Doctor Strange

4

SturmhardtFeb 13, 2017

Very cool visuals, but the story is very boring to say the least. You have seen this story many many times: The egotistical genious who gets his life destroyed, learns how to be a good guy and saves the world. Pretty mediocre movie overall.

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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4

HomelesssJun 4, 2017

If it was the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe the movie would've seen way much better to me, but since I already watched the same movie back when Iron Man was in the big screen...

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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4

CoreGamer1408Apr 21, 2023

Oh gawd no please no! That fake american accent is really bad. It pulled me right out of the movie.

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4

Gts08Jun 22, 2022

Was a pretty mediocre Marvel movie for me. I would even say it was bad. Not the train wreck Ant-Man was, but decently not decent enough to call it good. It just had nothing special, it was spiceless, soulless, it looked "cool", but that's it.Was a pretty mediocre Marvel movie for me. I would even say it was bad. Not the train wreck Ant-Man was, but decently not decent enough to call it good. It just had nothing special, it was spiceless, soulless, it looked "cool", but that's it. Doctor Strange is likable, but who cares, if we don't have to worry about his character? Because the villain is the biggest dumbass of all time and the literal humiliation of Mikkelsen. And that's the problem. At the end of the day, we have an origin story, a villain who makes no sense at all, and a forgettable story I already don't remember, even though I watched this yesterday. My rating is a purehearted 5, as the sign of being irretrievably mediocre and at times, simply bad. EDIT: changed to a 4. bye-bye… Expand

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3

SpangleNov 23, 2016

With the substance of a single McDonald's cheeseburger and all of the factory-made horribleness, Doctor Strange is a surprise contender for worst superhero movie of the year. Fortunately for Marvel, DC's depression-laced Batman v Superman andWith the substance of a single McDonald's cheeseburger and all of the factory-made horribleness, Doctor Strange is a surprise contender for worst superhero movie of the year. Fortunately for Marvel, DC's depression-laced Batman v Superman and **** Suicide Squad still surpass it, as well as Fox's Deadpool, which is more akin to an abortion than a true film. Yet, Doctor Strange, an LSD infused piece of Marvel filmmaking makes a case for being just as bad through its own unique route. While Batman v Superman was overdone with too much going on, Suicide Squad was horrifically edited, and Deadpool was so edgy it cut its neck open, Doctor Strange is undone via quips. Even worse, it adds the classic horrible Marvel villain and simplistic plotting to the equation for one hell of a concoction. Fortunately, solid special effects and religious symbolism - which I am a sucker for - really do help the movie out.

Firstly, I will focus on the positives. The religious symbolism is a real soft spot for me and Doctor Strange demonstrates why. Adding any symbolism really adds an extra dimension to a film and the fact it is present at all truly warms my heart. Even better, the religion aspect truly works. From the plotting to the characterization, it all connects in the end. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), a brilliant but self-obsessed surgeon, is in a car accident and loses the ability to perform surgery due to nerve damage in his hands. This loss of his hands devastates him, but is through his own sin: pride and greed. Spending freely and always worshiping at a shrine of himself, Strange commits two mortal sins, which is not a great start. Thus, he is humbled and brought to his knees, forced to search for another avenue. Admittedly, an awful person being redeemed through the meeting of others and finding a cause greater than himself is also typical, but greatly executed in Doctor Strange. On the other side, we have Kaecillius (Mads Mikkelsen). Though under-explored and horrifically written as all other Marvel villains, Kaecillius represents the complete opposite. Seeking immortality, he strikes a deal with Dormammu - who is the equivalent of the devil - that he will allow Dormammu to conquer the Earth in return for that immortality. Though warned that this deal he struck will only end with his suffering, Kaecillius was consumed by his own pride and greed, representing the opposite of Doctor Strange, who wound up rising above his own demons (the one great quote from this film: "We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them," applies here).

Additionally, the special effects are quite solid. The dark dimension is terrifically crafted, while all of the spells are delightfully brought to life. Doctor Strange manages to suspend disbelief by creating a world that is both incredible to look at and thoroughly inventive. There are not many films with special effects akin to those in Doctor Strange, not even Inception. Though elements of Inception's effects can be seen here, Doctor Strange undeniably dials it up to 11 and sees what magic it can create. That said, there is one moment where the special effects were horrible. When Strange first meets with the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) and she knocks him into some kind of warp, the effects of him leaving and returning to Earth are horrifically fake looking.

This leads terrifically into the negatives. Before diving into the "comedic" "relief", Doctor Strange has many other problems. The action being one of these issues. From a comically dumb battle between two people's "astral bodies" that poorly balances between absurd and intense to the final battle in which everything is fixed with a deus ex machina (hell, all of their powers are deus ex machina's), Doctor Strange exemplifies typical. Devoid of any invention beyond its mythology, the film is content to rest on the mystery of its characters powers to wow audiences, as well as how cool everything looks. Similarly to the problems that plagued Civil War, Marvel shows a willingness to simply include elements that look cool, instead of truly challenging its audience with ambitious action set pieces. Rather, it seeks to distract and disorient, in order to keep us from noticing that the film has nothing up its sleeves.

Character-wise, the film is typical Marvel nonsense. The villain is horribly crafted, except to create a parallel to Strange. The film goes to great lengths to showcase this parallel, in hopes that it will be satisfactory enough. Yet, it cloaks its villain in a veil of mystery and never let's us see what makes him tick. In many regards, Kaecilius is a greatly sympathetic villain, as he has been fooled by Satan into believing falsehoods. He deserves understanding, reverence, and sympathies, not destruction. Additionally, Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) is terribly written. The funniest joke told with the film came after its release from director Scott Derrickson.… Expand

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

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3

longjetty7Nov 7, 2016

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This movie was practically unbearable to watch. First of all, the characters are boring and one-dimensional. Tilda Swinton is the only interesting character, and Doctor Strange himself is so pretentious and unlikeable, I legitimately did not care at all whether he succeeded. As far as the plot goes, it's incredibly basic and poorly written. Basically, Doctor Strange gets in a car accident and has nerve damage in his hands, so he goes to Nepal or whatever and learns magic from the "ancient one" to heal them. But then there's a guy who used to be a student of the ancient one who is searching for eternal life, which I guess makes him a villain, so Doctor Strange tries to stop him. And then there's some evil demon in another universe who wants to destroy our universe, and Doctor Strange defeats him, and then defeats the original bad guy. It's so stupid. Anyway, my biggest complaint with the movie is how they never really explain how the magic works or what the limitations of it are. It seems like they can teleport wherever they want, and turn back time, and look into the future, and do pretty much whatever, which had me constantly wondering why our heroes had any troubles at all. For example, when the one bad guy stole the page out of the book, why didn't the ancient one just teleport the page back? Or make the book go back in time like Doctor Strange did later on? And when Doctor Strange was stuck in that infinite loop in that dark universe, how did he manage to break out of it? What's the point of making such a big deal about getting stuck in an infinite loop if you can just end it whenever you want? That doesn't seem very infinite to me. It was all so silly and confusing, and not really because it was complicated, but because the writers probably didn't think this stuff through.

The one good thing I will say about this movie is that the special effects were pretty impressive. Unfortunately, good effects alone don't make for a good movie, so I still would not recommend this movie to anyone.… Expand

9 of 15 users found this helpful96

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3

darkbloodshed13Mar 16, 2017

Doctor Strange is a movie that is based off comic book and is one of marvels best characters ever created, yet they failed to capture what made the character so interesting in the first place. This movie tries to make this story of the masterDoctor Strange is a movie that is based off comic book and is one of marvels best characters ever created, yet they failed to capture what made the character so interesting in the first place. This movie tries to make this story of the master mystic arts as believable as possible but in doing so makes the story into a boring snooze fest. The story follows are title character trying to recover from an accident that has left him with serious nerve damage in his hands. Meanwhile the antagonist of this story is trying bring an evil entity of mass destruction to our world. Why is he doing this? So we can all live forever. Yes because the king of a place the dark dimension is totally trustworthy! All characters in this movie are underdeveloped and come off one dimensional. With the exception of our title character of course. But they don't really give us a reason to like him. Finally the way our protagonist beats our the big bad just seems lazy. In conclusion if you like Doctor Strange stick to the comic books, because they are ten times better than this pile of crap.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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3

NBNENov 13, 2016

All I can say is my 16-year old son liked it, and he plays video games all day. The visuals with the buildings were something to see, but the plot was hard to follow and the acting was tinny, though Tilda Swinton gave it a good go. How is itAll I can say is my 16-year old son liked it, and he plays video games all day. The visuals with the buildings were something to see, but the plot was hard to follow and the acting was tinny, though Tilda Swinton gave it a good go. How is it that all of the sudden some guy - with crippled fingers - can stand toe-to-toe with one of the most fearsome sourcerers in the universe after reading a few books. I was bored once the premise was set up.… Expand

1 of 6 users found this helpful15

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3

CapNCookNov 14, 2016

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Visuals are the only good thing DS has to offer. The jokes are childish and only manage to make the audience smirk and grin.
The final showdown is a s pathetic as the vilains. Why did Dormammu actually agree to Strange`s bargain? Couldn't he just tell Hanibal Le Chiffre to take the Eye of Agomoto from the ROOKIE sorcerers neck and destroy the sanctum with ease. But no.
a predictable formula that only impresses with its visuals not its cast or storyline.… Expand

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

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1

saucyninja007Nov 5, 2016

Boring, formulaic, uninspired, and generic. Pretty much sums it up. If you've seen any other Marvel superhero movie you have basically already seen this one.

5 of 38 users found this helpful533

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1

2morovianMay 8, 2017

It's a 2 hour clutter of borrowed and extremely overused cliches, as hollow as Hollywood itself. There is, literally, nothing original about this film and nothing worth wasting a minute of your life on unless you are as shallow and disjointedIt's a 2 hour clutter of borrowed and extremely overused cliches, as hollow as Hollywood itself. There is, literally, nothing original about this film and nothing worth wasting a minute of your life on unless you are as shallow and disjointed as the people who created it or the others who whored themselves to participate in this mess. I'm specifically referring to certain actors who are better than this and who should know better; Tilda Swindon, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mads Mikkelsen, Rachel McAdams & Benedict Wong. What, were you short on cash, taken complete leave of your artistic integrity or gone brain-dead?… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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1

LajNov 6, 2016

The sad thing is Tilda Swinton & Benedict Cumberpatch know how bad it is.

Utterly utterly without redeeming feature. I walked out leaving my wife to finish the movie - just dross. 1 / 10 because the 3D department worked hard. Other thanThe sad thing is Tilda Swinton & Benedict Cumberpatch know how bad it is.

Utterly utterly without redeeming feature. I walked out leaving my wife to finish the movie - just dross.

1 / 10 because the 3D department worked hard. Other than that....… Expand

5 of 28 users found this helpful523

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0

austeniteNov 11, 2016

Going into this movie I expected to enjoy it. I did NOT expect it to dethrone Iron Man as my favorite MCU movie of all time.

I had been wondering how it was going to go when Marvel Studios finally broached the gap from the Mostly based inGoing into this movie I expected to enjoy it. I did NOT expect it to dethrone Iron Man as my favorite MCU movie of all time.

I had been wondering how it was going to go when Marvel Studios finally broached the gap from the Mostly based in reality with fantastic elements that we see in the Avengers to Multiple dimensions and realms of pure fantasy magic that is the destination of the Infinity Wars story line and it's now clear to me that whoever is in charge of guiding us on this journey is more than appropriate for the task.

WHY THE HELL CAN'T I CHANGE MY REVIEW SCORE???… Expand

1 of 18 users found this helpful117

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0

MaryPopInNov 10, 2016

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The first scene opens and immediately the movie forces Dr. Strange’s genius upon you. You can’t escape it, except if you know the first thing about medicine you’d know that every so called challenging case he takes up are no-brainers. His overconfidence in his abilities, his blatant disregard for his colleagues including the woman he apparently harbors feelings for and his desperate attempt to come off as witty is a cringeworthy experience.

In fact, if you have watched House MD, you’d be convinced that Benedict Cumberbatch has made a desperate but failed attempt at channeling Hugh Laurie. Laurie too is British with a fake American accent in his show; the difference being Laurie’s accent happens to be quite convincing. While we are on the subject, Dr. House is legitimately wittier and Laurie is an actor whose acting skills are versatile, contrary to Cumberbatch who always plays the same old “high functioning sociopath” in every movie and is a repetitive actor with nothing new to offer.

As the movie goes on, we see Dr. Strange losing his dexterity which is a tragic event for anyone, even more so for a surgeon, but again I was unable to empathize with the character portrayed on screen. Why should I care about an egotistical jerk who is not even funny. This is a fault in the script which should have spent a little more time developing the character and feelings of Dr. Strange, and a little less time on the over lengthy CGI scenes.

The CGI was undoubtedly stunning; the 3D effects were outstanding and had great depth with an almost lifelike quality to them. The scenes of Nepal portrayed were astute and flattering. The kaleidoscopic rotation of the NYC landscape was as enchanting as it was captivating. Sadly enough, the visual aspect of the movie was its best part. Wait, I take that back. The best part was Chris Hemsworth as Thor in the cameo, providing us a hint to what’s happening in the upcoming Marvel movies.

That brings me to my next point, Dr. Strange as a superhero is not someone you would root for, or in my case, fantasize about dating. His cloak, in fact, is much more appealing than the hero himself. This makes me reiterate my previous statement, the script should have focused on character development because empathy is what makes Marvel superheroes endearing. Thor’s banishment and subsequent penance, Hulk’s fear of hurting people, Wolverine’s agony filled unending life and Iron Man in his entirety – these are some traits that made us love the previous superheroes. Dr. Strange has no such traits in his arsenal.
If you ease your eyes and look, you would see that in his cloak and superhero suit combination Dr. Strange looks like Iron Man from several angles, even the facial hair is exactly the same.

The thing I loved about the movie was that it ventured into the metaphysical universe and focused on spirituality and the wonderful human psyche which has always been a personal fascination of mine.

The character of The Ancient One played by Tilda Swinton is nearly flawless, right up to the point where she is stabbed and killed off in a sequence that seems unnecessary. It is true that unless the mentor is dead or incapacitated the mentee cannot realize his true powers, but unlike most Marvel movies, this trope seems excessively forced here. We didn’t even get the time to marvel at The Ancient One’s staggering power and agility.

Another thing that makes Marvel movies, well marvelous, is the presence of a slick villain whom you love to hate and hate to love. Loki, Ivan Venko, you name it. Dr Strange lacked in this department too. Dormammu, while powerful, was not slick enough and his Zealots appeared like the minions they were, right from the start. I suppose that might change in the sequel when Mordu becomes the villain that we would love to hate.

The dialogs are pretty good, especially the sass that oozes out of the side characters, in particular, Mordu with his Wi-Fi password, Wong with his stoic face **** and every other dialog of The Ancient One.
It is a onetime watch especially if you are following the Avengers-Infinity Stone plotline and for the stunning visual effects.

· PLOT – 4/10
· COSTUME – 7/10
· ACTING – 5/10
· DIALOG – 7/10
· SCREENPLAY – 9/10

· OVERALL RATING – 6.4/10

What changes would you have made to the movie?
What was your favorite part? Tell us in comments below.… Expand

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0

maconaldricNov 16, 2016

This movie was terrible. It did not follow the comic story line at all. The actors were terrible and clearly not well versed in the material. The Ancient One was terrible by the way in the comics the Ancient One was a man and had no realThis movie was terrible. It did not follow the comic story line at all. The actors were terrible and clearly not well versed in the material. The Ancient One was terrible by the way in the comics the Ancient One was a man and had no real connection and actually played a bigger role with Strange. Mordo was terrible he is suppose to be of Middle Eastern descent clearly not the guy they picked out. The story line was in no way truly connected to the origins of Dr. Strange. I'd deep six this forget it exists and bury it out in the desert.… Expand

2 of 8 users found this helpful26

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0

Dostoyevsky3May 11, 2020

A rushed and underdeveloped origin story burdened by exposition and bloated with needless action that causes the weakest character relationships in the mcu. Doctor Strange was officially killed by its unethical values and terrible messagesA rushed and underdeveloped origin story burdened by exposition and bloated with needless action that causes the weakest character relationships in the mcu. Doctor Strange was officially killed by its unethical values and terrible messages such as dark magic, whitewashing, and an atrocious ending of nature manipulation.… Expand

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Doctor Strange

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