Watched
Doctor Strange aka Marvel's attempt to open the superhero world to magic so was curious at that, got unusually big name cast behind it though had accusations of whitewashing (see below) to deal with. It wasn't a film that I really got behind in the hype train (bar my sister remarks Strange's goatee/outfit/everything made him look like a villain). Reviews that it is good and trippy made me curious though the hype died early (possibly always going to be case now with superhero films they will get a month's worth after release if they are good). Didn't have particular feelings bar curiosity going into this
Disclaimer: Around 45 minutes in, we had massive interruption that meant we had to wait a few hours to watch the rest. I don't believe it impacted enjoyment
On the issue of Whitewashing, I'm with the critics on this one. In and of itself, replacing an Asian Ancient One with Tilda Swinton isn't a bad idea, it avoided Scott Derrickson's concerns about playing into a stereotype, it perhaps allowed them to do other things with the role and Swinton was the best member of the cast with a superb performance. However when you replace the main Asian figure and then keep all the other figures white, there is a problem. By this film Marvel hadn't had a major Asian character (Tv shows have Agent May, Madam Gao and Colleen "can we make Iron Fist about her please" Wing at least) and instead they had white ancient one, white lead, white romance, white villain with the main non-white being the supportive role of Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and the main Asian being a comic librarian Wong (Benedict Wong).
Rather like Marvel's new superhero logo, had a niceish start as it showed Strange the arrogant surgeon but it came alive once he found the mystics. As a stand alone film, it is a fun, enjoyable movie, quick pace, a lot of humour including aimed at Strange, the characters are enjoyable, one moment with emotional power
, they have a lot of fun subverting expectations from both Strange and audience about the mystics. Cast do a very good job (bar some moments with Cumberbatch's accent) an excellent Swinton and a good ending. By Marvel standards Kaecilius is a good villain with Mads Mikkelsen doing a good job and the villain touching on themes but he does feel underwritten.
That sense of underwritten is my main criticism of the film, all the characters bar possibly one or two
feel underwritten, highly enjoyable fun figures that I want to see again but none the less, slightly underdone. Not massively so but just at the end, I felt we could have done with a little more depth. Strange's time as a surgeon is gone through quickly for example, it does enough to give sense of arrogance, brilliance and history with Christine (Rachel McAdams) but it goes by quickly. I do understand that, with a shorter runtime then a normal superhero movie and needing to build world, why it happened. Romance is underpowered though I like the characters involved.
In terms of magic and building that world, there are some questions and they will need to explain why the answer to every future question won't be "get Strange to use..." at some point but overall thought they sold magic well, setting out the reasoning for why there would be magic and how it works. The magic was visually impressive, good magic based action scenes, they exploited the freedom it gave them and they did well with how the likes of Strange would react to this and how the audience would react
. They made magic a natural fit for the Marvel world and showed flashes of what it could bring to the wider universe. I got a little bored with one or two magical scenes in second half but I also loved one of the mystical items that turned up
Overall: Fun, had humour, magic was visually lovely and left me looking forward to the next time we see team Strange.
6.5