When Marvel Studios’ president Kevin Feige showcased the upcoming slate to Phase 3, Doctor Strange interested me the most. I had a vague idea of who Doctor Strange was as a character, but this was my first exposure to the sorcerer supreme. In one way, this added a new dynamic for the MCU by being exclusively magic and utilizing sorcerers. Among the debut entries in the franchise, I feel that this one is on par with Iron Man and Guardians of the Galaxy.
1. Way of the Weird
As I mentioned before, this is the first time we get to see an MCU film fully introduce and embrace its portrayal of magic. We sort of had an introduction with Thor, but it doesn’t technically count since it had a compromise with imbuing magic with science. Aside from the updated Marvel Studios title card that is still in use, the way that the movie starts is very stark. Of course we don’t see the decapitation, it just shows that this is going to be a different MCU film.
Just the action that we see between the Ancient One and her former student Kaecilius just offers us a taste of how exactly the magic will be displayed. While I get to the integration of it in the context of the action, it looks great with how it’s presented. We follow Stephen as he’s a professional neurosurgeon. He injured his hands in a car accident, making matters worse was that he’s prideful of his work.
He gets word from a patient who was healed when he visited a temple in Kathmandu. Soon, he gets involved with the work of other sorcerers by following the teachings of the Ancient One. I said earlier that this debut film is on par with Iron Man, for the simple reason that we see just how Stephen masters the mystic arts. To me, it’s a highlight seeing how he manages to overcome his handicap to making something.
It’s the detail of that that really sets forth what kind of person he is and to justify just how smart he is. I’ll talk about Stephen in the following tab, but I will elaborate more on how magic is used with action. All of it with how it’s portrayed is mostly through hand motions to create objects. A far cry from something like Harry Potter where to create a magic spell is to use a wand and say the incantation.
I got to give credit to director Scott Derrickson with showcasing a different side of the MCU by being quite different among the film’s brethren. He mostly specializes in horror films and in some respect the film tries to do that. I think with how he uses the camera to really make the magic moments pop is commended. Especially in the action and when everything is the mirror dimension. That whole scene had to have been worked in a years of the film’s development.
With the action that’s shown, it’s the most creative within the MCU. My favorite highlight is when Strange and a follower of Kaecilius are fighting in the Astral Plane. All of it is set in the hospital where Strange worked. All the while that’s happening, Stephen asked his coworker to help and revive him. It has tension since we see how even when they’re like ghosts, they still have causalities in the material world.
Lastly, I think the one of the reasons why the movie worked aside from the characters is that the magic isn’t half-baked in the least bit. There isn’t anything where there’s a leap in logic or anything that contradicts the rules within the movie. What I mean is that, to make the magic believable you need rules instead of going about the laziest way you can imagine. It’s established that it’s teachable and there’s more info within the books. So much so that the villain’s M.O. hinges on a page to perform an incantation.
2. Stephen Strange
One could say that Stephen is a lot like Tony Stark. For one thing, they are very prideful of their work before their accident. What makes Stephen different is the fact that he was a doctor. One where he was extremely picky with the patients that he sees to perform an operation. Nothing is held back when we see his car accident, especially seeing his hands get mangled in his Lamborghini.
The worst that we see him is when after they perform the operation that he is very vain about how his associates saved his hands. Just seeing him try everything to have his hands as before is one way tragic and ironic, considering that the piano piece that the film has practically drives the idea home that Stephen is basically invalid hand-wise.
As I said earlier, he learns how to use the mystic arts, all of it to him is in the context of using his hands to get back to normal. I love how his arc basically has him wrestle with the idea that he doesn’t want to protect the world but just get a quick fix and that’s it. He’s a reluctant hero that answers the call when the other sanctums on the globe are attacked by the Ancient One’s former student.
One scene that’s my favorite in the film, besides seeing the bonkers magic moments is when Strange talks to the Ancient One just before her death. All of it is when they’re in the Astral realm where time is slowed down. It’s a coming to Jesus moment where she tells Strange that everything he did was for the good and that it’s not about him. Basically, leveling with him that they can’t escape time but embrace what they have in front of them.
More than anything, I think the angle that the film went for, and I really like this theme is the idea of morality. Before we see Strange’s transformation, he’s very particular about who he operates as a surgeon. Choosing who to save rather than just saving. More so, Stephen is thinking about himself over anything else. He shies away from being a protector until he is prompted to act.
It's even highlighted when we see him go against the actual threat Dormammu. The final fight is one of the most creative moments I’ve seen in the MCU and any comic book film. Stephen uses the Eye of Agamotto to manipulate time to have the malevolent be stuck in a time loop. Even when it tells Strange that he can’t do it forever, he chooses to save everyone than to think of himself. That scene is great and just shows how Stephen grew up and shed that “me” attitude that he had.
3. Overall
Doctor Strange is one of the best debut comic book films I’ve seen. In the MCU it’s a great debut and shows a wackier side of the universe.
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