SPOILER FREE***Dr. Strange USER REVIEW thread***SPOILER FREE

My official spoiler free review of the film.

 

Hard call....I say it depends on the kids. They might get into the trippy effects and action, but I think the lead up to that might bore the younger ones.

 

I felt out of step with this movie. I don't know whether it was the 96% RT score and I was expecting something akin to The Avengers or Spider-Man 2. My initial impression: highly overrated.

The origin story didn't feel that fresh and cobbled from better films like Batman Begins, The Matrix and even Edge of Tomorrow for its VFX heavy climax. The movie moves at a breakneck pace but felt overstuffed with plot and humor, and one character is basically plot set up for a sequel. Nothing wrong with humor in a movie, but Doctor Strange overdoes it at times.

The cast is fantastic. Cumberbatch nails the humor, arrogance, and likeability of Doctor Strange -- and I look forward to seeing him in future MCU films. Tilda Swinton and Rachel McAdams were good but not given much to do. Mads Mikkelsen was all right, I guess. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Benedict Wong were good but undernourished, character-wise.

There are some fun sequences and the trippy visuals alone make it worth seeing, but this movie was a 6/10 for me.

 

The plot's the weakest part of the film for me. It's very predictable, but what keeps it from being too bad is the characters. I'm not a huge fan of Cumberbatch, but he does manage to bring a likability to a pretty old hero's journey type of story.
The visuals are wonderful, everyone here's already commented on them, so I don't have too much to add, but I thought it was worth 3D.

They're both distractions for a boring plotline, but it was kind of the same deal with Ant-Man, which I really liked, so it works out in the end.

It's a solid 7 for me. The movie didn't blow me away, but it was a good time, and I'm optimistic Dr. Strange 2 can do a lot better.

 

8.75/10 for me. I really, really liked this one a lot and would rank it currently at about #7 in the MCU. It just seemed to be missing some small niggling little aspect that would push it over into full greatness. Something that I not only couldn't see coming, but that also hit my sweet spot just right. CW had that the moment ANt-Man became Giant-Man. This seemed to be lacking that on some small level so it just misses that 9/10 level by a smidge and is my #2 CBM this year after CW. It's a trippy movie and my rating might increase to a 9/10 after subsequent viewings but for now this is what I'm rating it.

Loved the mid-credits sequence.

Best origin movie since CA: TFA and 3rd best in the MCU after IM1 and CA:TFA. Among the obscure properties Marvel has taken to over the last 3 years(GotG, ANt-Man & this) I'd say this is easily their best effort. Each subsequent year has gotten better in that regard.


1.) IM1
2.) TA
3.) CA: CW
4.) CA: TWS
5.) CA: TFA
6.) AoU
7.) DS
8.) IM2
9.) Ant-Man
10.) Thor
11.) IM3
12.) GotG
13.) TtDW
14.) TIH

 

Direction: at times it didn't feel like a conventional comic book movie, like it was a high quality fantasy-suspense-horror-drama film that just happened to be a CBM

Acting: top notch. Some lines weren't as strong. But overall on par.

Writing: not as good as Civil War but it did the job.

Special Effects: through the roof. Marvels best yet.

Pacing: well paced didn't feel like it was dragging. I wanted the movie to go for 30-40 minutes longer, even an hour lol

Replayablity: I can't wait to watch this again!!! Just like I did with Iron Man 1, GOTG and Civil War, I will be watching this again in theatres!

Best origin film since the first Iron Man...it's true.

This film surpassed my expectations and was way better than it had the right to be.

10/10

 

Delete

 

I rate them like this:


1. IM1
2. GOTG
3. TA

4. CA: TWS
5. CA: CW
6. DS

7. CA: TFA
8. AoU
9. IM3
10. Ant-Man


11. Thor
12. TtDW
13. IM2
14. TIH

 

As if the MCU couldn't be more intriguing...

They just introduced their most powerful super hero (until Captain Marvel) comes along...

 

I saw it last night...

As a fan of the character i loved EVERY second of this movie, the flaws are there but they really didn't bother me that much. I give it a 9/10 as a Doctor strange fan as a film I'd give it an 8/10 really loved it. Can't wait for for more Strange!

 

heh I know my kids would have gotten into the effects when they were younger. lol NOW they're in their 20's, it's more fun for ME when they actually talk about content lol

 

"but daaaaaaaaad...!"

lol... parenting mic drop.

 

I thought this was good, but it falls somewhere in the middle among the rest of the movies in the MCU.

Pros/Highlights: First, Cumberbatch as Strange was excellent and another solid casting by Marvel and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him and see him interact with the rest of the other heroes.

Tilda as the Ancient One was surprisingly a highlight for me as well. I wasn't a fan of her casting beforehand, not because of the whole "whitewashed" thing, but because I'm just typically not a fan of her as an actress.

The fight scenes. It was refreshing to see different sort of action scenes in a movie like this and they were done really well.



Kinda meh on: Mads as Kaecilius didn't do much for me, but he delivered on what he was given. I'm not one who really thinks Marvel has a villain problem but I was hoping for a bit more with Mads. Hopefully Keaton as the Vulture and Blanchett really deliver in Spidey and Thor.

The score. I honestly don't really remember or care about scores in a movie unless it's one of the memorable classic ones like Star Wars, Back to the Future, etc..



Cons: Some of it felt a bit rushed and I wish they spent a little more time on Stephen Strange, the surgeon.

The humor wasn't necassarilly a con for me, but some of it felt out of place or didn't work for me.

I'd still give it a 7-7.5/10 and a welcome addition to the MCU.

 

OK after my second viewing, here are my current thoughts:

The Good:

-Cumberbatch, Swinton, and Ejiofor are all REALLY good in their roles.

-The visually and music are amazing.

-The rest of the cast does well with what they're given to work with.

-There's some cool action scenes.

-Mordo and TAO end up being more interesting and nuanced that I was expecting them to be.

-The mid and post-credit scenes are both really good.

-Etc.


The Not So Good:

-Strange seems a bit too jokey and quippy here. I don't recall him really being that way in the comics. Also some of the humor feels forced and falls flat for me.

-The thing with TAO is still awkward for me. Swinton is great, but it's awkward. There's also a really noticeable lack of Asians in general in this film (although they do make the cast more mult-racial/cultural than I was expecting). So a mixed bag there.

-Mads Mikkelsen is good, but his character is underused and not all that interesting. He's kind of wasted in this role.

-Rachel McAdams is also good, but her character is REALLY underused and their argument for why she needed to be a non-powered human LI (as opposed to Clea for example) falls flat given what little they do with her here. She's also kind of wasted in this role. And her relationship with Strange falls flat for me (despite the actors best efforts to sell it) as a result.

-Wong is fun, but underused. And this is a problem even more given the aforementioned lack of Asian characters in general.

-The plot is very formulaic and the comparisons to Iron Man are not without some merit. Especially since they make Strange more jokey and quippy as stated above.

-Etc.

Overall, I think that I'd give it a 7.5/10. It's decent, but not nearly as good as it could have been imo.

 

Without SPOILING anything, The story to me was great, I wasn't bothered by anything really except a couple areas lacking on info, but, all and all I loved the film.
I think kids around 13 and up should be able to follow it, there a few scenes they would LOVE.
I gave it a 9.5 because of the lacking info

 

I'm glad you liked it

 

Glad you loved it, Vartha!

 

This film was fantastic, a 120 min visual thrill ride that will entertain and excite. It's a great tribute to it's Ditko psychedelic origins, while still being highly action packed.

I purposely kept myself spoiler free on this film. I didn't really hang out in the message boards. I didn't read plot leaks, or synopsis. I only watched the trailers, and TV ads. I was blown away by what I saw.

It's hard to compare it to any of the previous Marvel films because it is so different, but to me this is by far the best CBM of the year, and I loved Civil War.

I always thought Doctor Strange in the comics was a little hard to connect with in the comics. He's written so seriously, I worried that a movie form would be hard to connect to. But just like Robert Downey put so much of his own infectious personality into Tony Stark, Cumberbatch does the same with Strange. Yes you see the arrogance there, and the strong will, but at the same time we empathize with the character and his struggles to regain his abilities as a surgeon.

I don't want to say much more or I will spoil something. Let's just say there's some great cameos and Easter eggs, and the mid and end credit scenes will leave you thirsting for more, to which we are promised that Doctor Strange will return again.

 

I wasn't a Dr Strange fan before. It quickly became one of my top five favorite MCU films joining First Avenger, Winter Soldier, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and now Dr. Strange. Third favorite film of the YEAR following Sing Street and Jungle Book, and this is coming from someone who sees at least one, often three movies a week in theaters alone. Because of that I prize innovation and this movie had that in spades. I can't spread good word enough on this film.

 

Similar experience to Ant-Man for me. An entertaining watch. Definitely not boring. Good acting. Inventive action. And like Matrix, Inception, Harry Potter, etc, it's always fun to be in a new world for the first time, learning all the new concepts and things. Fun stuff. And I was glad that the magic wasn't just random and deus-ex-machiny. They set up the different abilities and stuff well.

But overall, like Ant-Man, it didn't quite sink its teeth in me. I don't think the story had enough gripping emotional ups and downs in the right places. Despite a couple emotionally memorable scenes, including a character's death which I thought was handled beautifully, the climax and the ending are pretty flat. Despite doing a lot of things better or different than the movies it's often compared to, Strange doesn't do it for me the way Inception, Harry Potter, or the Matrix does. I also think a reason why it doesn't feel as special to me as those films is the casting of Cumberbatch. Strong actor, but I think a fresh face would have made the entire film feel more special and unique.

I also thought the visuals, while always holding my attention with their creativity, weren't necessarily thrilling or moving me very much, just like in Ant-Man.

So for a rating of my first watch, an 8/10, but I don't think I'm going to revisit it, so that rating will drop, at least in terms of my rankings of my favorite marvel films.

 

I think a lot of the criticisms I'm seeing, especially from the posters here, are pretty fair. Not that I think the movie is bad. I think it's good and I enjoyed it, especially for its unique visuals. But I'm surprised as many critics liked it as they did. I figured it would've fallen more along the lines of 70-80 percent of RT critics would've liked it instead of 80-90.

I definitely could've used more of Christine for example. But I think she made more of her screentime at least than Mads Mikkelsen.

 

*edit

 

I don't think it's fair to compare Dr. Strange to CA:CW, CA:WS and any Avengers film. Those films had multiple films to build up characters and relationships. Strange has to start from scratch and essentially build a whole new section of the MCU on it's own WHILE introducing us to Dr. Strange and his crew.

 

Benedict Cumberbatch did amazing. Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill helps Marvel drop the mic as they prove the studio hasn’t run out of material for they are continuing the streak that just keeps on. My full review here http://www.rendyreviews.com/movies//doctor-strange-review