TRAVIS LEFEVRE
Lampoon Editor
Halloween is over, and the holiday season is officially in full swing, with Christmas decorations hitting store shelves before you can even say “Halloween is over?” Nonetheless, with the beginning of this festive season, “Doctor Strange” acts as an outlier that could have been released during October. It’s not scary, but the theme of magic and sorcery would have fit in nicely with the Halloween season.
The most recent Marvel character to be adapted from print to screen, “Doctor” isn’t just a part of his superhero name. The movie tells the story of skilled neurosurgeon Stephen Strange’s search for a cure after a horrific car accident renders his hands virtually useless, ruining his career.
After obsessively searching for a cure, Strange ends up in Nepal, wandering right into the world of the mystical arts, and he eventually becomes known as the Sorcerer Supreme, sworn to defend the physical world from mystical threats.
Benedict Cumberbatch brought Stephen Strange to life, and his character is comparable to Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. He’s quick with the quips and sarcastic remarks, but he’s willing to make a change if the need arises, despite his arrogance.
“Doctor Strange” is unique in that it doesn’t necessarily fit the mold of conventional Marvel movies. There’s no one flying around in a suit of armor, no genetically enhanced super soldier and definitely no green beasts, but instead what we get is a new breath of life into an increasingly stale genre. There were moments where you could easily forget that this was, in fact, a Marvel movie only to remember again once the famous Stan Lee cameo appeared onscreen.
While it had a story that was unique to the genre, the visual effects of “Doctor Strange” could be headache-inducing at times. Not to say that they were poorly done, but rather it felt like there were moments where the reality bending magic effects were too much to process at a moment’s notice.
“I liked the movie. It was well done. Sometime’s it was a little too much with the special effects, but overall it was well done,” said Fred DiLorenzo, a junior video production major.
Currently holding an 8/10 on IMdB and a 90 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, this movie is a must see for any Marvel fan and is a strong recommendation if you’ve never seen a Marvel film before. Bring some aspirin though, because this movie is a trip.