Thoughts on the new Doctor Strange Movie
film,, rant,, movie,, Marvel,, Superheroes,, magic,, fantasy
This is being made into a movie, and could be the first Marvel film released by Disney. Although early speculation (before the Disney buyout of Marvel) had Neil Gaiman writing the plot, and Tim Burton directing the picture, Marvel recently revealed that Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly were currently set to write the script. These two have had success before by writing the film adaptation to Clive Cussler's Sahara, a Dirk Pitt adventure.
The reason that this announcement hasn't made its way around the comic book fan community is because, the team of writers is relatively unproven, and that Dr. Strange does not produce enough of a fan base to justify a monthly book of his own. However, once you look closely at the Doctor, the character really does have a lot going for him, and potentially so does this film.
Doctor Stephan Strange is a character made by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the creators of Spider-man. So the film can have some name recognition behind it. This is especially important, since it is currently planned to come out in 2012, the year the Avenger's film is also supposed to come out, so as long as it's not released in the summer, it can feed off the hype of that juggernaut. Another thing that will benefit this movie is the completion of the Harry Potter franchise, which will have run its course in the theatres by the time this comes out, letting films about magic take a different tone.
The character himself has one of the most solid origins out of any of the Marvel characters, leaving the tale an easy one to adapt. Basically, Doctor Strange is a rich asshole of a doctor, who is famous for his surgical feats. He always has his nose stuck up, until one day, he gets into a car accident and ruins his hands. So in an attempt to find peace, Doctor Strange heads up to some Asian mountains, where he meets a wise master The Old One, and his assistant, Mordo.
Strange refuses to learn his magic, but he catches Mordo plotting against the Old One. Mordo puts a spell on Strange to stop him from telling the Old One. Strange decides to study magic to stop Mordo's plans. He eventually does, and he defeats Mordo, who gets exiled. The Old One then reveals that he knew of Mordo's plans and just wanted to test Stephan Strange, who he then takes on as an apprentice.
That origin story is guaranteed to take up at least the first third of the movie. At least it will if the movie wants to be any good. Besides his great origin story, the character doesn't have too many life altering events, or definitive tales in the comics. While this could be another reason why he has never caught a huge fan base, the lack of tales means that the writers won't be tempted to jump around everywhere to try and add an element or extra character into the film, which just does not need to be there.
Doctor Strange also has a strong supporting cast to help him along. It's not huge, but everyone in it has a purpose. Beside Doctor Strange, the books' main cast also includes:
The Old One- Doctor Strange's old Mentor
Mr. Wong- The doctor's trusty Asian servant, he's a less witty version of Alfred
Clea- A damsel in distress who becomes the Doctor's long time girlfriend.
Mordo- Doctor Strange's human rival
Nightmare- A demon that feeds on people as they dream, in their dreams
Dormammu-The series big bad, one of the most powerful foes in Marvel comics, Strange keeps him at bay.
The good news is that this is a completely manageable cast, and it would be easy to write a few stories with them. In his whole run, there are only six major moments in Doctor Strange's life, and thanks to Marvel optioning off rights to its characters, at least two of them can't happen.
The main events in the character's history are:
1. His origin story
2. Meeting Cleo and Defeating Dormammu for the first time.
3. Having the Old One die, then taking his place as Sorcerer Supreme
4. Saving the Soul of Doctor Doom's Mother
5. Starting the Superhero group, The Defenders, who consist of himself, Namor, Hulk, and the Silver Surfer.
6. Giving up his role as Sorcerer Supreme, the most powerful magic wielder on our Earth.
That's it. The writers can easily make this into a trilogy, or if they're feeling brave, just two films. It doesn't need to be complicated, just done right.
 The other strength about Doctor Strange is that the character himself remains more grounded and human than most of the other Stan Lee creations. If Strange is in a hurry, and a crowd gets in the way, he'll just use magic to throw them all to the side. He doesn't go out looking for trouble, but if he senses it, and realizes only his magic can stop it, he will face it.
While Doctor Strange does exist in the Marvel Universe, most the time he is on his own adventures, and doesn't fit in with the tight wearing crowd. While a cameo from a Dr. Blake, or Dr. Banner might happen, Strange has little business being seeing their alter egos in a film. The character isn't like them. He doesn't get into fist fights, he sits back and lets his magic do the work. He can also spy on anyone as he goes into a ghost-like form, which leaves his body defenceless. While not the straight up action most are expecting from a superhero movie, if done right, it can lend itself to a suspenseful and fun atmosphere.
Finally, the art style of Strange's magic is very distinct; it's wavy and works more like a liquid than a gas. If given to the right director, this style could help set the film apart, not only from other superhero films, but other fantasy films as well.
Overall, this property has what it takes to be a classic, it just can't be afraid to do it's own thing. As for the writers, Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly , I thought they did a decent job with a Sahara adaptation, but will wait to see how they handle the upcoming Conan movie before I pass judgement.
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June 23, 2010
Author: Mike M. |
