It came out in 2016? I think? It was a one-off in the Marvel Universe even though the stinger implied a sequel with Baron Mordo as the baddie.
It was notable for whitewashing the character of The Ancient one, as well as "impressive" visual effects. In fact, the visual effects is essentially what gave it a pass from many critics.
The thing is, the film is entirely forgettable. I can't even remember Dr. Strange's first name. It's Jonathan, right?
Let me break it down with my biggest complaints, in list form.
1. Casting:
- Yeah, so I don't know. Is Hollywood still trying with Benedict Cumberbatch, anymore? They were pushing for him, hard. Okay, so first issue was the accent. It led to a voice that had zero character or nuance. And BC did the thing that many British actors do where they kind of lock their jaws and the voice becomes muddy and garbled. Christian Bale does this, but not as bad, maybe? Other than the accent, he hit the notes that he was supposed to, but that was it.
- Rachel McAdams. Utterly wasted.
- Chiwetel Ejiofor. It is unfortunate that his character was framed in a way as being morally/emotionally shallow or limited. There was not much given to his character, and not a lot to work with. Underused as well.
- Mads Mikkelson. Was adequate as generic bad guy.
- Tilda Swinton. Yeah, no.
2. Pacing:
Strange is an asshole who gets inexplicably rewarded with things. You want that eye (that's also an infinity stone)? Sure, go ahead. Oh, that cloak (totally not like the sword in the stone or Thor's Hammer or whatever) chose YOU? Yeah, no questions asked, rock on.
If his thing is that he is selfish, did he learn his lesson? Sort of? But he gains powers rapidly in the movie. Look, there has to be some other way other than a training montage, and other than just ignoring it all together, that can meaningfully indicate the passage of time and acquisition of skills. Right? ...Fine, just give me a training montage, at the very least.
And he never gains mastery of these powers. So to see him have the trappings of him as Dr. Strange does not ring true.
3. Heroes: A lot of what I said about our hero is already mentioned up there. He didn't resonate because he didn't have a personality. I want to know more about him. Why the materialism? Why the ego? I don't know if the comics ever go into that.
4. Villains: Some guy that isn't Thanos. Mads Mikkelson and his crew. I wish we saw more of his cronies. If I were them, I'd be pissed. "I did't sign up for this, man!"
Oh, and Baron Mordo. Why did he trust Tilda so much? And why couldn't the movie justify his anger a bit more by showing us negative, REAL consequences of Tilda using the dark magic whatever to keep her alive????
5. Action
It's cool. Not great. The world-bendy stuff was okay, but left a lot of questions the movie could have answered. Who controlled what? For something that ALLEGEDLY is limitless, I want some structure, dammit!
Final thoughts:
What does this film contribute to the franchise? And maybe this is a problem with the character itself. But what does it contribute? Very little, in my opinion. The iconography is not memorable, the character not distinct enough, and I have a hard time believing that the studio actually spent millions making this. I want more elements of fantasy! If the Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool films could find their own separate tone and make it work for them, then why couldn't this? Well, I'll tell you why. Because the writers, or the directors, or the producers, (most likely a combo of all three) don't revere or enjoy the character and the world of the character. Because if you truly savored the possibilities that the specific story presented, you would damn well make a film that demonstrated that. You wouldn't make offensive casting choices. You would try to honor the story. There are glimpses of that, brief glimpses, like Dr. Strange falling through space, and Dr. Strange facing off against the big bad (actually a very original premise- I liked that part), but that's it. A forgettable entry.
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