Review: Doctor Strange

The Sorcerer Supreme has made his way onto the big screen and it is a heck of an entrance. The film is visually stunning, funny, and just plain awesome. One note before we get started, there is a difference between sorcerers, wizards, warlocks, magicians, and mages, but I will be using the terms interchangeably. Why? Because they are all fun words to say. And writing sorcerer over and over again is just boring. I got to try and keep things linguistically lively, or I’ll go insane. Well… more insane. Let’s get to it, shall we?

Very, very, very trippy visuals.

The movie opens in Nepal, in the sacred site of sorcerers, Kamar-Taj in the dead of night. A group of people in cloaks march into an ancient looking library. Given the residence of this location, this probably isn’t too out of the ordinary. The group almost immediately attack the librarian, summoning energy whips to hold him in place, and the group’s leader, Kaecilius, decapitates him. That’s probably not normal. The evil wizards steal a few pages out of an old grimoire and make a run for it. Another hooded figure arrives, the current Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One. She, yes I’ll get to the gender-ethnicity change later, chases down her former pupils after they try to escape to New York. Using crazy time bending magic, she stops several of them, but Kaecilius and a few followers escape through a portal in space/time. Frustrated by this, the Ancient One wanders off into a crowd.

We then jump to our protagonist, Dr. Stephen Strange. He’s an incredibly gifted but arrogant neurosurgeon. In his first few minutes of screen time he performs two surgeries, one of which was removing a bullet from a guy’s brain. He also does his best to humiliate a fellow surgeon, who pronounced bullet-in-brain guy dead prematurely. Stephen attempts to rekindle things with his ex, Christine Palmer. It doesn’t go super well. Stephen then goes stag to a surgeon’s lecture, which turns out to be a very bad idea. While driving to the lecture, Stephen gets a call from his assistance. The assistant pitches several cases for him to try out, one of which is a veiled reference to Rhodey, but finally trips Stephen’s trigger with a case of a gal with an electrical implant who was struck by lightning. Stephen, looks at the chart while driving, which causes him to get into a horrible car accident. Like, top 10 worst crashes I’ve ever seen in a movie bad. He awakens a few days later, his body blackened and bruise, and his hands horribly mangled. In case you didn’t know, steady, non-jacked up hands are kind of important in brain surgery. Stephen spends nearly every penny that he has with experimental surgeries to get his hands back to normal. None of which work. Christine tries to convince Stephen to let go and move on, but Stephen won’t listen.

While in physical therapy, Stephen is told of a guy named Jonathon Pangborn. Pangborn was in an accident that left him a paraplegic, but somehow recovered despite the extreme nerve damage he suffered. Pangborn told Stephen about Kamar-Taj. Stephen, desperate and out of options, spends the last of his funds on a one-way ticket to Nepal. Once there, he spends days searching for Kamar-Taj but everyone he speaks to just gives him weird looks. Probably should have brought the Nepali Bhasa phrase book, just saying. After being mugged by some locals, Stephen is saved by Mordo, a student of the Ancient One. He saves Stephen, and brings him to the Ancient One. Stephen mouth offs to both Mordo and then the Ancient One. She doesn’t take kindly to the mouthing off, and shows off some of her power. She forces Stephen into the Astral Plane, and then sends him flying across the multiverse. He gets a peak at creation, and the face of Dormammu, bringer of darkness and death. And, after showing him all the wonders of the multiverse, kicks him out. Why? Because he reminds her of Kaecilius. It’s the arrogance. But, Mordo pleads Stephen’s case, and Stephen’s five hours of hammering on the door, convinces her to relent.   

Hobo Strange in Nepal.

Stephen is trained in the practical application of magic by the Ancient One and Mordo, and in mystic theory by the new librarian, Wong. Stephen proves to be a prodigy at magic, quickly mastering powers in a matter of weeks. In his studies, Stephen learns that Earth is protected from sinister sorcerous schemes by a supremely superb shield. Said shield is skillfully synthesized by the special sanctums found in special cities, specifically New York, London and Hong Kong. Side note, Alliteration like a BOSS. Around the same time, Kaecilius and his cohorts use the pages they stole to contact Dormammu, forming a bond with their new master. Stephen continues his education, even going so far as to “borrow” the ancient Eye of Agamotto and using it’s time bending powers to have a look at the pages that Kaecilius stole. Mordo and Wong stop him from experimenting too much, as bending time is one of the biggest magical no-no’s.

While they’re giving Stephen the lecture about time bending, Kaecilius and his minions attack the Sanctum in London, destroying it. The three Sanctums are connected to Kamar-Taj via transdimensional doorways, so when Kaecilius and co attacked London, it sent a shockwave through the portal into Kamar-Taj. Said shockwave blasts Stephen out of Kamar-Taj into the New York Sanctum. How convenient. Kaecilius and his minions then attack the New York Sanctum. Again, convenient. Stephen is able to hold them off, partially thanks to his new best friend, the Cloak of Levitation. I’m going to call him Cloakie. Stephen and Cloakie keep the baddies at bay, and even captures Kaecilius in a weird trap. Kaecilius tries to get Stephen to turn on the Ancient One, claiming that she uses magic for her own benefit. While Kaecilius distracts Stephen, one of the zealots stabs him in the back. While bleeding profusely, Stephen is able to make a portal to escape, taking him to the hospital that Christine worked at. Cloakie stays behind to beat the heck out of an evil warlock. Christine, while freaked out, does her best to patch him up, while Stephen and the evil magician fight on the astral plane. Stephen overpowers the warlock, obliterating his SOUL. That’s dark, Stephen, real dark. He does his best to explain the situation to Christine after she patches him up. The astral projection, soul fighting, Cloakie, and open rip in space/time help sell the story. He departs through the portal.

On the other side, he meets Mordo and the Ancient One. She tries to promote Stephen to the rank of master and put him in charge of New York’s Sanctum, but he’s had just about enough today. He confronts her about Kaecilius’s claims that she’s abusing her powers. Specifically, that she is drawing power from the Dark Dimension to make herself immortal. She storms off, and Mordo angrily berates Stephen for not trusting in the Ancient One. Mordo thinks that Stephen isn’t brave enough to fight to kill, and Stephen claims that Mordo is too ready to fight and kill for the Ancient One. Their disagreement is interrupted by another attack by Kaecilius and co. Mordo runs in to fight, while Stephen instead tries to trap. Mages can take others into the “Mirror Dimension,” a world tied to but separate from the real one. Which was really, really stupid, as the power boost Kaecilius is getting from Dormammu makes the MORE powerful in the Mirror Dimension. They are chased across a crazy bendy New York, in an amazingly done chase sequence, just barely escaping their pursuers. The Ancient One steps in to save their butts, revealing that she is, in fact, drawing power from the Dark Dimension. She fights off most of Kaecilius’s men, but is mortally wounded in the battle.

A sorcerer beset by his own demons.

Stephen takes the old sorceress to Christine. She does her best, but the Ancient One has only moments. The Ancient One astral projects, and Stephen follows. The Ancient One asks Stephen for forgiveness, and tries to encourage him to do the whole save the world thing. Stephen is hesitant, but agrees. He grabs Cloakie, Mordo and the two travel to the Hong Kong Sanctum to stop the end of days.

The Good first. This movie is visually stunning. From the magically summoned weapons, to the Stephen’s mangled hands, to the Mirror Dimension, to the crazy matter bending, to Dormammu’s oversized head, all of the effects are amazing. Benedict Cumberbatch is amazing as Stephen Strange. He’s his usual jerky but charming self, I could totally believe him as the super doctor that was struck down by his own hubris. Chiwetel Ejiofor is great as Karl Mordo. He’s a very ridged man, steadfast in his belief in the Ancient One and in the power of magic. Which, is what eventually leads him to his fall from grace. Yeah, spoiler alert, but Mordo becomes a baddy. Goes by Baron Mordo, and is a raging psychopath in the comics. Weird to see a version that I like. Both Cumberbatch and Ejiofor have great speeches in this. Powerful, and moving. Benedict Wong play Wong, the head librarian at Kamar-Taj, trainer of Stephen Strange and overall badass. I was actually a little surprised to see him in this, since in the comics he’s Stephen’s… man-servant. Uh… he was originally written 60s. That is literally the only excuse I can make. This Wong is a bit of a curmudgeon, but still fun to watch.

   

A very different look, but not a bad one by any stretch of the
imagination.

Let’s talk about Tilda Swinton. I’m not going to get into a long rant about changing the Ancient One’s race and gender, whether it was good, bad, racist, sexist or white washing. That is for people more intelligent, more informed, or more interested in the subject. I will say, Tilda Swinton is great in this role. She’s incredibly wise, controlled, with a very commanding presence, which are three major requirements for the Ancient One. I loved just about every scene she was in, particularly when she was battling Kaecilius, when they were bending all of New York to fight. Awesome.

Now, onto the bad. Kaecilius isn’t the best villain. They try to give him a tragic backstory and reasoning for his evilness, but he just feels really one dimensional. Just because you go with the "dead loved ones" backstory doesn't turn a Jafar (Aladdin) into an Iago (Othello). You need to work to make a character complex, there is no shorthand for it.I also find it incredibly hard to believe that any rational human being would take the word of a literal demon that lives in the Dark Dimension at face value. That’s just stupid. And, while we’re told that Stephen is arrogant on a number of occasions, there is really only one or two instances that I can think of where he was shown to be that. It’s characterization via words, not actions, which isn’t the best idea. The movie also hits most of the cliché’s pretty hard. Student A turns on Master. Student B arrives, is pretty similar to Student A. Master refuses to train Student B because of similarities Student A, but relents. Intense training that would probably kill him, but works because reasons. Basic, straightforward, and generic.

Overall, I’ll give it an A-. It’s great. Really great. I’d say that it and Captain America: Civil War tie for second place in the best Superhero movie of 2016. Great effects, great cast, great movie. There are a few weaker elements to it, but doesn’t really drag it down too much. I say see it if you love the Marvel movies, or just want to see what all the fuss is about. You will not be disappointed. Next time, back to Luke Cage. He’s on the run, with a hole in his stomach and a whole new snake chasing him. 

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Strange_(film)#/media/File:Benedict_Cumberbatch_on_the_set_of_Doctor_Strange.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Mordo#/media/File:Chiwetel_Ejiofor_as_Karl_Mordo.jpg

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