Superheroes in movies. Superheroes on television. Superheroes in comics. Superheroes on cerial boxes. Pretty much everywhere you care to look these days, you are being surrounded by superheroes. Even if you don’t like them, I guess nobody is in a position to deny the fact that these men and women in costumes are hot. And Marvel really is in the lead expanding their already very impressive cinematic universe, with new movies and characters each year. The final new character we get to meet (well at least for this year) is Doctor Strange. Well, Doctor Strange is not exactly new to comic book readers from across the world. But he is a new character for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I can hear your thoughts already “Oh no, yet another origin story, this is getting really boring”. Is that really true though? Let’s first see what this movie is about, before I will answer this question.
Doctor Stephen Strange is a very succesful neurosurgeon, and he has pretty much everything going for him. One day however he gets into a very bad accident, and his hands become seriously injured. Thinking his career is over, Stephen tries to find a way to to restore his hands to what they were. One day he meets a man that has recovered fully from an injury that should have left him completely paralyzed. He finds out that this miracle occurred in Nepal, and he promptly travels there to find the cure. However Strange is going to be confronted with something that he could not have prepared himself for. The world that he thought he knew, seems to be part of a mystical universe that is larger than he could have ever imagined. The role he has yet to play in it, is pretty much unclear, but when an ancient evil awakens, the life of every human being on Earth will hang in the balance….
Okay, one thing is clear: this movie has special effects in it, that are simply amazing. Think Inception, but only 10 times better. There are some absolutely spectacular scenes that pretty much defy the laws of physics, and you sometimes wonder “How on Earth did they do that?”. That being said, this is yet another origin story, and I do have to say that the set up for these movies is becoming predictable. Some kind of calamity befalls the new hero, he has to learn to deal with his new powers, and in the end he or she has to defeat an evil nemesis. This movie starts off pretty spectacular, but then takes it’s time to develop the character of Stephen Strange. And one could argue it takes too long. At certain times I felt my attention slip away, something that is usually a bad sign. I did enjoy this latest Marvel installment, but I honestly have to say I expected more of it. Stephen Strange is a great character, and he is wonderfully played by Benedict Cumberbatch. I only hope that the inevitable sequel will be a better balanced movie.
I give Doctor Strange a 7 out of 10 score.
Raistlin0903 
I have never read the comics, but this movie does seem interesting and I like that Mads Mikkelsen plays the villian!
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It was definitely not a bad movie, and I highly recommend seeing it in the theatres, if only for the truly awesome special effects. Mads Mikkelsen is a terrific actor. I loved him in Jagten, and he plays a very good villain here 😀 He also starring in the upcoming Star Wars movie!
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I have been wanting to see that movie, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet haha
Oh really? I didn’t know that!
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Marvel is pretty much printing money now with every film they put out. Even if it’s not a critical success, they are pulling in viewers (myself included)
Benedict is great as Stephen Strange. He’s an incredible actor so I’m not surprised but I really felt like he captured the character. I am definitely a little tired of origin stories at this point but I had to go see this in a theatre just because of the special effects. It really was a lot of fun to watch all things considered.
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Totally agree with you. The special effects were amazing, and that alone made it time well spent in the theatre. But yeah origin stories are becoming a bit tiresome. More are looming on the horizon though, with Black Panther and Ms. Marvel. Oh well, I will still go and see them anyway though 😂😂
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Great review! 🙂 You and I seem to have a similar opinion…
I thought the movie was pretty good but I didn’t find it outstanding. If you took the special effects out, the story felt flat to me. I was not really interested in it most of the time, although I did like some segments a lot.
I’m also a bit sick of this type of male protagonist: the egotistical, holier than thou, broody but brilliant man on the path of redemption, who manages to fuck his life and relationships up, but is still considered awesome by everyone around him, including the “love” interest who keeps being abused by him in some way.
I get that he was acting out his frustration, but he was already a jerk before what happened to him. Cumberbatch was amazing amazing amazing and make me feel so frustrated and annoyed at him hahaha
Although I enjoyed the movie’s aesthetics immensely, they actually made me dizzy and brought up my acrophobia (shows how great they were). I had to look away during a few scenes, which might have affected my experience. But overall, a cool movie to watch (once) with friends 🙂
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Thank you for your kind words, and great response. You are not the only one by the way that at times became dizzy during this movie. A few friends of mine had the same experience. But yes, as for the movie, Marvel definitely has to be careful in how they are continuing their movie franchise. Next year we have another origin movie (Black Panther) and I am pretty much prepared for the fact that this might be a similar movie. As for this one, yes it just felt flat in some way…no other way to describe it. That is why I liked Deadpool so much: yes it was an origin story, but it was so incredibly over the top and completely unlike any other superhero movie that came before it 😂😂 As for Stephen, he will return, so hopefully his next outing will be better. Else I almost feel sorry for Cumberbatch, who did such a great job 😀
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I haven’t seen this yet, and I might possibly this coming Friday, and I’ve heard mixed reviews on it for sure. Yes it’s another origin story but at least it’s a break from all the other avengers. I had one friend say it was a movie great for desktop backgrounds. Lol. But great read! I need to go see it for myself now!
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Thank you 😀 Well it was definitely worth seeing it in the theatres for the special effects alone. Those were simply amazing. And yes quite true, it is nice to see someone else for a change. However, I don’t know if you know this, but the Marvel Agents Of Shield series is very good and is currently on it’s fourth season and is now featuring one of my favorite superheroes: Ghostrider. (Don’t worry it’s not Nicolas Cage this time lol) I have seen a few small clips of it, and it looks amazing. So if you are tired of the Avengers, that might be worth checking out as well 😀
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I’ve heard good things about the show! I’ve been meaning to catch up on it since it’s on Netflix. But I’m also in the middle of Gotham’s season 1. LOL I’m not one to be tired of the avengers (since Iron Man is my favorite) but it’s always a nice change of pace to see what else is going on in the marvel universe. so I’ll def. check out Agents of SHIELD.
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Ah….but that is a very good excuse: Gotham is utterly fantastic 😀 Love that show, just bought season 2 on dvd, and hope to watch that very soon (if only I can find the time for it lol😂) Well, if you are an Iron Man fan, he will be making his appearance in the new Spider-Man movie that is coming out somewhere next year 😀
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I never read the comic book before so I think the film is great, but I guess the film is pretty boring to those who have read the comic book, isn’t it? I kind of know the feeling! I’ve watched so many films that I’ve read the book before and somehow get disappointed even though everyone around me seems to like the films. Sometimes I feel like I’m the weird one. *lol*
Anyway, good review! 🙂
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Thank you very much 😀 Haha, no I understand what you are trying to say lol. Yeah I know the comic, and honestly the character was portrayed very well in the movie. The problem I had with it, was at times I feit it moved along a little but too slowly. I still enjoyed it though,but just expected a little bit more 😀
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Origin stories are, admittedly, hard to do. There’s only so many ways you can really show a person choosing to become a superhero, after all. So, as far as that part goes, I give it a bit of a pass, just because it really is a difficult thing to pull off.
I guess I should say that it’s hard to pull off when you have a character who never intended to be a superhero to start with. Characters like Captain America are getting what they always wanted, which is why his first film worked somewhat differently. The actual origin part is played out very quickly, with the rest of the movie dedicated to him kicking butt and saving the world. Steve always wanted to be a hero, though, so he didn’t need the usual kick in the pants to get him moving.
The difference really lies in what kind of a character you are working with. Tony Stark, Strange, and Thor were all arrogant jerks, so there has to be something that affected them in order to get them moving. Other characters, like Sam Wilson, or Rhody, were already predisposed towards being heroic, which is why they never got full origin movies of their own. It would have been too much a retread of Captain America.
There are the ones that have it forced on them, like Banner, but that’s a very different sort of origin story.
Then there’s Hawkeye and Black Window, who were government agents. There’s a lot of story possibility there, but it isn’t so much superheroes as it is people following orders, so it lacks that inspirational aspect of characters who overcome their own personal issue would have. Which is why we keep going back to the same well. That inspirational quality. If someone as morally deficient as Stark can become a hero, anyone can.
Provided they are a super genius billionaire with unlimited access to technological developments. Or a magic hammer, like Thor.
I may have drifted off point, but I think you get where I’m coming from.
Strange did differentiate itself in that regard. He had exhausted every possibility, and was basically flat broke, having burned through his wealth trying to regain his hands. Unlike Stark, Thor, or any of the others, he had hit a much lower point, so his transition to hero was a sacrifice of not just his old life, but his old way of thinking on every level. While that’s not a big difference, it is important to think about, at least to my way of thinking.
All that said, that Marvel has chosen to avoid an origin film for Spider-Man is wise, and odds are, we’ll be seeing a lot fewer of them going forward, now that they have more or less established that people can get superhuman abilities from literally anyway. Or at least, that’s what I suspect. It’s also possible we’ll never really see the end of origin stories, just because that is such a fundamental part of the superhero mythos.
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Thanks for this great and expensive comment. You have definitely made me think and reevaluate the movie again. As I own every Marvel movie to date, once it is out on dvd I will give it another watch. As I have said, it is not a movie I have disliked, it was just a movie I expected a bit more of. That being said, the character of Stephen Strange is great, and I look forward to seeing him in future movies. Thanks again for this extensive and great comment 😀
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