Doctor Strange (2016) Mini-Review — The Analytic Critic
I wasn’t sure how Marvel would the cheesy Doctor Strange to the big screen. Its source material is easy to screw up. Thankfully, Doctor Strange takes a more serious tone, making it one of Marvel’s better properties overall. Let’s take a look.
WRITING:
Doctor Stephen Stragne is the best neurosurgeon in the world. In many ways, he’s a lot like Tony Stark: wealthy famous, irritating, and incredibly arrogant. When a car crash makes his hands unusable, Strange loses everything.
Seeking experimental medicine, he travels to Kamar-Taj, discovering a secret order of mystic arts wielders outside the realm of science. Unfortunately, Strange is entangled in a plot to enslave earth by granting Kaecilius, a traitorous sorcerer, immortality.
Honestly, the plot is a little convoluted. It’s quite interesting all the same. There are a lot of details that the viewer has to pay attention to or they risk becoming lost. That’s pretty unique for a Marvel movie… for better or for worse.
The plot is quite original and asks the audience to expand their perception of reality. I love that idea; I only wish that Disney would take more risks like this.
The characters are great, too, but the pacing is slow and you don’t actually start caring about anyone until the second act. That’s poor writing, in my opinion.
Even worse is the abysmal attempts at humour. It’s not witty in that sense, just moronic. I hate the fact that Disney tries to inject humour in everything. Sometimes it just doesn’t fit the tone and that’s doubly true here.
Also, the final fight scene — while thematically interesting — leaves the audience with an incredibly underwhelming and unsatisfying conclusion. In short, Doctor Strange is full of wonderful ideas, though the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
CAST:
The film has a pretty solid cast. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Stephen Strangequite well. Cumberbatch uses a modern theatricality that I would call unique, which fits the character perfectly. His sense of humour doesn’t land, though as I mentioned before, that’s a screenplay issue.
The two best casting choices are Chiwetel Ejifor as Mordo and Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One. The two play off each other wonderfully and illustrate a level of conviction I wasn’t expecting from an “underground” Marvel property.
Mads Mikkelson is no stranger to villains. In fact, he’s at his best when he plays antagonists, and that holds true here. Mikkelson makes a convincing villain for Strange, representing a dangerous threat and heightening the stakes. Let’s face the facts — Marvel’s villains usually suck. This one doesn’t.
As for supporting actors, Rachel McAdams chooses a more natural form of acting, but it just works; she and Cumberbatch surprisingly share a decent bit of chemistry.
Benedict Wong, on the other hand, kills any immersion the film has with his inability to act. He’s far from the worst I’ve seen, but in a serious film like this, he just can’t deliver, which is only made worse by the elements of “comedy” in the script.
PRODUCTION:
Doctor Strange is full of amazing production value. The cinematography and colour correction bring an oddly dark tone to the Disney film, but it works. Shots are usually wide instead of intimate, capturing the action sequences from all sorts of unique angles.
The lighting is almost always dark or foreboding, something that fits the visuals of the Mirror Dimension overall.
Fight choreography, by the way, is also handled elegantly. Between the martial arts, hand gestures, and “flying” harness work, combat is wickedly entertaining.
But best of all are the special effects. The visuals are magnificent and trippy, which is very difficult to pull off with a sorcery film, but Doctor Strange does exactly that.
If I have to nitpick, my only issue is with the sound design. While background sounds are suitable, ranging from good to realistic effects, the soundtrack just isn’t that memorable, nor does it really fit the tone of the movie.
SUMMARY:
Doctor Strange might be a visual masterpiece, but it’s held back by some poor writing choices, one mediocre actor, and a weak soundtrack. Despite this, it is definitely one of Marvel’s better films.
Doctor Strange gets a 6.5 out of 10.
