Before I go too far, I have to mention that I loved this film.
The Direction was strong. The acting superb and dead on, and the casting near perfect.
This may well be the most beautiful special effects, co-driven film ever made.
I write co-driven, because this is more than VFX. Even if one can get lost in the visuals quiet easily and remain happy. It would be quiet easy to get lost in that candy, but that is only the surface. One needs to scratch to get deeper.
If one can look past the VFX, action, the mysticism and the linear narrative, one would discover that what this actually is, is a concept piece and character study.
THE STORY
Doctor Stephen Strange, a Neurosurgeon, loses the use of his hands in a car accident. Traveling to the Far East to find a way to heal his hands, he begins training in the mystic arts. He excels and become embroiled in a battle with a renegade sorcerer who want to put the Earth in the hands of the Demon Dormammu from the dark dimension.
THE CONCEPT
All the mysticism. Everything taught by The Ancient One, and learned by Strange. That is the concept of the film. Not to gain power, but to expand one’s mind. To be open to all things. To the multiverse, to new ways of thinking.
‘In order to conquer something, you must surrender to it.’ This is an age old philosophy the Ancient One tries to get Strange to understand. ‘It is not about YOU,’ Is another way to phrase it.
The main crux of Doctor Strange is about Stephen Strange himself. This is a character study of his journey. But what journey? In this story, he under takes three journeys: to heal his hands, to become the Sorcerer Supreme and to change himself – to redeem himself.
Yes, ultimately this is a story of one man finding redemption when he was unaware he needed it. His entire life, it was about him. He did good things, but it is evident that he wasn’t a good man. His arrogance, his success, his purpose.
HIS purpose, when he thought he lost that, it prompted his journey.
He started his journey to heel his hands, only to learn that it was his soul that needed healing.
Once he surrendered to the idea that it isn’t about him, he found his redemption. He moved on from the man he once was, to the man the World needed him to be: The Sorcerer Supreme.
It was a pleasure to share this journey.
FINAL THOUGHT:
Great film and a worthy addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
RATING: 8
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