Some of the senior citizens I know are cowering with fear after reading a year’s worth of news about what would befall the U.S. after the election of the Trumpenfuhrer. Lifelong Republicans are now voting for Hillary with roughly the same motivation that leads them to forward dire warnings of various email viruses. What’s even scarier than a compromised AOL account? Marvel’s Dr. Strange movie. Eight of us went to see this the other night, lured by a 94-percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes (now down to 90). Except for the two kids, we all hated it.
*** spoiler alert ***
The first things that we learn from Dr. Strange are (1) don’t try to drive and do radiology at the same time, (2) buy a Tesla and leave it on autopilot.
After a car accident that results from violating the above principles, Dr. Strange learns about using magic, casting spells, etc. If you don’t believe in magic you will be bored for the rest of the film. If you do believe in magic you will question its power. If these people are all so learned and can use magic, how come they spend most of their time in fistfights? There is not a lot of creativity here regarding what could happen if people had certain magical powers.
A regular Marvel movie is actually more plausible. Aliens show up with superhuman powers. Why not? The universe is a big place. We may not be special. The laws of physics still apply to the aliens and us, but the aliens happen to be stronger and smarter.
Readers: Who else saw this movie? What did you think?
I loved it. I saw it in IMAX 3d and now wonder if technology will soon be able to make psychedelic drugs obsolete. What if magic actually worked, and it wasn’t dominated by gifted children? (I actually thought they did a pretty good job shoehorning mysticism into the already pretty busy Marvel universe)
I didn’t see the movie but from the earliest days of film, movies have often depended on magical plot devices to a much greater extent than the theater. Movies are by their nature “illusions” where you can easily create a world that is different than the one that we live in.
Personally I find real life to be strange enough and I prefer movies that do not depend on magic, aliens, time travel, ghosts, psychics, humans who can fly (without mechanical assistance), violations of the laws of physics, etc. I find that too often this is an easy way for screenwriters to advance the plot without having to be constrained by the rules that apply to the rest of us. The greatest art is made when imagination is subject to certain constraints – compare blank verse to haiku or sonnets.
If you are going to do this kind of thing, it’s better to set your movie in a completely imaginary world – (e.g. Star Wars) than to set your movie in our familiar world but with magical plot devices.
I agree with Mike – the visuals are stunning, even in 3D which I normally loathe. Plot was a bit stale (origin could have been flashbacks during credits ala “The Incredible Hulk”). The cost issue was not really explored (energy comes from somewhere, wielding it shouldn’t be free.
Trippy and fun – shoo-in for the Visual Effects Oscar. Nice to see a non-strength based comic book character.
Rogue One looks great Jackie! I was four when I saw Empire Strikes Back in the theatre and it remains one of my favorite experiences of all time. And I love constraints in fiction – so much more interesting to work around or with rules than carte blanche omnipotence.
I enjoyed it. Not Marvel’s best movie to date (I’ve seen most of them), but certainly a good one IMHO. As Mike and Ethan said the visual effects were fantastic.
Supposedly Dr. Strange is going to be in the next Avengers film when they fight the ultimate bad guy from space (Thanos). It will be interesting to see how they combine a traditional alien with someone using magic. Meanwhile all the other good guys will be using “normal” superpowers.
I laughed out loud several times, and didn’t think about Trump or work even once. Visually it was gorgeous, and I wasn’t the least bit annoyed that it was in 3D. Sure, the plot was meh, but it was the well-crafted dose of escapism I was looking for.
I don’t really care for the Marvelization of Star Trek, but the Marvelization of Marvel is fine. I enjoyed Dr. Strange.