Finally writing this. I actually saw it opening night. Marvel's Doctor Strange.
I remember back when this movie was announced I did not have the slightest inkling of what it was going to be about. I had heard the name before, but nothing beyond that. Once I heard that Benedict Cumberbatch was playing the lead role, my interest was definitely piqued and I looked into the history. I did not want to be spoiled for too much before seeing the movie, but I wanted a general idea of what I would be walking into.
Doctor Strange in the comics
As a comic book nerd, I know that there is so much involved in just one character; backstories, powers, love interests, weaknesses, enemies, etc. Then of course there's different issues of the comics that have their own version to tell and depending how long the character has been around, everything can change with the years. Anyways, I looked up Doctor Strange and simply read up on his abilities and backstory... and was instantly confused. "So he's a sorcerer? But not really? But he's also a superhero? Sort of? Then what is he?" (that basically was my train of thought). It sounded interesting enough from what I could gather though, and knowing Marvel, it was bound to be at least moderately enjoyable, right?
Cut forward about a year or so. Now I have finally seen the movie. Was it enjoyable?
100% YES! It was so good! I would not put it on the level of Civil War or Winter Soldier or anything as far as action or even story goes, but it definitely was very engaging. The visuals just blew me out of the water! It was like somebody watched Inception and thought, "yeah, I can do that... times a thousand!" I remember watching the trailers and seeing some of that stuff, I was thinking that maybe it might be a little pointless and was just there to look cool (like, "ooh, look what I can do!"), but it wasn't. Well, maybe a little bit, but for the most part the space bending and manipulating was actually used by the characters to fight against each other. It was beyond epic! And the use of "spells", conjuring up weapons, and all that jazz combined with the space manipulating made some really cool scenes.
The story had potential to be really complicated and hard to follow, however, it was laid out very simply and told as straight-forward as possible, making it pretty easy to follow and understand (at least for how much had to be explained). As I said above, I was a little confused about some stuff that I read up on, but as I watched the movie, everything was made clear. I now understand what/who Doctor Strange is and his powers. (Before, I was particularly confused about his cape. The movie helped me understand it. It's now my favorite character ;P)
The pacing between dramatic scenes, action scenes, and comedic scenes are all well-rounded and well-paced. You never get too sick of any of it. And since I haven't mentioned it yet, the comedy was not overdone and was just the quirky sort of humor I like. I was actually laughing out loud at several parts.
I will say that there are a few plot holes and loose threads that are not too hard to find; like, "if you can do that, then why can't you do this? Why didn't that happen this time? If this thing is so important, shouldn't there be more security for it? Shouldn't that person be dead???"
However, they are all pretty minor things that are sort of nitpicks and aren't really what you come to a Marvel movie for. You come for the action; to watch interesting characters do interesting things. And you certainly get that in this movie.
Benedict Cumberbatch plays the character fantastically! He seems to always get those arrogant, yet likable jerk roles. I have to criticize his accent though. Part of it might be because I know that he is British and I know he's faking... but I could definitely tell he was faking that American accent. Sometimes it was okay, but a lot of the time... ehh. You can really hear it on the R's. He had really hard "aa-rrr"s. He sounded almost southern or something. I don't understand why they didn't just make him British. Is Doctor Strange known for being American or something? I don't know. Other than the accent, B.C. was great! He's a really good actor (it's why I'm a fan ^_^). Even though I've seen him in so many things, I still always believe I'm watching a character and not an actor playing a character.
The other actors were good too. I know that fans of the comic were upset that the Ancient One was changed to a female in the movie, but I thought that she was portrayed very well (but what do I know? I haven't read the comics).
In conclusion... Visuals: top notch, acting: stellar, story: interesting. My rating: 9/10. Go see it!
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