Marvel's Doctor Strange - Review/Observation

When all hell breaks bad and you are none but a commoner being who can only defend someone in their sleep with dream filled subconscious playing out the weirdest possible scenarios and triumph, you need some of those dreams to come into existence in real life. You want Superheroes, our mind constantly finds them in film heroes, army men, a crazy lunatic, comic books and so on. In the case of comic books we are engaged to the idea of their existence right from a very young age giving into their superpowers and thinking that saving world from earthly dangers is all bite a miniscule accomplishment so we need aliens who contact, surreal realms that are posing threat to our existence. Well, there you go with a cloak flying from one place to another and creating portals to mystic dimensions laced in pure magic and complex scientific equations. Let the Strange emotional dimension begin...

There is no denying that we watch film for the purposes of entertainment and relaxation after a busy day at work. We want to meet that young man still hiding somewhere in our hearts to rejoice his or her childhood memory as a reality on screen with the superhero movies. But at times the brain of a matured adult starts wondering how familiar is this film with the other one I watched yesterday. It keeps wondering does this movie holds any bearings to make me feel worthy consumer for this studio product. Well some days you are in luck while the other days you may not be. 

The resurgence of comic book superheroes after some lazily written and executed movies is quite a welcome change, but the beaten to death formula does need a drastic change with immediate effect. The man who presented the classic formula for the superhero genre, Christopher Nolan, with Batman Begins, even he has grown past it. Yeah, I do know that he is longer making superhero movies but can you say, Cobb and Cooper are no superheroes?? 

When Doctor Strange was announced, being from Eastern side of the spectrum and belonging to the other side of the globe, I did not know who the man was. All I knew were three chaps, Batman, Superman and Spiderman. All others were new to my eyes and thanks to Marvel Cinematic Universe, I was able to connect with Captain America, even though not belonged to his country and the Avengers. For me the films and their quality was the drawing point not the weird youngster who wanted cloaks. My younger days were dominated by mythological arrows and mystical demons rather than these realms and dimensions. Slowly, but surely, I started taking interest in the characters that Marvel is throwing at me bit by bit. After getting a breathing space from Avengers2.5, Captain America Civil War, I decided to read about the Strangest Doctor and found his act of magic and capability to alter future, past and present quite interesting. Even the TV shows are now laced with superheroes and DC's Flash came to my aid in understanding how the rules are decided by a writer with imagination but not by nature in general. 

Suspension of disbelief, became a centrifugal point towards my growing liking to the franchises. But Doctor Strange in live action kinda busted my bubble. The man who thought his geeky side needs to dial down and grew wedges with his younger soul is slowly but certainly threatening to return. Poor young bastard. 

The film in the sense had imagination, but lacked a powerful script and character depth to satisfy this slightly older soul fighting everyday chores. While it seemed to beliveably easy for someone to find an instructor like Ancient One, yet it felt forced when Benedict Cumberbatch exclaimed in pain, I spent my last dollar for this!! 

You see origin stories are not easy to state but they don't need to be so dumb either. You want to connect with the witty personality, feel like you can be that person, in fact you are that arrogant man and then fall prey for that. Rather, if I am subjected to be a distant 3rd eye wondering about the dimensions and realms that look highly inspired by mind binding visuals of Inception and Matrix. How much can I connect? Writer-Director Scott Derrikson does leave an impression with his visuals in 3D IMAX glory but leaves you to the shallows of numbness with flat narration even though he had a cloak of levitation for his aid and even Eye of Agamore. 

Tilda Swin(ging)ton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Mads Mikkelson, Benedict Wong does support the ever charming Benedict Cumberbatch but they are not so powerful to overpower the timeloop of origins that conquered Dormamu but silently took Doctor Strange into it an even bigger origin one. A cool one time watch for all age groups but these origins need to find a clever introduction like that of beloved neighbourhood hero Spiderman in his homecoming in Civil War!