‘Doctor Strange’ comes to rescue superhero movies from the well of mediocrity that were coming

Already we have seen ‘Doctor Strange’, the second film in the Phase 3 of the cinematic universe of Marvel (the first was ‘Captain America: Civil War’) and we have good news: there is another superhero movie more for meet the quota.

And that’s good news because among the series of superheroes who are the new ‘after school’ and turn between Marvel and DC on the big screens, we had entered a dangerous routine that aimed to burn very soon a grateful genre for the viewer at the same time, it is “easy” (are adaptations of comics who already have an almost assured the public) and profitable for the film industry.

Fresh air for Marvel

Between 2008 and 2016, Disney has squeezed the cinematic Marvel universe with 13 films: starting with ‘Iron Man’ (2008) and to ‘Captain America: Civil War’ (2016). To this must be added the saga of ‘X-Men’, which is now nine films and reach that comes with ten year ‘Logan’. Having already released more than 20 films and a horizon that is not going to slow down, you go into a routine that has to do with the characters and arguments. In the sagas he goes it safe, is not usually innovate because they are continuations of stories and its success is that the audience watching movies because you expect something from them: thank your favorite character, resolution of certain frames, the new being evil that must be defeated …

In this sense, the film’s groundbreaking Marvel of all was ‘Deadpool’, and not just because it’s the first superhero unsuitable for minors, but by its freshness, its mocking tone and violence (never so explicit gender). ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is another good example of the good results when the comfortable route is abandoned.

Well, ‘Doctor Strange’ is the film different from the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. From far. The most comprehensive film criticism have our fellow Film Blog, but shows that the director Scott Derrickson has enjoyed a great creative freedom that allows you to tell the story of neurosurgeon Stephen Strange with a very good pace without making mention the other movies (in fact, no single mention of the Avengers which makes clear that “they” face other dangers, very different from Doctor Strange). Allow time to perfectly meet ego centrism and narcissism of Stephen and how it evolves emotionally while forges the superhero.

Even aesthetics, which can reach some points to remember in ‘Source’, moves away from Marvel. We’ll talk about it in section visual effects.

Magic for the first time in Marvel

So far we have seen a lot of fantasy in the movies Marvel, but there was always a point of connection with reality: the science . Either because what we saw was of extraterrestrial origin or because there was an advanced technology capable of reducing a human to the size of an ant. All had an explanation. Until now. Magic: In ‘Doctor Strange’ a new ingredient appears. And it is a supernatural magic, there is no scientific explanation . In the film refer to a mystical world that envelops our real world.

As a result of magic, officially it presented the multiverse, that is, our universe is not the only one there. Neither our dimension. In the film we see the astral dimension, the dimension and the dark mirror dimension. All this is explained as if it were nothing supernatural. This has much to do the didactic work of The Crone, the teacher of Doctor Strange going so far explaining that he was a man of science that can be done with the mind and a few spells.

Even the villain, Dormmamu, is a being who lives in a dimensional plane “beyond time” and only seeks to devour universes.

The emergence of magic involves expanding the spectrum of creative possibilities outrageous. And there are multiple universes, too. Asgard is too small to what we can expect from now Marvel.

You may also like to read another article on AnarchismToday: ‘Peter and the Dragon’ magic to our inner child

Stunning visual effects

Deserves to see the film in 3D because one of its strengths is the section of visual effects. You’ll see the City of London is compressed and decompressed to pieces in seconds or navigation dizzying characters by different universes. The result is absolutely spectacular, from the “sparks” generated by spells and portals, through the combination of the astral plane normal to the epic final battle between Stephen and Dormmamu.

This section is essential for a film in which first introduced the magic. Fortunately, they are very careful and are a real visual pleasure action that adds credence to the story that we are told.

There will be Doctor Strange 2

Doctor Strange has two post-credits scenes. The first one will have a few lines below (if you have not seen the movie and do not want spoiler, skip it, because it has to do with how the film relates to the rest of the Marvel universe), but on the second follows something very clear: Doctor Strange will 2 as shown in these images is natural after the plot, and that appears to be the “bad again.” And even there we can read.

Benedict Cumberbatch is perfect for the role of Stephen Strange because it is one of those actors able to move from one scene to another more serious mood without losing credibility or charisma either. Overall, the cast of ‘Doctor Strange’ is a success, so hopefully that is also maintained in the next issue though, as we say, with starring Cumberbatch there here to stay.

EYE, SPOILER: stop reading if you do not want charter a surprise: And how Doctor Strange is related to The Avengers? That’s what the first post-credits scene shows: Stephen receives Thor with a huge jug of endless beer and promises to help in the search for Odin, so it is more than likely to see him in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ which hit theaters in 2017.