Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme
by Frank Paur, Jay Oliva
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DVD details
Actor: Bryce Johnson, Chris Edgerly, Fred Tatasciore, Kevin Michael Richardson, Tara StrongDirector: Frank Paur, Jay Oliva
Brand: Lions Gate
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 76 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-08-14
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Lions Gate
DVD Reviews of Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme
DVD Review: Doctor Strange Movie Review
Summary: 4 Stars
*Spoiler Alert!
Great news! The new Dr. Strange movie came out and I bought it and watched it the first day. I was filled with anticipation of my favorite comic book hero coming to the movies. The DVD cover art is very attractive and has a spell surrounding the Sorcerer Supreme's hands -- spheres with runes and symbols around them showing the fascinating nature of his magic. I loved the movie and there were many good and not so good aspects to review in it.
The movie began and for the first five or six minutes it was all about magicians I had never seen before. They all seemed to have magic amulets that weaken the unique quality of the Eye of Agamotto, Dr. Strange's most powerful talisman. I realized one of these magicians was Baron Mordo, which was cool and then I realized one of them was Wong. Dr. Strange's house servant of old now has magic powers which rival even those of Mordo! Wong never had any magic powers that I can recall in the comics. The most he had was some meager martial arts skill. So that was a bit of a surprise.
After that the story goes into the origin of Dr. Strange and is extremely well done. I was very happily surprised by how well done. Of course, I am critical of events that are mundane which are unbelievable. One of my few beefs during the origin part is when Dr. Strange is climbing sheer mountain cliffs wearing a parka and gloves and using no climbing tools whatsoever. This is supposed to be the time when his hands don't even work well and he's pulling himself up mountains. But, I can forgive for a while. The other is that climbing into the mountains of Tibet to find a guru is totally hackneyed now. It would have been a good place to mix it up a bit. (How about another dimension?)
At a certain point Mordo is told to train Dr. Strange. They battle with conjured magic swords. For one thing, the swords are fancy looking but have little magic about them except that they appear out of thin air which is a cool effect, but Dr. Strange has rarely if ever used magic swords. Swords should have only been used once, if at all in the movie. He is known for his very powerful magic, not his conjuring of conventional weapons, same with Mordo. Throughout the movie Dr. Strange's spells are swords or are uninteresting looking. The lesser magicians that fight for the Ancient One have spells that are much more visually interesting. I believe Dr. Strange should have had the most visually fascinating spells. Where are the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, the Fangs of Farralah, or so many other super-cool spells? The artists missed out on a real opportunity to dazzle the audience with Dr. Strange's spells. Remember Steve Ditko???
Dormammu is different looking. Perhaps it was a good idea to make him look a bit more sophisticated, but his look is really missing something. I would suggest more details in his appearance or perhaps an attempt at a 3rd dimension to his visage. Also, his voice is exactly like the voice of the Locnar in Heavy Metal. That was disappointing and distracting.
The Eye of Agamotto being handed over to Strange just because the Ancient One apparently dies is a bit of a letdown too. In the comics, he was awarded the Eye by the Ancient One after defeating Dormammu. It makes more sense and gives the Eye more value that way. Strange uses the Eye at the end of the movie, but not in any way that made sense to me. This goes to another point. Without some kind of narrative the battles make less sense. So, to tackle that problem I would have Dr. Strange use his trademark spells and also say (at least some of the time) things like "If I hadn't called upon the Shield of Seraphim in time, Dormammu's bolt of bedevilment would have destroyed me." Strange speak, if you will. If you have a really talented voice actor and script writer it could be pulled off without sounding stupid. Creating what would eventually become visually distinct and recognizable detailed spells would be cool too.
After the origin parts the plot seems to move too fast, Dr. Strange getting the Eye and the Ancient One dying in the first movie. The need to move things along shouldn't outweigh the ability to have a good story that can be continued. If there had been more of a focus on the fascinating nature of the world of magic and dimensional travel, etc. we could have waited for the Eye of Agamotto to be mentioned later. I would have had the battle with Dormammu in the Dark Dimension, as it was in the comics. Battles take place in the downtown areas of a big city (New York?) and there are many witnesses to the monsters later in the movie. Most of the time in Dr. Strange comics, ordinary citizens are spared the knowledge of magic and monsters. Dr. Strange keeps these guys out of our dimension. This leads to a kind of "secret" world that only the reader and a few special characters know about. Dr. Strange's new coat hides his incredibly cool outfit. Even the cloak of levitation lacks the detailed patterns in the yellow trim and the horned collar is missing!
I loved the adult (violent) nature of the plot. If there is anything I can't stand, it is monsters that are not evil enough to hurt and kill people. No problem there. The many deaths in the movie gave me a good chill. The tension created when the monsters attacked worked well for me. The monsters were cool, even if there were a few too many `bulls.'
Some of the special effects were very good. The spells of the lesser magicians were very visually appealing, even if they didn't have as much power. The concealing tornado spells were well done too. For the most part the sound effects were well done.
To review, the origin parts of the movie were pretty much excellent. The violence is reasonable and mature which is hard to pull off in a cartoon movie I believe. The movie is filled with character development that works well and is mostly true to the comic book history of Dr. Strange. Hopefully in the future the writers will not rush the story along or be afraid to repeat and stay true to the original storyline of the Dr. Strange comics. Mentioning Clea at the end was simply unnecessary. His spells really need more distinction and verbal description, but that would be easy to manage in a future movie and I do pray there will be many more. I loved seeing Dr. Strange in a movie. That alone is cause for celebration. Marvel has really missed the boat by not creating more Dr. Strange movies. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a new era of Dr. Strange. Don't miss this movie!
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