The Marvelous Marvel Rewatch (Now Playing: Avengers: Infinity War)

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Dr. Strange

Just watched this again last night.  Below are my thoughts with all of the *warning* spoilery spoilers included.

 

Pluses:

They actually put a really good Dr. Strange movie on the big screen.  Dr. Strange was one of the few titles that I used to read frequently when I was younger, but I never thought he'd have his own movie.  Spiderman?  X-Men?  Avengers?  I was actually a little surprised when I first saw quality movies from these franchises, but I never even dreamed they give Dr. Strange a movie with a big budget like this.  That alone makes this movie awesome.

The trippy visuals in this movie are awesome, probably the best part.  The part where the ancient one first sends strange hurtling through the multiverse is the type of scene you can watch over and over again.  The Escher-like mirror dimension and the end stuff with the time stone are also really cool.  I first saw this movie in 3D.  Usually I think 3D is a stupid gimmick, but in this movie it's totally worth every penny.  I saw this in 2D last night, and everything still looks really cool.  Just thinking about these trippy scenes makes me want to go watch the movie again.

There are several great characters here.  Cumberbatch does an awesome job with Dr. Strange, because he's so true to the comic book.  He's such an arrogant ass.  I love it!  Although Tilda Swinton gives the most stand out performance as the Ancient One.  She's tough and sensitive and otherworldly, in other words, a perfect Ancient One.  I also love Dormammu and the scene between him and Strange.  He's such a powerful being, but Dr. Strange finds a way to outwit him, which is the sort of thing I expect in a Dr. Strange story.

Love, love, love the Cloak of Levitation.  I really felt he became Dr. Strange once he put the cloak on.  Also I think it's great that they made the cloak sentient.  It just seems like the sort of item a wizard should have.  I thought the Eye of Agamotto was cool too.  Even though it's nothing like the comics, the time stone is probably the most interesting infinity stone that has shown up.  The power, mind and space stones are fairly straightforward, while the aether is still not explained very well IMO.  But the time reversal stuff was a cool twist that made this movie very interesting.

 

Minuses:

Kaecilious is not terrible as villains go, but he's not great either.  He seems a little inconsistent to me too.  Sometimes he seems like an ultra-serious cult leader, but he throws in a witty quip every so often.  Those two things just don't seem to go together to me.  


In conclusion, Dr. Strange is a must see for both movie lovers and comic book lovers.  It's a visually unique movie about magic in a world of super heroes.


8/10