By Devina
I went to see Doctor Strange with my friend, and we walked out with a headache.
It was Inception. Upgraded.
Remember those clashing building tops? Now multiple that scene ten times or more, and you might get the effect.
Doctor Strange was a good attempt at introducing us to more heroes in the Marvel universe, and it was as good as it was strange.
No pun intended.
Doctor Stephen Strange was a successful man with careless attitude and bold choices. He was efficient, sufficient, and consistent in his excellence. And for that, he was proud.
Think Tony Stark. If Tony Stark had a best friend who could share the same arrogance and ignorance, then Stephen would be him.
Until one day he got into a car crash and killed his most prized possessions: his hands.
No, they weren’t amputated. But their nerve cells were damaged beyond repair, point of no return.
So Stephen lost it all, and heard of a place where he could find healing, a place named Kamar Taj.
He flew to Kathmandu and found the temple, and despite his horrible attitude, gained an access into the club. There, he met the Ancient One who taught him many ways of viewing the world, and that what he had known all his life was just a tiny keyhole.
Determined to fix his hands, Stephen learned everything as quickly as he could, flying through reading materials like a maniac. He then learned about the Ancient One’s disciple who betrayed her and tore an important spell to master time and space.
One night, out of curiosity, Stephen opened a book that belonged to the Ancient One, and tried out a spell to reverse time. Unfortunately, when he got caught by the librarian and one of the warriors, they were attacked.
So Stephen found himself fighting for his own life. And when the fate of the world rested upon his shoulders, and the levitating robe, what would Doctor Strange do?
Okay.
I wanted to love this movie so much. Like, so far there hasn’t been a single Marvel movie that didn’t make me smile, so I had a lot of great expectations for Doctor Strange.
Unfortunately, this movie didn’t live up to them. And I was more disappointed than I should be.
On the note of visual aspect, Doctor Strange was stunning. The CGI, although a bit too obvious at times, was accommodating the story. I was a little bit taken aback when I noticed little glitches here and there, but I didn’t forget that nothing’s perfect.
So despite it giving me vertigo, this was an enjoyable, visually stunning movie.
However, watching it, I was not invested in any of the characters. I could not care less if anyone died. If everyone died, I would be okay. That was how much I was into the characters.
The relationships felt flat. I did not care whether Stephen found Christine again, or however Mordo felt about the whole disorder. And in my world of movies, this was not a good sign.
Did anyone else go, “Wait, what?” when the movie Irene Adler met the TV show Sherlock Holmes? What kind of fate was that? My friend was going, “Adler!” when McAdams showed up on screen. I had to laugh. What a beautiful mashup.
I give Doctor Strange a 7/10.
Unfortunately, we were sitting front row watching it, so vertigo was inevitable. Perhaps if I had been siting in the back, it’d be so much better. But due to the lack of love I had for any character, this was the highest score I could think of.
OpinionHuis 