blessedharlot:

My goal today was to give Doctor Strange a fair shot to wow me, because maybe I went in already judgy the other times. I feel I’ve been ready to be open to it today. I also discovered though, that I still find it a) a thoroughly lazy, not yet completed adaptation of deeply problematic source material, and b) full of obvious, melodramatic, TV-movie-of-the-week dialogue.

If I insert those two consistent complaints up front, after the fact, and try not to repeat them, my notes should be about half as short as they were as I first wrote them.  

• From moment one, it’s already faltered for me. The theft of the ritual pages is a bunch of white people in “Asian” robes and generic Asian settings doing magic. Like, this level of untruth impacts the quality of the storytelling. Root the magic thoroughly in one specific tradition, or honestly diversify it. This is just half-ass Hwood cardboard here.
• The casting of the Ancient One may be the biggest mistake the MCU made. And it’s big. It’s not good. I remember Swinton’s definition-of-white-feminist correspondence with Margaret Cho on this, talking about them wanting to avoid doing a Dragon Lady stereotype by not casting an Asian woman. You’re fighting with FANS, Tilda. You have not healed any Dragon Lady stereotypes by being a white English woman colonizing vaguely Asian robes doing magic kung fu in Nepal with goddamn FANS, Tilda.
• The problem with the opening action is that I don’t care. The ppl are inauthentic and I don’t know them and the special fx aren’t enough to interest me
• It’s cliched as fuck but since I know he’s gonna be humbled, the cocky surgeon grabs me more than the magic so far. Probably a good move moving so quickly to the accident tho. He’s just a smart asshole, we don’t need more setup than that.
• They make quick work of his despair phase, to get him desperate enough to go looking for the Ancient One. It’s told clearly enough, but it’s rather uninspired and the dialogue is ordinary and unenlightening. Him stepping on the page of his name badly written over and over again is quite hackneyed.
• Okay the use of the watch is creative. Stopping time when he reaches the temple
• The Ancient One’s first big speech about different maps, about seeing parts of a whole, and sending Strange on his journey, this was competently done. It’s intriguing, it’s a decent way into magic and the multiverse. But it also occurs to me as I watch it that none of this story required the troublesome heavy trappings of “generic Asian = spiritual.” I get that the source material was an absolute mess, I do, but that should call for a more vigorous adaptation, not a lazier one
• “People used to think I was funny” “Did they work for you?” okay good joke!
• There is at least a Kaeciliius ritual that happens in a church. IMO they should have hit that “interfaith” note more. Where’s the Latin spells, y’all?
• “Your intellect has taken you far in life but it will take you no further” very good line
• See him getting the Beard(™) is still satisfying, I’m a sucker for that shit
• Even a practitioner of the mystic arts gets a gratuitous shirtless scene
• I hate those fans. Every time I see the damn fans in that white lady’s hand I think of June Carter Cash singing about her “Jay-pan fan”. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll bless June until my dying day but that shit ain’t good storytelling
• The disorienting action is a bit more compelling with Strange defending the New York sanctum now, with more at stake
• Strange getting The Cape works well too, ngl. This movie is not without its payoffs
• Seriously, if this magic is universal, why do they all wear the same generic Asian stuff? And all come out of the same temple in Nepal? Too same, too white.
• The astral fight in the hospital is very inventive tho, kudos for that
• “Yes. Without hesitation” – Mordo and Okoye reflect parts of each other
• It’s easily just down to me and my particularly sensory sensitivities but the disorienting Mirror Dimension fight with Mordo is exhausting and doesn’t hold up to repeat viewings
• “AND I’LL BE WAITING IN JACKSON/ BEHIND MY JAYPAN FAN”
• It’s a sweet moment tho, the Ancient One’s death speech. Builds both of their arcs. Great turning point for Strange. Finally gives me something of value in the Ancient One
• Strange makes a choice here that Tony never has. The Ancient One presents a path that on a fundamental level is about letting go of control, and that actually sinks in for Strange. Strange figures out what it takes and what to means to keep stepping outside his own narcissism, and he’s willing to start practicing that by the end of the film. Strange is at a crossroads as the Ancient One dies, where he can choose his own glory as a magically-driven neurosurgeon. Or he can give up his old dream – and the comfort and safety of his ego – and serve the greater good with other gifts. He’s still got power to wield and decisions to make, he’ll find a way to bring ego into it, but it is at its core an unglamorous, service-oriented leadership position Strange takes. People compare Strange and Tony… but there’s at least one key difference. Tony is Strange if, when given the choice to take a more humbling set of responsibilities in the mystic arts, Strange had been like, “no thanks, my watches are calling me!” He could have rejected Sorcerer Supreme and insisted on going back to his flashy ego-driven life… and been so smug about how he fixed his own hands finally. And he still would have saved lives, just like Tony saves lives. But it’s not as satisfying. It’s about a character making the choice to grow as a person.
• The depiction of using the Time Stone in Hong Kong – and the fight in reverse time – is impressive, I’ll give them that
• For something that could have been as silly as a time loop battle with a dark dimensional being called Dormammu, they kinda nailed the big finale, ngl
• Dying endlessly so Earth can live is a pretty badass sacrifice. “Pain is an old friend” he’s kind of the flip side of the coin from Ghost here. I can relate to both tbh.
• Him meeting Thor is def a fun mid credit tie-in. Funny how the tone is so different here than the same scene in Ragnarok. They cut it with a different pace, and it fits a completely different movie
• Mordo going back to just-wants-to-walk guy and messing him up is harsh, man. And the uber-rigidity, I dunno yet if that can carry the weight of a movie villain motivation. Also this character turn would have also worked better if he wasn’t the one black character in the movie. NOT whitewashing solves all kindsa problems, as it turns out.

So, yeah. This is still in my bottom two MCU films. They did a few things adequately – one of them being Strange’s characterization. So at least there’s that. If in future movies they can remove the story even further from the source material that should have been adapted better than this, we should be alright.

I have a confession. I still haven’t seen all of Dr Strange. He’s such an asshole at the beginning. It’s hard to get into a movie when you don’t like the title character.