Doctor Strange (a movie review post)

 MCU #14

As a point of interest, it was Doctor Strange that inspired this whole MCU re-watch thing. After Shang-chi came out, I decided it would probably be a good idea to refresh Strange in my memory since he seems to be central to what is coming up in the next phase of the MCU. Upon re-watching it, I realized how much, exactly, I'd forgotten, so it was that the decision was made to re-watch everything. I'm really glad, too, because they are so worth it, and I needed the memory freshener. (Which is nothing like one of those air fresheners for your car. Those are gross.)

Also, there's Spider-Man (the new one and which I should be watching when this post goes live), which is going to be a lot of Strange.

It's not that I haven't said this before, but Marvel's casting is uncanny (shut up! I know that's X-Men. It's my blog I can do what I want). Benedict Cumberbatch was the perfect choice for Strange. There's a moment (I don't remember which one) where there is this fairly close up view of Cumberbatch's face and, I swear, it was like they took a panel from the comic book and turned it into a living person. He really captures Strange in a way that I think no other actor could have. Not one that I've seen, at any rate.

I think I've come to like MCU Dr. Strange better than the comic book version. I mentioned this in my previous review (which I'm not linking), but Strange is played off too much as a super hero in the comic book. Oh, yes, but he is a super hero, I hear you saying. Sure, that's true. Sort of. But, in the comic, it was always that he had this limited selection of "moves" which made it feel like special mutant powers or something. There was rarely any actual sorcery. That is, pulling out the books and casting some big spell. Not much "magic," in other words.
 
Which, you know, is fine. I get it. That kind of thing is much more difficult to do. What is magic, anyway?

I feel like Marvel dealt with that more upfront in the MCU. The Ancient One, basically, explains the MCU concept of magic to Strange right at the beginning. I should probably pull that quote but, hey, I'm about to leave for Spider-Man and trying to wrap this up. Magic has been addresses again in WandaVision and in Eternals. It's more of the science you don't yet understand kind of thing. And I like that. Plus there are lots and lots of books, and we've even seem them in use. To some extent, at least.

They also did a good job with their use of the Astral Plane. The fight in the hospital was really excellent in the way it disrupted the physical world.

And I would be lying if I said that the Cloak of Levitation isn't one of my favorite characters.

The character arc of Mordo is extremely well done. Somewhat parallel to Kaecilius in that it is a perceived deception on the part of The Ancient One that causes their breaks, but each stems from a separate place. Kaecilius, one of envy: I want that, too; Mordo, one of... injustice? I don't know the word I want to use. Mordo responds from a misplaced feeling of injustice, and his journey is and will be more interesting than Kaecilius. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a great actor and able to pull it off more than believably. Not that we haven't seen him do this kind of character before (in Serenity, in case you've forgotten).

So, yeah, I think I've come to like appreciate Dr. Strange more in the years since its release. Not that I didn't like it when it came out; I did. But I like it more now. Which takes us to the rankings...

Let's get ranked!

1. Captain America: Civil War

2. The Avengers
3. Captain America: The First Avenger
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
5. Iron Man

6. Doctor Strange

7. Ant-Man
8. Thor: The Dark World
9. Thor

10. Guardians of the Galaxy

11. Avengers: Age of Ultron
12. Iron Man 3
13. Iron Man 2
14. Incredible Hulk (Sorry, Norton, not even the Eye of Agamotto can save you from your place at the bottom. Maybe don't suck so much.)

Eternals (a movie review post)

 

Eternals is a bold choice for Marvel. Of course, so was Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel. And Black Panther and Shang-chi. Even Iron Man. But I feel like Eternals is an even more bold choice, and I'm really wondering/excited to see where they're going with this new phase of the MCU.

Why do I say it's bold? Because it takes Marvel cosmic. But Guardians, you may say... and Captain Marvel... and Thanos! And the Infinity Stones! My god, man, Marvel has already been cosmic! Yeah, sure, but not in more than a Star Wars or a Star Trek way. We've been used to aliens for a long time, and the Infinity Stones, while alluding to Marvel's cosmic origin story, are still just "artifacts" (they're not, really, but I can't think of a better word). Eternals takes us beyond that to the very origins of the Marvel Universe.

Honestly, I think it offends some people (right-wing conservative fanatics). The whole concept of the Eternals and the Celestials is pretty much blasphemy to "christians." I don't know if that's where all the heat is coming from over this movie, but I do know that Eternals is taking some, and it can't be because of the movie itself, because the movie is very good. It's a very solid Marvel movie.

Just for the sake of comparison, when Warner Bros. made Justice League, the best that they could come up with to introduce new characters was to have Batman walk around with their data sheets and be like, "This is Aquaman. He's the king of Atlantis. He can talk to fish. This is Cyborg. He's a robot. This is Flash. He's fast." Stupid and clumsy as hell. Eternals introduces all 10 new characters organically as part of the story. There is no looking at file cards to tell who people are. Marvel knows how to tell a story and how to introduce characters and concepts naturally.

Eternals is a big movie. It's close to three hours long and introduces a lot of new things to the MCU. There are connections here that are never explicitly addressed, so it will be interesting to see how all of that plays out. And, since this is a movie review, I am not going to start speculating about how all of this relates to other upcoming projects, though I do have... thoughts. Anyway, it's nearly three hours and never boring (unlike some other movie (Warner Bros) of similar length which just came out and is nap worthy).

A few highlights, since my review is getting a bit long:
Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo. He stole almost every scene he was in. The Bollywood dance scene was amazing. I want a Kingo solo movie, now.

Also: "Thor used to follow me around when he was a little kid; now, he's a famous Avenger and won't return my calls." Or something like that.

Dane Whitman. He's been one of my favorite Marvel characters since I was in high school. I can't wait to see what they're going to do with him in the MCU.

The Uni-Mind. Just because Marvel actually did it. It's part of the Eternals mythology, but it didn't occur to me that Marvel would bring that into the MCU. I'm sure we'll see that again.

I think the weakest part of the film is the Deviants. I hate the whole monster made of tentacles look to them. Yeah, I know that's just me. But there's also the sudden unexplained ability of at least one of them to absorb powers. I can't say it wasn't addressed because the Eternals are totally like, "Shit, how can it do this?" but there is never an answer to that question. And, you know, sure, sometimes in life there are no answers to the questions we have, but I like my fiction to not leave things like that dangling. Of course, it's always possible that it's something that will come back in another movie. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of the Deviants.

While it's true that Eternals is not the best of the MCU -- but c'mon! There are some incredible movies in the MCU, and it's unlikely that a few of them well ever be topped -- it is a far cry from the worst. (Sorry not sorry Edward Norton, you're not getting out of that hole.) I want to see it again, actually. It's a solid entry into the franchise and one that, I'm sure, is taking the MCU in a new and different direction