I’m not a fan of superhero movies, whether it be DC or Marvel; the character origin stories never interested me and the heavy action sequences always felt cluttered, to the point where I didn’t know what was going on. “Dr. Strange” in this respect is unique. Though it has it’s issues, it’s an exciting offering in the superhero space. It goes to places that many of the other superhero films these days don’t, offers up new and interesting ideas and boats dazzling visuals and more-coherent action sequences that leave you awe-inspired.
Take all that with a grain of salt though because the main issue that I had with this film was that it never quite went far enough into the grand ideas and visuals it presented. By around the mid-point, the film seemed to have deviated from telling a captivating story into rushing to tell a “marvel” story; a story more interested in grand fight scenes and world-destruction than delving into the development of the characters it built up until this point, and the problem with that is that much of what happens in the second half of the film impacts you less, and doesn’t make much sense.
It’s around the time that Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) has slowly begun to learn of the mystic powers of the Universe that the film begins to rush. All of a sudden after a couple scenes of Dr. Strange struggling, finding his footing and reading some mystic books, he suddenly seemed to have developed powers greater than those who spent much more time in that mystic monetary than him. The film tries to make up for that by restating his brilliant photographic memory, allowing him to earn his MD and PhD at the same time, but I didn’t buy it. When Dr. Strange had first come into the monastery seeking to learn the skills of the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), he questioned his abilities to learn it all, at which the Ancient One said that it is no different from how he learned his skills to be a doctor, at which Strange says took years of skill and practice. Where are those years of skills and practice?
What bothers me is not so much that Dr. Strange learned so quickly, is that he is not allowed to grow. The teaching at the monastery are counter to everything Dr. Strange knows, his arrogance and ego is shown needing to break down in order for him to progress in the mystic arts. Yet much of this breaks down in his quick progression, and when we see his character’s personality changing, as in the ending scene when he submits to failure, it feels forced like someone “beating water to submission”.
This is also the issue with many of the oriental themes introduced in the film. Many of these ideas are fresh and offer a new perspective in the superhero genre but they are very underdeveloped and cause again more confusion in the second half. If these ideas from the start, for example those about time and how we are prisoners to it, were allowed to be expanded on more, the revelations in the second half about death and never-ending moments would come more to fruition than they currently do.
Am I expecting too much from a Marvel superhero movie? Probably, and none of the points I mentioned above detract too much from the enjoyment of film. “Dr. Strange” is a satisfying film and a fresh addition into a cluttered superhero genre. Though it fixes someone of the issues of the other films in it’s category, it still has some of the same storytelling issues and then adds some new ones of it’s own, but it does a lot right, especially in it’s gorgeous visuals and action scenes. Scott Derrickson does a great job at direction; so well at times, that often you’ll forget about other detractors. It may not be the best filmmaking but it’s certainly the entertainer it sets out to be, and I would gladly watch it again downing a bag of popcorn, and if that’s all your looking to do, look no further. As I mentioned earlier, I’m generally not a big fan of superhero movies but I genuinely liked this one, and hopefully that says a lot.
