhero, the movie is close to over. It’s a boring build up and unlike heroes like Spiderman or Batman there is very little to care about Strange. It’s just some guy who wants to heal his hands and uses mystical powers to do so. He never comes off as someone who does it for the world. This is not compelling drama, he is not an interesting character.
Take the script aside as well. The very way the battles work is not good at all. They are random magic stuff appearing and disappearing all the time. There is no strategy, there are no tactics, it’s random bull where everything is possible therefore nothing feels significant. When magic can be abused to the point they can teleport instantly anywhere they want and even travel to other dimensions by flying into them, you stop giving a damn.
Furthermore, the plot convenience is too obvious for Strange. He starts as an average guy and within a few days he tops elite sorcerers. There is this magic cloak that has a will of its own and helps him out all the time. Villains somehow constantly fail to kill him when they have no problem with anyone else. He unexplainably manages to control an infinity stone and constantly messes with time. Which means he abuses a trope I hate: Time loops and time resets. That’s how he wins, he repeats events until he does them right, and rewinds time so it’s like nothing happened in the end. What is wrong with modern entrainment? Stop doing that!
To hell with this movie.