The opening weekend is not even over yet, yet Doctor Strange, the new Marvel blockbuster, has already won a total of $84.9 million domestically. I have already watched the movie twice, and I up to my opinion, it is easily one of the top four films in the MCU so far along with The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 1 and Captain America: Civil War. I would say that these four movies are equally great, but there is something special with the first appearance of Sorcerer Supreme.
First of all, It is hands down the best superhero origin movie ever made so far. The reason of my claim is that this movie makes an origin story more realistic. When Iron Man first put on the suit, he was immediately flying around and kicking asses and when Captain America came out of that science pod, he was immediately a super solider. The list goes on. Doctor Strange takes the audience to a more realistic path. Although he does get good at magic pretty fast based on his “photographic memory,” he never reached the power level he has in the comic books (and he is one of the most powerful being on earth). At the end of the movie, you can tell that he is still a rookie sorcerer. This fact is even being said out loud by the character Wong at the end, something like “you still have so much more to learn.” Even though he does not stand a chance against the danger he faces, his imagination helps him won the battle. He never defeated Dormammu using great magical power, instead he just simply creates a time loop with limited magic skills he is able to manage. And it all works out. For me, this type of storytelling is more refreshing---It has the hero to admit his incompetence and still find a way to win.
Second of all, the movie includes comedy in a way I did not expect. Once the news was confirmed that Marvel Studio was going to make a Doctor Strange movie, people started to predict what would the movie be like. One of the popular predictions was that this movie would have a darker tone. Because Doctor Strange is not known for his sense of humor, and the fact that he is constantly dealing with mystic, ancient and monstrous matters makes it even harder to put comedy in the mix. But somehow, Marvel Studio figured out a way to continue on their style. The writer of the movie didn’t turn Doctor Strange into something he is not--a sarcastic, mouth-running smartass like Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man, the comedy mainly comes from the manipulation of objects (including magic itself) and reactions from the supporting characters. The “cloak of levitation,” for example, takes on a big role in this movie’s comedy expression. Doctor Strange’s magical cape is given a personality in the film as if it is a sidekick or a pet, and its interactions with Strange are some of the best moments of this movie. The scene where the cape tries to wipe the tears off Strange’s face is so cute that not only laughter burst out in the theater, but I also heard some people went “Oow~~” like they just saw a cat yawning. Without further, comment, the comedy in the movie is definitely the biggest surprise Marvel offers to its audience.
A big superhero movie won’t survive such a tough film market and picky audiences with only comedy and good storytelling. A superhero movie needs action. Captain America: Civil War was not focusing on comedy, and the storytelling is simple, but everybody was talking about how great the airport scene was after they watched it. A good action scene can be the deciding factor of whether a superhero movie can be a success. And fortunately, Doctor Strange delivers a fantastic action showdown. The choreography team really made a difference by combining magic and combat together. Especially the scene where everything in the world starts to fall apart and rotate, and characters are running perpendicular or upside down to the horizontal view. Total Inception style. And the scene where Doctor Strange fight the villain in the hospital in astral form also shows great creativity. Action scenes like these, bumps the film up from a good movie to a great one.
The only thing I don’t like about this movie is that the villains are given too little screen time and far too easy to be defeated. Mads Mikkelsen is a great actor, but his intimidating eyes do not match his position as an errand boy for Dormammu. Everybody thought he was the boss of the film until it proves that he can’t even beat a rookie in a fist fight. Dormammu, on the other hand, is too powerful for anyone to fight against, so he is tricked by Strange to leave earth alone. And don’t get me started with Dormammu’s look, it reminds me of the Parallax from the notorious 2011 Green Lantern movie. Marvel has a history of failed villain depiction, yet they just added another one to the list. But overall, I would give Doctor Strange an 8 out of 10.
