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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
Doctor Strange is my least favorite MCU movie overall, even though I think it's at least more well-done than TDW and TIH. TIH had the excuse of coming out early and not being particularly ambitious, and TDW was obnoxiously mediocre but had a few bright spots. Strange was pretty, but aside from Mordo the cast suffered direly from the Eight Deadly Words and the shallow neopaganism-esque "spirituality" was grating.
It's a decent line but unfortunately loses a lot of impact if you've been spoiled on it. Whereas the truly good films IMO like Black Panther and The Winter Soldier I can rewatch on multiple occasions and still enjoy the moment of the The Reveal, because the scenes are well crafted overall and not so reliant on the twist factor.
For me, Doctor Strange suffered from being really inconsistent with its themes. The plot thread of Strange trying to fix his hands kinda disappeared without resolution halfway through the movie, which is really bad because that was the plot thread that tied most closely to his main flaw and character growth. Instead, it's replaced by "See the bigger picture" and "Lesser evil/greater good" motifs, which don't really mesh with anything established about Strange in act 1.
The most laughable thing about the movie for me was when Strange realizes he's killed one of Kaecillius' followers, and he rants to the Ancient One about how the Hippocratic Oath means he vowed to never hurt anyone, as though that has any sort of significance to Strange's character arc.
I mean, the movie sort of comes back around in the end, since Strange's willingness to infinitely suffer for the greater good demonstrates his growth from the self-centered asshat he was at the start. That's just a really, really roundabout way to go about it. If nothing else, though, I do appreciate how esoteric that climax was.
A lot of those problems would have been fixed if we had started with Strange as a student of Kamar Taj and trained his character arc more strongly on him learning where to let go of Stephen Strange the surgeon and where to adopt Stephen Strange the wizard, or vice versa: what to keep.
Like, Strange talking about the Hippocratic Oath and his reaction to having to kill someone was my favorite character moment in the film, but I'd admittedly agree that the character arc around it doesn't really lead up to or do anything with it - he doesn't dramatically spare anyone later, he doesn't really have an opinion on violence beforehand, it's just kind of there.
Which is a lot of Dr. Strange's problem: while he does go through an arc of sorts, the main plot of the movie has little do to with it. It's just kind of dropped into his lap. Which can work, but not if you're also trying to do the "origin/life's upheaval" thing too.
Even his sacrifice at the end doesn't really connect to anything. They could have strengthened both by having there be a stronger "there's more strength in ingenuity than violence" theme in the film (which imo would have made it a lot better regardless of approach), but they didn't. Instead, we got a more standard "sometimes you have to break the rules to win the game" story, which was kind of meh.
Edited by KnownUnknown on Mar 6th 2019 at 7:04:54 AM
Let's shit on Inhumans some more, because there's no amount of shitting on that would be enough. Apparently the actor for Black Bolt CREATED HIS OWN FORM OF SIGN LANGUAGE for the role, and that insane amount of effort was totally wasted on such a terrible product. The scene where a young Black Bolt accidentally vaporizes his parents is so impossibly poorly handled that it's legitimately hilarious, you just need to see for yourself.
I liked Doctor Strange's rant. Just because other people aren't his main concern, doesn't mean that he should be just okay with taking lives. He IS a doctor after all. And remember, holding off death is a matter of pride for him.
Doctor Strange is frustrating for me because I know the movie could have been amazing with one or two rewrites, but I really, really like the themes the movie addresses. And the visuals. And the finale.
Btw, it is kind of funny that every time Doctor Strange is faced with a world-destroying adversity, the solution is to allow himself to lose.
Strange being upset about killing that guy actually does fit into the movies themes.
Strange went to Kamar Taj and learned magic solely so that he could heal his hands and become a doctor again. However, as he eventually discovers, being a sorcerer precludes him from being a doctor Both in a strictly literal sense (if he uses magic to make his hands work again, he won't be able to use it for anything else), and in a more abstract way (being a sorcerer means being part of these epic battles to save the world, which requires a whole different philosophy from what he practiced in medicine). That Hippocratic Oath scene thus adds to the significance of him choosing sorcery over doctoring in the end, that he's leaving behind his old way of living and thinking for something new.
It's also important for what the movie does with the Ancient One. While she's the Big Good of the film, the movie also questions the methods she uses to protect the world. The one that gets the most attention is that she uses the Dark Dimension's power just like the bad guys do, but another is that she recruits Strange into their order without telling him anything about the mystical bad guys he might have to fight. That Strange was put in a situation where he had to kill someone, a situation he did not remotely sign up for, adds credence to the idea that the Ancient One is not entirely to be trusted.
The movie has its flaws. Chief among them, I think it'd have been better served by opening up with Strange as a wizened, experienced sorceror and giving his origin as interspersed flashbacks; half the fun of the character in the comics is that he's your tour guide to the world of the mystic arts, not a fellow clueless passenger.
That being said I think the climax in the Dark Dimension is one of the strongest finales the MCU has ever done. Maybe even the strongest.
"You will never win."
"No. But I can lose. Again... and again... and again... and again, forever. And that makes you my prisoner."
You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!Going to rewatch all MCU movies made so far before Endgame. Will start with First Avenger sans prologue and epilogue, then me and my family will be touching Captain Marvel tonight.
Now, did I get this right for chronological order, sans the Guardians of the Galaxy films:
Captain America: The First Avenger -> Ant-Man prologue -> Captain Marvel -> Iron Man -> The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor -> Captain America: The First Avenger prologue and epilogue -> The Avengers -> Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World -> Captain America: The Winter Soldier -> The Avengers: Age of Ultron -> Ant-Man -> Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange -> Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Spider-Man: Homecoming -> Avengers: Infinity War
Edited by HallowHawk on Mar 8th 2019 at 4:41:18 AM
The thing with Doctor Strange is that you can take isolated scenes and they are amazing, but the connective tissue is sadly week. I still like it better than the weakest of the MCU movies.
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First would be the prologues from Thor The Dark world and then the prologues from Thor 1.
Edited by Swanpride on Mar 7th 2019 at 12:54:01 PM

I think I have a list of my favorite MCU lines somewhere. Spoilers: most of them are from the Guardians movies, Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok and Infinity War.
Self-serious autistic trans gal who loves rock/metal and animation with all her heart. (she/her)