Trailer Park: Doctor Strange

I still dig it.




Right off the bat, a big improvement over the teaser is that we get a better sense of the plot. We start off with Doctor Strange as a literal doctor, then we see the car accident that wrecks his hands, and Rachel McAdams as (presumably) his girlfriend get sad. Okay, pretty standard. but then he grows a beard and meets Tilda Swinton and she pushes him through reality with accompanying voiceover. His shocked reaction should be our own. Cue Studio Logo.

Then we get some indications of how magic works and what it can do. Very important, I've said before that how this movie handles its depiction of magic will make or break it. I like that the filmmakers seem to be deviating from the norm for big fantasy movies in showing magic mostly as colored smoke and sparkling fireworks shooting out of people's hands. It's really hackneyed by this point and not doing that will help Dr. Strange stand out. And we see the continued use from the teaser of magic warping the environment into fractal patterns and Escher-esque mindscrew landscapes. Still cool-looking, still very unique. And I love the little glowing magic circles Strange has throughout the trailers, they have a great old-school occultism feel to them that really fits into the character's origin in 1960s mysticism.

But most importantly to me is that the trailer and film make it clear that magic is something that can be learned and studied. not something you're born with like Harry Potter. And that's important to me not only because I prefer when wizards earn their powers thru study, but also because it feels much more Marvel. Marvel heroes aren't about having great destinies to fulfill. They get their powers by accident mostly and their heroism comes from deciding to use their new gifts for good. You know, with great power comes great responsibility and all that. So by showing that Strange first chooses to learn magic only for himself and then, probably through another tragedy, realizes all the good he can do it fits better in the Marvel mold and gives him a clearer character arc. Which is reinforced by what we see next.

Tilda Swinton with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Benedict Wong as her senior wizards discussing Strange and his ability as a sorcerer. Their doubts about him and Wong's warnings are contrasted against Mads Mikkelsen as our villain Kaecilius. Judging from Wong's line about "Being careful about what path you're on",  I'm guessing Kaecilius is being set up as a foil for Strange. Someone else who suffered a tragedy and turned to the mystic arts, but has turned to villainy instead of heroism. Neat idea, gives the story some more oomph. After that we get some standard Marvel city destruction and Mikkelsen doing the bad guy speech. Nothing exceptional, but it's still a superhero movie so you need that stuff.

I don't like Swinton's voiceover near the end about looking through time for Strange (or that's the implication at least). That line makes it sound like the film will be indulging in the destiny stuff I hoped they were rejecting above. But it's one line so who knows. And damn, if that shot of Strange magically whipping his cape on isn't awesome. Then the trailer ends on a pretty good joke, showing that Marvel's trademark humor is still intact.

So an improvement over the pretty good teaser. We got a better idea of the story, saw a bit more of the supporting cast, showed off more cool visuals and had some themes for the film established. Overall, excellent job. Not perfect though. Rachel McAdams doesn't get any lines and her role beyond "the love interest" is unclear. We get no idea what the bad guy's plan is and given that Marvel has been criticized for bland, one-dimensional villains his speech about being destruction and death doesn't bode well. And I know I said it last time, but this doesn't feel trippy enough. Come on Doc, drop the brown acid and show me some psychedelic colors! You're a wizard from the 60s trained in Eastern Mysticism, I know you're holding.

Doctor Strange comes out November 4th.