So a while ago I saw Doctor Strange and I thought it was okay…
Now don’t get me wrong, I wanted to love this movie because I love Marvel comics and I love the Marvel movies and judging by the trailers I thought this was going to be another great one but honestly I left the theater a little underwhelmed.
Starting with the good, Cumberbatch brings his all in this role, he brings a lot of arrogance and charm into Stephen Strange without making him too annoying and unlikable, oh, he’s unlikable but it’s done in a clever way to when you actually want him to succeed because at some point he’s going to learn his lesson.
Secondly, the visuals are amazing. Especially with the action sequences. Half the time I wasn’t paying attention to the fight choreography and was just mesmerized by the visuals because truth be told, I never saw visuals like that before. So whoever was in charge of the visual effects department did a nice job at doing so.
My problem, for the most part, this movie is boring and forgettable. Aside from the ending and one other scene I can’t really think of anything I will remember from this movie. It tries so hard to be so cool and complex with its concept and visuals which is fine, you can do a lot with this concept, it’s a cool concept but the dialogue just takes away from that because for the most part it feels like exposition and honestly I couldn’t even understand some of it. I tried so hard and saw the movie a number of times but just still couldn’t grasp it, maybe it’s just me I don’t know.
Also most of the characters are pretty bland as well. Now, you have potential to make something amazing here but all you really have to show for it are the visuals, well, there’s more to film than just the visuals. If you have bland characters it’s more than likely your movie is going to be bland. I honestly had a hard time remembering each characters name and motivation.
They try to lighten them up a little bit by adding humor in but maybe it’s just me, but the movie wasn’t that funny. I thought the jokes they made were honestly pretty easy and don’t get me wrong, jokes are a great add to this but they’re just not very well written, I even cringed at one or two of the jokes and that’s exactly what you DON’T want me to do.
Also, Tilda Swinton is very miscast here. I love her as an actress but she wasn’t the right choice for The Ancient One. I only saw Tilda Swinton, not a character. Enough said.
Now I may talk like it’s a bad movie but I don’t think that, I think when the movie is entertaining it’s a damn good ride, and aside from Cumberbatch, Mads Mickelson I thought was a great villain and the ending I thought was very clever but the problem just lies with poor writing and bland characters. They we’re clearly more focused on what they had for their visuals than really developing anyone besides Stephen.
I like the movie, go see it if you want but let’s just hope the next superhero movie is a lot better.
My YouTube movie review:
Trailer: