Doctor Strange - What did we think?

What do you think about Doctor Strange?

Halfway through the movie, a doctor uses a defibrillator to shock someone back to life when he was flatlining. That's just...not how they work. I can accept demonic pacts and mirror dimensions, but that totally ruined my suspension of disbelief.



It was a fairly standard super-hero origin story, and that formula is starting to wear a bit thin at this point, but I think it's largely forgivable, in that Strange's origin is such an important component of his identity. However, the emphasis on his origin led to an abrupt third act resolution, because 85% of the movie is "Ehhh...I'm not sure I want to be a superhero" Joseph Campbell-seque refusal of the call. "Ooops, I guess we're at the end of the movie already. Time to wrap it up."

I thought it well produced and visually distinctive. The cast was solid. Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mads Mikkelsen, all great. Cumberbatch’s American accent was pretty good. I had some concerns about Tilda Swinton (a white woman) as the Ancient One (traditionally an Asian (specifically Tibetan, which is another thorny issue) man, but I think in casting her, they chose one of the least bad options. The Ancient One, as a concept, is rooted in 1960s exoticism, and what might have seemed acceptable back then seems like cultural appropriation today. The comics version of the character was known to a couple hundred thousand people, but millions of people are going to see the movie. I think they did the least bad thing by not perpetuating a damaging and dehumanizing stereotype.

It was solid, but it all felt set up for the film that they actually wanted to make. Fingers crossed that their sequel makes the same jump in quality as The Winter Soldier.

Not a huge Marvel fan-I find most of the films to be kinda generic with underwritten villains, with too much focus on set ups and universe building arcs rather than stand alone adventures, though I loved Guardians Of The Galaxy (more of a sci fi comedy than superhero film) Ant Man (for the wacky visuals and humour) and The Winter Solider (very solid script and a great spy thriller in addition to being a very good superhero film) and Doctor Strange looks quite visually interesting from the trailers, Cumberbatch always delivers, but I'll probably wait for the DVD- I'm worried the concepts of alternate universes, magic etc might be a little strange  (...I'll get my coat...) for me to take seriously, at the end of the day it's still a guy in a silly costume jumping around with magic powers and I don't really enjoy the superhero films that take themselves too seriously... 

i really enjoyed it i saw it twice once in 2d with my comic buddies and once in 3d imax with my little cousins. i saw so much of what i know/read in dr strange comics on screen but in a new way. i liked the stripped down cast for the this one. basically 4 main 2 supporting and a couple of smaller supporting. i think they got to cover more ground that way. there was a scene at the end of act 2 where the 3 mains onfront each other swinton/cumberbatch/ejifor, the second time i saw i could not help thinking these arent actors you put in a comic book movie these are actors you put on stage in arthur miller or checkov. im not sure if i read this here or on reddit but discussing star trek TNG someone said patrick stewart elevated the material especially in the early stuff gave it gravitas. i think thats true for this movie as well.

this was a fun movie.

Of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies this was the one I was least excited about. Doctor Strange was never one of my go-to characters, I thought Cumberbatch was a little too on-the-nose type casting and director Scott Derrickson's previous work did not fill me with confidence. Cut to me walking out really loving it. It is far and away the most beautiful looking MCU movie and I would very much recommend seeing it in at the 3D format. It is one of the better scored MCU movies. Cumberbatch was perfect. Tilda Swinton was great and I loved what they did with Wong. I see all the complaints about the bad guy but felt that he was actually one of the stronger ones. The only real downside to me was the time wasted on Rachel McAdams character. Nothing about the "romance" felt natural to me. But that is a minor quibble. Again, the movie is gorgeous and it is funny. Guardians of the Galaxy is still my favorite and Winter Soldier is still right behind it but Doctor Strange is in my top five MCU movies.

Digital release has already happened with disc versions on sale next week. But, the big question - "Team Thor 2" is on the Blu-ray but apparently not on the DVD, is it available on the digital download versions? And if so, whose?

Plot-wise it was all very standard MCU origin story. However I thought the visuals were just insanely good. I'm never someone to appreciate CGI but the sequences in this with the sling rings and shaping the world were just jaw-dropping. It did what I thought Inception was going to do when I saw the trailer back in '10. Cumberbatch was great though his accent has that weird Hugh Laurie thing where it doesn't seem to be any accent in particular bar "Generic American".

Didn't need all the Beyonce/Adele jokes. That's not Steven Strange, that's the MCU trying to make all their leads quippy and fun. Felt like they were writing that stuff for Tony Stark. Loved Tilda Swinton, loved the subversion of the big third act battle, loved Chiwitel Ejifor. Like most MCU films I think it's designed to be safe and to get general audiences on board - and we'll start getting the "real" Doc Strange in sequels and team ups. A good start.