Scott Derrickson's Doctor Strange is a film heavily steeped in the franchise-based, Marvel archetype that the studio has developed over the years, being a film about an arrogant, egotistical character who is confronted with the realization that he doesn't have all the answers, facing an existential crises of sorts. Through this character's newfound perspective he begins to define what a true hero is supposed to be, empathetic to others embodying Spiderman's classic line "with great power comes great responsibility', thanks Uncle Ben! Centered around a world-class neurosurgeon, Stephen Strange, whose arrogance has left him without many close confidants, Doctor Strange tells the story of man who sees his livelihood eviscerated after a tragic car accident leaves him with severe nerve damage in his hands. With western medicine offering no answers, Strange reluctantly turns to the hidden world of eastern medicine and mysticism to save his career, inadvertently discovering everything he knows is a lie, that the universe is full of alternate dimensions, and he himself must act as an intermediary between our world and what lies beyond in order to save the human race from oblivion. Doctor Strange is a film that very much fits thematic and narrative formula that has made the marvel cinematic universe a financial juggernaut but luckily for us, the film's metaphysical nature and creative visual design make the film quite enjoyable, and one of the more psychedelic mainstream film's I've seen in awhile. Dealing with a ton of exposition, given the film's more dense metaphysical ideals, Doctor Strange can get a little tedious at times, but nearly every-time the film becomes tedious and didactic it wows with an impressive visual flair, providing a delicious amount of escapism and thrills that make the film worth seeing. A times the film fails to be inclusive to the entire audience, providing little context to certain references within the marvel landscape, but at this point it's to be expected from these films, and thankfully it hardly matters due to the film's unconventional world-building and action sequences. The performances themselves are all by-the-numbers, but it's the film's ability to find the humor in its borderline absurd concept that keeps the film from feeling too monotonous in tone, with the humorous climax being one of the standout moments of the entire film. While Doctor Strange is certainly generic superhero fodder, when viewed through the lens of the Marvel Cinematic Universe the film does enough to distance itself with psychedelic visuals and well-thoughout out action set-pieces, being a pleasurable experience which still fits into the tried and tested mold.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
|