Topic: Doctor Strange and the Unexpected "Meh"

I apologize if someone's already done a broad Doctor Strange post. I'm sure they have. Mods, delete this if you feel it's redundant or cluttering the boards.

I don't need to make this post super long other than to say "what the fuck, Rotten Tomatoes?".

I didn't get to see Doctor Strange in the theaters. Something something, toddlers. I impulse bought Doctor Strange on bluray because the reviews were stellar. Honestly, I didn't think it was a whole lot better than Thor.

Some key criticisms (spoilers):
- Completely forgettable villain (as per usual with MCU films). Marvel has 13 or 14 films tucked under its belt and has yet to produce an epically memorable 3-dimensional villain. And I gotta say, they certainly don't start here. I'm glad Le Chiffre was able to take a break from trying to beat James Bond in a poker game to put some charcoal on his eyes and glare menacingly at Benedict Cumberbatch and Tilda Swinton for two hours. He was so forgettable, I don't even remember the character's name. Cialis? Let's just say Cialis.

- To write Stephen Strange, they carefully extracted Tony Stark's character arc, surgically removed all that pesky charisma and character-building backstory, took away the iron suit and replaced it with a cape and tunic. This movie spends very little time really getting to know Strange and why he is the way he is.

- Mordo. I like the actor. And let me preface by saying I know nothing about the Doctor Strange comic books. But in this film, Mordo's inevitable turn to evil is toooooootally not earned. Not only that, but he's 100% right. His concerns about how we can't break the rules whenever we damnwell please because there will be consequences is not unfounded. And he's pretty calm and peaceful about that stance. He warns them sternly, but civilly, about this practice. In the end, nobody fucking cares and it never becomes an issue. Ever. Stephen wins the day by doing exactly what he shouldn't do and it never comes back to bite him. That being said, for Mordo to leave and have a falling out over this is completely understandable. For him to go evil and start attacking other sorcerers is not believable. There's no tipping point or direct connection. I'd have liked to see the stakes raised, and for him to lose someone he loved, either directly, or maybe even just as a result of Strange having to mess with time. But in reality, he was telling Strange not to play with matches. Strange played with matches, successfully lit nothing on fire with them, which prompted Mordo to embark on a quest to destroy everyone who has a pack of matches in their house.

- Finally, the score, man. I know, it's freaking MICHAEL GIACCHINO, he's the modern John Williams, right? Well really he is. His music is generally great. And I suppose if the main theme of Doctor Strange wasn't basically a copy of the main theme from the Abrams Star Trek it might be awesome. To Giacchino's credit, this very well may not have been his fault. This may have been Scott Derekson putting Star Trek's theme in the edit as placeholder music and ordering Giacchino to copy his own work. If that's the case, then Derekson's the asshole I guess.

Ok so, bottom line, it's an MCU film. Those are known for being fun, but not amazing movies with the exception of a couple. To the film's credit, it had beautiful visuals. Really that's about it.

So why am I getting so riled about this movie?

Because shit man, that bluray was like, 20 bucks.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." - Han Solo, Terminator 2: With a Vengeance

Re: Doctor Strange and the Unexpected "Meh"

While I absolutely agree with all those points (hell, I couldn't even remember the villains name when talking about it immediately after exiting the theater), I enjoyed the fuck out of that movie. Because the movie isn't taking it's self too seriously I'm more willing to let those things slide. It's kinda like watching a Jackie Chan flick. I don't know why he's in a pot and ladder factory, but it's fun watching it. Scenes like where they're fighting through reversing time or where they're trying to deal with the mirror dimensions bullshit have a similar vibe to me.

"ShadowDuelist is a god."
        -Teague Chrystie

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Re: Doctor Strange and the Unexpected "Meh"

Oh lord

The difficult second album Regan

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Re: Doctor Strange and the Unexpected "Meh"

ShadowDuelist wrote:

While I absolutely agree with all those points (hell, I couldn't even remember the villains name when talking about it immediately after exiting the theater), I enjoyed the fuck out of that movie. Because the movie isn't taking it's self too seriously I'm more willing to let those things slide. It's kinda like watching a Jackie Chan flick. I don't know why he's in a pot and ladder factory, but it's fun watching it. Scenes like where they're fighting through reversing time or where they're trying to deal with the mirror dimensions bullshit have a similar vibe to me.

I think that was the thing for me and I agree with you that a lot of Hong Kong films don't work story-wise, but their exciting choreography makes it a non-issue. And maybe it lost something not being viewed on the full screen. I think a defining aspect of Marvel movies is more the experience and less the integrity of the story. Pretty much all the others I got to see in the theater at one point or another. In fact, I don't think there was a single MCU film until this one that I had to miss. So the lack of that theatrical experience could be largely what marred the film for me.

In the end I'll digress. I'm definitely in the minority on how I feel about this film. I guess in the end, the larger, more broad point I was trying to make is that I'm starting to get bored of the MCU films. I think their tendency to follow a formula had a lot of strengths in the beginning, but after 2018 I think they'll be up to almost 20 films.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." - Han Solo, Terminator 2: With a Vengeance

Re: Doctor Strange and the Unexpected "Meh"

Regan wrote:

Oh lord

Yeah, probably a bit of a long-winded outlandish post over a movie that isn't really trying to being something that deserves that kind of outcry. I'm...passionate? About random stuff.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." - Han Solo, Terminator 2: With a Vengeance

Re: Doctor Strange and the Unexpected "Meh"

I think broadly speaking I'm somewhere in between on this.  The formula is starting to drag a bit, but I found it interesting enough, and I'm still on board for Spiderman, Thor 3, etc.  They must be doing something right though, if we're saying "yeah, the formula is dragging a bit" and we're on movie number 11 or whatever, not movie 3. 

Kibouchi wrote:

For him to go evil and start attacking other sorcerers is not believable. There's no tipping point or direct connection. I'd have liked to see the stakes raised, and for him to lose someone he loved, either directly, or maybe even just as a result of Strange having to mess with time.

Remember though that at least some of these post-credit scenes are like "Next time, on Doctor Strange..." (like the Civil War preview in....Age of Ultron?  That scene is like halfway through the movie.)  I wouldn't assume that there's no story between the end of this movie and what happens there.

For the next hour, everything in this post is strictly based on the available facts.

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