Dr. Strange Thoughts and Predictions

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AnaxErik4ever's avatar
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I have always felt there was something beyond the realm of science and identifiable reality.  This was Stephen Strange's introduction to it apparently.  From what I read in a souvenir "behind-the-scenes" magazine, Cumberbatch and the rest of the cast underwent martial arts training, and hand gesturing training as well.  They went wild with the effects sure, but that's the way all Marvel movies have been, even back when Tobey Maguire was Spider Man and not Aaron Garfield (Adam?  I'm blanking on the name.)

Dr. Strange was fun, even if it took a while to get the ball rolling for me.  I was kind of waiting for him to stop being an asshole and lose everything, especially during the scene where he pushes Palmer away because he's too damn proud to admit he needs help (I wanted to slap him; raise your hand if you did too.)  To be honest, it seemed like a repeat of Iron Man's origin story with the only thing changing being the body part effected.  (I'll admit to gripping my seat in the car accident, but other than that, nothing major plussed me.)  I've heard it said that you have lose everything in order to find your true being.  We've seen it done with several heroes in their origin stories, Tony Stark among them.  What made Strange unique is that he did not find what he initially sought until his mind AND his heart were open, i.e. when Kaecilius revealed the truth of the Ancient One's immortality and when she herself died.  

My favorite scene?  When Strange returns, unexpected, to his old medical practice and has Palmer do an emergency procedure on him.  In the spiritual realm/astral plain, he's fighting one of Kaecilius' cronies.  Why was it my favorite scene.  It was not only for fighting for life on two plains of existence.  It was because of Strange's apology for pushing away his only ally in the practice, and openly admitting he was an asshole to her.  I whispered to my Mum, "You'd never hear Tony Stark saying that."  I like Strange over Stark because Strange actually learns to accept that no man can conquer the world on his own.  Stark has yet to accept that, even in his role as technician and de facto leader (in his head) of the Avengers.

The Ancient One was my favorite character.  I agree that the Ancient One was hypocritical in this one instance, but she taught others to never use this power (i.e. drawing power from darkness to transcend death and other maladies) to prevent them from repeating her mistake.  Kaecilius interpreted it as her hoarding the truth for herself; I see it as deliberately withholding knowledge so others can learn from her failures.  I could tell it broke Mordo's heart when he found out Strange was not lying.
And of course, the Stan Lee Easter egg (par for the course with every Marvel movie now; he's on the bus Strange and Mordo crash into in the New York Sanctum battle) did not escape me, nor did the reference to Loki being a "gifted individual" during the post-credit scene.  (Thor is still a drunken meat-head, though I doubt that was Bragi's blood he was drinking, i.e. mead, in the "bottomless stein" Strange kept filling for him.)  The scene was obviously a teaser for Thor: Ragnarok (the third Thor film) coming out next year.

There were trailers for POTC 5, Moana, and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 to accompany the film.  I didn't feel too interested in seeing any of them, the ones coming out in 2017 at least.  The thing that turns me off to a lot of action movies is that they're all very physically based, not to mention violent.  Guns, explosions, bodies hitting the ground... there wasn't as much of that here.  There was a bit of that with the gratuitous "bending of reality" things and psychedelic alternate dimensions, but it was very spiritual and cerebral which resonate with me.

My dad derided the script for "one-liners" as opposed to "real acting challenges"; Mum said she felt sick with how often the "reality bending" effects were used; I said, "You can't really expect much from an action movie, especially in the way of character development, something I learned when I saw The Avengers.  My favorite character (Loki) is made out to be "the villain" when he has much more going for him than that ONE thing."  This is according to Hiddleston himself and the Loki fans.  Considering Hiddleston got his ticket to super-stardom the same time as Cumberbatch [with Sherlock], thanks to Marvel, it doesn't surprise me as much as others might be that Scott Erikson scouted him for Marvel's next hero.

I liked it.  The parents really didn't.  We agreed it was better than seeing Trolls though.  I told them, "It's like a Crayola box vomited all over the screen in terms of visual aesthetic, not to mention the script is nothing to write home about."
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Spartans300's avatar
I've seen it twice already. Once in regular and second in 3D. Both are spectacular. I would agree that it is a fun movie. It's a welcome break from the political drama of Captain America and the character drama of The Avengers (even though there is a bit of character drama in Strange, it's just not as profound). Like you said, "it is said that you have to lose everything in order to find your true being" but I would argue that not all the Marvel heroes seem to be doing this. Captain America started out with nothing but he wanted to do something nonetheless. I think that's how Marvel started out with Tony, Bruce Banner, and Thor all losing stuff but now I think we're getting to the point where that type of story-telling isn't becoming the norm. Of course, with Stephen Strange it's bringing back to the formula but the formula has been dabbled with.

I like that scene too especially Palmer's reactions to the disturbances that the astral forms have on the physical plane. My favorite has to be the scene before where Strange has to fight against Kaecilius and his followers despite being a few leagues beneath him. They really get Strange's character right as he may not be the most powerful sorcerer but he is incredibly clever and is able to adapt to the battle. Of course, he is not perfect and when he does get thrown around (literally in a few places) he has to struggle to get back up. And I love the introduction of the Cloak of Levitation and that it is given a personality as I did not expect that. They kept that from the trailers.

Your description of the Ancient One is really good. While some people may not be happy with the character being "white-washed" I was more concerned on the character portrayal rather than the appearance (of course, in some cases appearances can be important too). I love how Kaecilius is a lot more human than what many of the villains in the MCU has done before. His motivations are understandable almost to the point of being sympathetic. He believes that what he is doing is right despite not reading the warnings after the instructions.

I did love the first post-credits scene. Thor is being Thor and I love his interaction with Strange. His expression after he drinks a whole pint in a single gulp is golden. ("That's new." *As the pint refills itself*) The whole thing makes me anxious for Thor: Ragnorak. I wonder how Loki will interact with the Sorcerer Supreme? I'm imagining a scene where Loki does his illusion with the body double and tries to escape only for Strange to see right through it and prevent him. :D

There trailers I got were for POTC 5 (when is this franchise going to end? When Jack Sparrow is dead?), Guardians 2 (I love how they kept the music and when I watched it in theaters the first time everyone went "aww" at the end scene), Star Wars (I'm getting reeeallly excited for that!), Life (that looks to be a like a combination of "The Thing" and "Gravity," which could be really cool), Return of Xander Cage (which I thought was a spin-off of Fast and Furious franchise, and so I don't care),...um, oh! And Logan, which I absolutely love. It's great to be alive! Scratch that, it's great to be a geek. It's not great to be alive with this presidency.

I don't know about your dad. I don't think I got that from watching the film. Then again, I watched it twice. I can understand how your mom feels. In the mirror sequence when they're running through the Mirror Dimension, it can be incredibly hard to follow what's happening when there are reflections of bustling New York City. (Speaking of which, did you notice that in Stan Lee's cameo he is holding a book with a picture that can be found in those "gift shops" that Strange scoffs at?)

I wouldn't say that I've felt that there was something beyond the realm of science and identifiable reality. While there are 4 known dimensions in this universe, there are 11 more that are theoretical in nature and so thereby we can only guess rather than substantially prove without a reasonable doubt. Since I'm not a theoretical physicist I'm just going to leave it at that. My mind really cannot expand beyond the realities of our world because that is what has been proven to me. Anything higher is really difficult for me to grasp. Which is why I like Strange's journey into discovery various universes, dimensions, and planes of existence because once he is shown proof of this then he accepts it and wants to learn more about it. I would react in much of the same way. Granted it will definitely take me longer.