W A R N I N G ! ! ! SPOILERS AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK
With that out of the way, onto the review!
D O C T O R S T R A N G E
Stephen Strange is a world-renowned surgeon who jams out to classic 70s and 80s music while performing extremely difficult procedures with ease. He's got the biggest ego you could possibly imagine, but he's brilliant. Right in the beginning of the movie, he performs an almost impossible surgical procedure in order to save the life of a man that was shot in the head. Yes, with a
bullet.
All of that changes however, when he gets into a devastating car accident. He's rushed to the ER and operated on, and when he wakes up, his hands are absolutely destroyed. They look terrible, and the doctor tells him that his hands' nerves are too badly severed. Therefore, he can never operate again. His hands are constantly shaking, and there's nothing he can do about it.
Naturally, he wants to fix himself. So he starts doing research. He finds out about theoretical procedures that could cure the nerve damage in his hands. He squanders his wealth on seven of those different experimental procedures; and they all fail. Then, he finds one man that tells him about someone called "The Ancient One." This person can fix him, Strange is told. So, using the last amount of money he has, he takes a plane to Nepal and finds the Ancient One.
When he finds the Ancient One, she tells him that she can teach his soul how to find harmony and balance, therefore healing his body. Strange is outraged by this fairy-tale and demands that she operate on him, when she casts his astral form out of his body. He still doesn't believe, and then the Ancient One sends him on a wild and brilliant journey of cinematic effects. They are definitely worth the 3D Ticket price.
He is launched out from those different dimensions and lands on the floor at the Ancient One's feet and says, "Teach me."
So his training begins, and his incantations are perfect, he is a brilliant book worm and will read books for hours, poring over their information. He learns the spells word perfect, gets the hand motions down, but nothing ever happens. To fix that, the Ancient One takes him to Mount Everest
and tells him to build himself a portal back to the Sanctum (Temple in Nepal where the Ancient One resides). Within two minutes, he does it. Otherwise, his body would have gone into shock, and he would have died within an additional five minutes from hypothermia.
One day, as he's in the library, he looks at a specific book that you will be able to quickly identify because of the beginning minutes of the movie. It's a good ride, so I won't spoil that for you. But basically he's looking at it, and then uses the Eye of Agamotto to manipulate time. He tests that power on the apple he's eating.
For those that don't know, the Eye of Agamotto is a magical relic, created by Agamotto, the First Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, if my knowledge is correct. And yes, the theories are true, it is indeed the Time Stone. Whether or not it is the Time Stone itself is still a mystery, though.
Strange goes on reading the book, and then he comes across the name "Dormammu." Wong, the Librarian, and Mordo, the Sorcerer Supreme's best student, bust into the library and freak out.
They tell him to never utter that name again and that Dormammu is no power to trifle with.
From there, the action picks up as Kaecilius, a former student of The Ancient One that stole some pages from a book at the beginning of the movie, starts attacking the different sanctums of the world.
The Sanctums, as Wong and Mordo explain, are the three magical places that place a barrier over the Earth to keep Dormammu and other evil entities out. So while the Avengers fight aliens, the Sorcerers fight battles within the mystical realm.
Eventually, Kaecilius storms all three (New York, Hong Kong, and London) and Dormammu begins his descent in Hong Kong. Strange, bearing the Eye of Agamotto and the Cloak of Levitation, reverses time so that the collateral damage can be minimized. But before he can complete the spell, Kaecilius and his goons break from it and start causing trouble. So what Strange
does is he goes up into the Dark Dimension and finds Dormammu.
If you haven't already seen the memes, this is where Strange says multiple times: "Dormammu, I've come to bargain." After Strange dies about 80 or so times, Dormammu gets pissed and finally agrees to leave Earth alone if he can get out of the time loop.
So yeah, that's basically the film. Make sure you stay for the after credits, though. They set up "Thor: Ragnarok" and the second "Doctor Strange" films.
Strange goes on reading the book, and then he comes across the name "Dormammu." Wong, the Librarian, and Mordo, the Sorcerer Supreme's best student, bust into the library and freak out.
From there, the action picks up as Kaecilius, a former student of The Ancient One that stole some pages from a book at the beginning of the movie, starts attacking the different sanctums of the world.
The Sanctums, as Wong and Mordo explain, are the three magical places that place a barrier over the Earth to keep Dormammu and other evil entities out. So while the Avengers fight aliens, the Sorcerers fight battles within the mystical realm.
Eventually, Kaecilius storms all three (New York, Hong Kong, and London) and Dormammu begins his descent in Hong Kong. Strange, bearing the Eye of Agamotto and the Cloak of Levitation, reverses time so that the collateral damage can be minimized. But before he can complete the spell, Kaecilius and his goons break from it and start causing trouble. So what Strange
If you haven't already seen the memes, this is where Strange says multiple times: "Dormammu, I've come to bargain." After Strange dies about 80 or so times, Dormammu gets pissed and finally agrees to leave Earth alone if he can get out of the time loop.
So yeah, that's basically the film. Make sure you stay for the after credits, though. They set up "Thor: Ragnarok" and the second "Doctor Strange" films.
D O C T O R S T R A N G E
Ratings:
Family Friendliness: 9/10 Sanctums There wasn't much in this movie to really point out that would be really worthy of noting. I mean, there's violence obviously, and then there's a lot of graphic injuries especially in the beginning when Strange is all screwed up because of the car crash. There's minimal swearing, and overall, it's a pretty fun movie.
Story-line: 7/10 Magic Books Overall, it's the typical story. This guy has got an issue and a big ego, wants to fix the problem, then ends up becoming a great hero that saves all of humanity. But the fact that it's magic makes it amazing.
Story-Action Balance: 8/10 Spells There was a nice balance between the actual plot and then the action that ensues as a result of the story is nicely played out. The visuals are stunning, and I'll even give those visuals a rating below.
Visuals: 9/10 Sorcerers Nuff said, just watch it.
Comic Accuracy: 8/10 The origin story is spot on, except for the fact that the Ancient One was not a woman, Mordo was originally a bad guy already when Strange came along, and that Strange did not face Dormammu until he was about 10 years into his training. But then again, Marvel can't cover ten years of training in about two and a half hours. Other than that, swell movie!
Overall: 8/10 SEE IT
Bibliography: "Doctor Strange Trailer" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNdM7b1Lm04>
"Doctor Strange" <http://www.twincities.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/doctorstrangereview.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: The Ancient One" <http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/doctor-strange-tilda-swinton.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: Mordo" <http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Doctor-Strange-Movie-Mordo-and-Strange-Banner.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: Kaecilius" <https://typeset-beta.imgix.net/rehost/2016/9/22/b9a22007-da46-4913-89c7-eff981e66f85.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: Dormammu" <https://images.moviepilot.com/images/c_limit,q_auto,w_710/deiyyyc5akea97zypabu/doctor-strange-challenges-dormammu-credit-disney.jpg>
Story-line: 7/10 Magic Books Overall, it's the typical story. This guy has got an issue and a big ego, wants to fix the problem, then ends up becoming a great hero that saves all of humanity. But the fact that it's magic makes it amazing.
Story-Action Balance: 8/10 Spells There was a nice balance between the actual plot and then the action that ensues as a result of the story is nicely played out. The visuals are stunning, and I'll even give those visuals a rating below.
Visuals: 9/10 Sorcerers Nuff said, just watch it.
Comic Accuracy: 8/10 The origin story is spot on, except for the fact that the Ancient One was not a woman, Mordo was originally a bad guy already when Strange came along, and that Strange did not face Dormammu until he was about 10 years into his training. But then again, Marvel can't cover ten years of training in about two and a half hours. Other than that, swell movie!
Overall: 8/10 SEE IT
Bibliography: "Doctor Strange Trailer" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNdM7b1Lm04>
"Doctor Strange" <http://www.twincities.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/doctorstrangereview.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: The Ancient One" <http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/doctor-strange-tilda-swinton.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: Mordo" <http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Doctor-Strange-Movie-Mordo-and-Strange-Banner.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: Kaecilius" <https://typeset-beta.imgix.net/rehost/2016/9/22/b9a22007-da46-4913-89c7-eff981e66f85.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: Dormammu" <https://images.moviepilot.com/images/c_limit,q_auto,w_710/deiyyyc5akea97zypabu/doctor-strange-challenges-dormammu-credit-disney.jpg>