Skip to main content


Rating: 4.6/5
Review: "Doctor Strange 3D movie review" (115 minutes)

"Visually exciting and surreal, Doctor Strange provides an immersive experience that is complete with the excellent usage of 3D. The best superhero film of the year helps to reduce the fatigue of the superhero genre for me." 

This year sees a few superhero films and the superhero genre fatigue seems to be growing. However I didn't feel the fatigue kicking in when watching Doctor Strange. Doctor Strange, I would say, is the best superhero film of this year. There are heavy competitions such as the crowd-pleasing Captain America: Civil War, the entertaining Deadpool and the decent Superman Vs Batman, Suicide Squad and the alright X-men: Apocalypse. They may have their positive points but none can beat the surreal and stylish presentation and philosophy message of Doctor Strange.

The story: Not that Doctor Strange is all perfect but the whole experience including the great 3D forms a damn good entertainment. Doctor Strange may have a generic theme of 'believe in yourself' in the superhero genre. But director Scott Derrickson, famous for directing horror films, presents the film like a piece of art that you can't help but marvel (no pun intended) the beautiful sight. It has to be one of the best visually pleasing superhero film. Even the few action scenes are staged beautifully with surreal visuals.  Benedict Cumberbatch plays a great Stephen Strange. He has the charisma to pull off one of the most powerful superhero in Marvel. The rest of the cast is decent. Tilda Swinton also did a great job in portraying the calm and powerful Ancient One (who is originally an Asian). The film is paced decently and it does not feel boring at all. An arrogant neurosurgeon Stephen is met with a car accident. He meets the Ancient One in hope to restore his injuries. Along the way, he discovers more about life and himself. The philosophy of life is a refreshing take in the superhero genre. Music by Michael Giacchino is great too.

Though it has great positive points, it still has its noticeable flaws. Mads Mikkelsen is underused as the main villain. He acts like a filler for action scenes and story. After an exciting opening, he basically disappears until the last third of the film where he shows off his powers in a few visually exciting fight scenes. There is not enough emotions or background story to really understand his character. Although the film is decently paced, character's development is a little jarring especially Doctor Strange. His overnight change from an arrogant guy to a guy who will shoulder the responsibility of saving the world in the third act is a little too fast. Another thing is the forced humor in some scenes. I don't mind humor but the timing of some humor is off.

3D: As a post-converted 3D film, it displays an excellent addition depth. Its main highlights are during the visually exciting action scenes and the mind bending display of magic. It maintains the excellent sense of depth even during normal scenes without visual effects. It is good to see that the technology of post-converted 3D improving. Its excellent 3D is a great addition to the overall viewing.

Overall: Doctor Strange may be the last superhero film to be released for this year but it does not add to the rising fatigue of the superhero genre. In fact, it makes me more excited about the solo debuts of more superheroes. I hope DC Comics and Marvel will give more chances to adapt other superheroes for big screen. Doctor Strange in 3D is highly recommended.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rating: 4.5/5 Review: "Man of Steel movie review" With all the hype from the trailers, I must say this is what it looks to be expected. I have to say that this is the biggest and epic superhero movie yet. This treats destructions like child's play. It is also the most explosive superhero movie. There are so much explosions that they could literally make you exhausted from watching all those. Although this is directed by Zack Snyder, this does not have much of his trademark except the visuals. His slo-mo trademark is not featured. Instead, the action is rapid fast. Man of Steel is a good entertainment with exciting action scenes and visuals but at the same, a somehow touching human drama. The story: We get an extended opening scene on Krypton where Kal-El is just born. However the planet is going to be destroyed with General Zod adding to the problem. To save Kal-El, he has to be sent to another planet known as Earth. What is interesting about the movie that it do...
Post a Comment
Read more
Rating: 3.4/5 Review: "The Spirit of Ramayana" (103 minutes) "A passable Thai horror movie with an interesting concept but weak execution." As a low-budget horror movie, it has enough entertainment values. In the recent years, there are a few strong Thai horror movies with decent production values and there are many mediocre low-budget horror movies. The Spirit of Ramayana is somewhat in the middle. It may not look that polished but its themes and concept are intriguing enough. The story: The narrative is straight forward however its editing made the movie look messy and disjointed. It is a simple story about Mintra, a young dancer who is rejected for the main role because she cannot pull off an evil and sensual side. However, a spirit helps her to unleash her dark side. On paper, it sounds like a supernatural Black Swan. It lacks the emotional depth of Black Swan as the director seems only interested in churning out cheap scares. As the plot develops fur...
Post a Comment
Read more
Rating: 4.3/5 Review: "American Made film review" "An entertaining and fun well-made film boosted by great direction and acting." Doug Liman and Tom Cruise paired up together again for a fast-paced and colorful biography on Barry Seal. American Made may not have the blockbuster action but it holds up on its own firmly with the help of a great direction by Doug. Tom Cruise is definitely the main highlight of the film and he is what made it so entertaining. The story: The pace is brisk; it takes the audience on a crazy ride from the start and never slows down. Though it never felt boring, sometimes I felt that it could have slowed down for some development. After the film ended, it seems that Doug and Tom had a clear mind on just keeping the audience as entertained as they can be. It cuts to the chase and never dwells on anything such as emotions. It moves quickly from event to event. Advantage is that I was not bored at all. Disadvantage is that it felt li...
Post a Comment
Read more