Doctor Strange

Rating: 8/10 (8 December 2016)

Back in 1998 director Alex Proyas who was responsible for The Crow and later on I Robot directed a movie starring Keifer Sutherland and Rufus Sewell. It was called Dark City. To this day it is one of the top 5 Science Fictions movies to come out in my lifetime. It was about a guy waking up to find a dead woman in a hotel room who he was framed for murdering. It incorporates aspects of time manipulation and visuals where the city landscapes could be changed and altered to fit the current time. All in all it was pretty much a test set by an alien race that they called Strangers. So why am I bringing this up? Because I keep hearing parallels of Doctor Strange and Inception. And although there are inception like visuals in this movie, it is really more like Dark City than anything else, and in my opinion any movie that reminds me of that already has a step up on the competition. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been struggling lately. There hasn't been any movies that I would call bad but the quality of entertainment has gone down a bit since it started. Even Civil War wasn't as good as I hoped it to be. I felt like the internal struggle of the Avengers team wasn't really that bad because nobody really wanted to hurt anyone. The whole airport scene was like watching all of our heroes in a slap boxing tournament. The good news is we all know that things are about to drastically change in the MCU. And the first change is Doctor Strange. I am usually the guy who goes to see these movies then has to wait weeks before he can talk to anyone about it because all of his friends take forever to see it. This was the opposite. All my friends saw it and wanted to talk to me about it but I couldn't because I've had a busy month and it took a while. It was really annoying, let me tell ya. Anyway, I saw it and now I'm telling all you how I felt about it. And I'm feeling pretty good. I feel like the MCU has been invigorated and has successfully begun switching gears a bit. Now ask anyone who knows me about my thoughts before the movie came out. I had serious reservations about because of the director. Scott Derrickson is a very well regarded writer, script doctor, and horror director. If you don't know what that means, hes one of the go to guys a studio will call on when they have a high profile script going into production but they need it polished. Whether it's the dialogue or action there a few writers out there who have their niche and are used in this capacity. But up until Doctor Strange all he had directed was the failed remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, Sinister, and Deliver us from Evil. I really didn't have any faith in him when it came to a story and character that actually mattered in the greater universe. Im sitting here now admitting that I was very wrong. In fact Im giving the guy a great deal of credit to the success of this movie and breathing fresh air into the MCU. Doctor Strange represents Marvels visual best and is rounded out be a very strong cast and a well put together cinematic story. It could have gotten very complicated considering the ideas of time and multiple universes inside an already established one but Kevin Feige and his disciples did a fantastic job of introducing us to a character that the basic cinema goer knows nothing about. I am hoping that the future characters to be introduced like Carol Danvers(Captain Marvel) follows suit. Next up for the MCU is Thor: Ragnarok which is supposed to be like a road movie with Thor and the Hulk, followed, by Guardians of The Galaxy Volume 2, and Black Panther. Im thinking by the time the credits roll on The Infinity Wars, most of our old Avengers will be dead, and the new crew will take over. But don't worry. As seen at the end of Doctor Strange, there is an Infinity Stone that can correct times mistakes. And I'm pretty sure we will get to see Adam Warlock (hopefully played by Dave Wooderson himself( Mathew Mcaunaghey)) take control of the gauntlet and ultimately reset everything. HINT: in the collectors little hideout in GOTG there was a cocoon. It harbors Adam Warlock. Google it. Hes awesome. But until then enjoy the movies. Support your local theaters. Yes you can pretty much download or stream anything you want but there is and never will be a better way to see a movie than on a giant screen with a crowd of people. So there you go. A review for a movie without actually telling you anything about the movie.