MattBrady
07-28-2007, 12:25 PM
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Comic-Con_07/Marvel/DrStrangeDVD.jpg" border="0" align="right"><i>by Steve Ekstrom</I>
I always feel the need to remind myself that projects like direct-to-DVD movies are removed from their original concepts. If you are a fan of the Stan Lee/ Steve Ditko Dr. Strange of the days of yore than you may find yourself a bit confused by this boldly different product from Lionsgate. In fact, this project is very reminiscent of the less than stellar J. Michael Straczynski project <b>Strange</b> which gave the classic Stephen Strange a facelift that combined the realm of the mystical world with the feel of something akin to a supernatural version of the Wachowski Brothers’ <i>The Matrix</i>—with all it’s magical sword swinging glory. Yes, I said it—Doctor Strange swings a sword made of air particles.
That being said, I don’t want to confuse anyone—the Doctor Strange movie I watched with the crowd Friday night at San Diego Comic-Con was good—damn good—it just wasn’t the Stephen Strange I was expecting.
I’m going to try and keep this as spoiler free as possible but I’ll leave you spoiler hungry mongrels with a really nice quote from Marvel’s senior VP of creative development animation, Craig Kyle. This movie is one part old-school Shaw Brothers Kung-Fu flick, one part neo-mysticism (think <i>Matrix</i> with the whole “all is not as it seems” motif), one part Marvel Comics semi-popular character who has been getting a lot of attention since Brian K. Vaughn’s amazing <b>Doctor Strange: The Oath</b> project and his increased presence with his membership on Brian Michael Bendis’ <b>New Avengers</b>.
For the most part the origin story bares strong resemblance—you have your cocky, self-aggrandizing surgeon who has become jaded in his profession. There is an added twist of depth to give credence the reason why Strange is such a prick—with the revelation that he had a sibling with a neurological disorder. It was done in such a manner, using color symbolic scenes, that it was effective and I found myself agreeing with the emotional intent of the scenes. His origin deviates from the original—it is alluded to early on that Strange is “gifted” when he witnesses Wong and his supernatural gang of mystical fighters taking down some nasty generic beast under the control of Dormammu. He later comes into contact with a young girl with disturbing neurological developments via his ex-romantic interest/ colleague—and he is forced into a Dormammu filled vision that dooms him to his accidental fate that costs him the use of his hands.
Did I like this part—yes, I did. Why? Because you really get the idea that Strange is so self-absorbed at this point in his character development that he spends every penny he has seeking a “magical” cure for something that he, as a doctor, knows is completely unfixable.
Finally, Strange encounters Wong—who has hair to my chagrin. I think the stigmatism of baldness is a thing of the past, guys—you can have Asian guys with no hair—think David Carradine’s <i>Kung Fu</I>; monks tend to be bald. Obviously, he and Mordo (the Ancient One’s strongest fighter in their epic struggle that isn’t really explicated on…) don’t get along and anyone worth their salt in Doctor Strange lore knows where Mordo is headed. Mordo is well-written—there is this really stunning and ridiculous moment later in the film where he blurts something out that is so…abso-frickin-lutely EEE-VIL that the audience broke out into hysterics. He’s a badass.
One by one, the Ancient One’s army is killed off by these generic beasts from another realm—leaving only Strange, Mordo, and Wong—with Mordo in charge of training Strange, the loosely referred to ‘Chosen One’ at this point. I found myself kind of wincing at the over abundance of generic Eastern philosophical and spirituality going on within the background of the film—but that’s just me—as a long time reader and fan of the character—my perception of the “real” Doctor Strange is very solid is an apple to the DVD Doctor Strange’s orange.
<center><a href=http://funimation.com/witchblade/ target=new><img src=http://ads.newsarama.com/con/funimation_b.gif border=0></a>
<blockquote><blockquote>Newsarama's <i>Comic-Con International '07</i> coverage is brought to you by <b>Witchblade – The Anime Series</b>. Available on DVD September 25th. <a href=http://www.funimation.com/witchblade target=new>Click here to view trailer</a>. </blockquote></blockquote></center>
Strange very quickly finds his “sea legs” within the mystical world and stops feeling sorry for himself; he cleaned up nicely and his new visual was met with approval from the audience. Again, it was very modern and less “cape and gown”—much like the JMS ‘Strange’ book. I like the visual that was developed for the cartoon—its hip and yet ornate—the Eye of Agamotto looked cool. Mordo, as the story runs its course, shows his true colors; forming an alliance with Dormammu and killing the Ancient One. Strange becomes the Sorcerer Supreme to effortlessly defeat Mordo and avenge his dead master.
Then, in epic fashion, Strange fights the otherworldly Dormammu and barely wins—which made me happy—seeing Strange strain a little bit to fight makes him a lot more credible in my eyes. Against Mordo, he actually has a hand behind his back for most of the fight…everyone who is not arrogant please take one step back—not so fast Stephen Strange! That was a true mark of the character in my eyes; his posture and regal, yet slightly arrogant, demure started to bleed into the framework of the story almost at a subliminal level.
The piece closes really nicely with Strange playing nice with his colleague—perhaps romantically rekindling things off-screen—and coming to terms with his familial tragedy.
It wasn’t the Doctor Strange from the 616 version of the Marvel Universe but I grew to appreciate the film as it carried out its mission to entertain me and the other hundreds of people sitting in the convention center. I didn’t really like the non-denominational pseudo-Eastern religiosity of the film—but I understand how heavy handed any kind of spiritual concept can be. The conventional manner of the portrayed “mysticism” and “magic” that Lionsgate and their talented staff have come up with has plenty of real traction and creates a really firm and compelling story.
For the cartoon fans that have enjoyed the <i>Hellboy</I> cartoons and Marvel’s previous direct-to-DVD offerings, I recommend running out and buying this when it hits shelves on August 14th. For fans of Doctor Strange, I say give it a try and remember that this is made for a larger audience to try wrap their heads around—so be fair like I was—I think you’ll really get a kick out of this new project.
<i>Steve asked Craig Kyle about the trailer for their next big project - Avengers Reborn, which will be on the Doctor Strange DVD, and he couldn’t say too much; however, when asked about the project proceeding it, Kyle blurted, “Trust me, the next project coming down the pipe will #$%*-ing blow your mind.” Steve likes this kind of enthusiasm.</i>
I always feel the need to remind myself that projects like direct-to-DVD movies are removed from their original concepts. If you are a fan of the Stan Lee/ Steve Ditko Dr. Strange of the days of yore than you may find yourself a bit confused by this boldly different product from Lionsgate. In fact, this project is very reminiscent of the less than stellar J. Michael Straczynski project <b>Strange</b> which gave the classic Stephen Strange a facelift that combined the realm of the mystical world with the feel of something akin to a supernatural version of the Wachowski Brothers’ <i>The Matrix</i>—with all it’s magical sword swinging glory. Yes, I said it—Doctor Strange swings a sword made of air particles.
That being said, I don’t want to confuse anyone—the Doctor Strange movie I watched with the crowd Friday night at San Diego Comic-Con was good—damn good—it just wasn’t the Stephen Strange I was expecting.
I’m going to try and keep this as spoiler free as possible but I’ll leave you spoiler hungry mongrels with a really nice quote from Marvel’s senior VP of creative development animation, Craig Kyle. This movie is one part old-school Shaw Brothers Kung-Fu flick, one part neo-mysticism (think <i>Matrix</i> with the whole “all is not as it seems” motif), one part Marvel Comics semi-popular character who has been getting a lot of attention since Brian K. Vaughn’s amazing <b>Doctor Strange: The Oath</b> project and his increased presence with his membership on Brian Michael Bendis’ <b>New Avengers</b>.
For the most part the origin story bares strong resemblance—you have your cocky, self-aggrandizing surgeon who has become jaded in his profession. There is an added twist of depth to give credence the reason why Strange is such a prick—with the revelation that he had a sibling with a neurological disorder. It was done in such a manner, using color symbolic scenes, that it was effective and I found myself agreeing with the emotional intent of the scenes. His origin deviates from the original—it is alluded to early on that Strange is “gifted” when he witnesses Wong and his supernatural gang of mystical fighters taking down some nasty generic beast under the control of Dormammu. He later comes into contact with a young girl with disturbing neurological developments via his ex-romantic interest/ colleague—and he is forced into a Dormammu filled vision that dooms him to his accidental fate that costs him the use of his hands.
Did I like this part—yes, I did. Why? Because you really get the idea that Strange is so self-absorbed at this point in his character development that he spends every penny he has seeking a “magical” cure for something that he, as a doctor, knows is completely unfixable.
Finally, Strange encounters Wong—who has hair to my chagrin. I think the stigmatism of baldness is a thing of the past, guys—you can have Asian guys with no hair—think David Carradine’s <i>Kung Fu</I>; monks tend to be bald. Obviously, he and Mordo (the Ancient One’s strongest fighter in their epic struggle that isn’t really explicated on…) don’t get along and anyone worth their salt in Doctor Strange lore knows where Mordo is headed. Mordo is well-written—there is this really stunning and ridiculous moment later in the film where he blurts something out that is so…abso-frickin-lutely EEE-VIL that the audience broke out into hysterics. He’s a badass.
One by one, the Ancient One’s army is killed off by these generic beasts from another realm—leaving only Strange, Mordo, and Wong—with Mordo in charge of training Strange, the loosely referred to ‘Chosen One’ at this point. I found myself kind of wincing at the over abundance of generic Eastern philosophical and spirituality going on within the background of the film—but that’s just me—as a long time reader and fan of the character—my perception of the “real” Doctor Strange is very solid is an apple to the DVD Doctor Strange’s orange.
<center><a href=http://funimation.com/witchblade/ target=new><img src=http://ads.newsarama.com/con/funimation_b.gif border=0></a>
<blockquote><blockquote>Newsarama's <i>Comic-Con International '07</i> coverage is brought to you by <b>Witchblade – The Anime Series</b>. Available on DVD September 25th. <a href=http://www.funimation.com/witchblade target=new>Click here to view trailer</a>. </blockquote></blockquote></center>
Strange very quickly finds his “sea legs” within the mystical world and stops feeling sorry for himself; he cleaned up nicely and his new visual was met with approval from the audience. Again, it was very modern and less “cape and gown”—much like the JMS ‘Strange’ book. I like the visual that was developed for the cartoon—its hip and yet ornate—the Eye of Agamotto looked cool. Mordo, as the story runs its course, shows his true colors; forming an alliance with Dormammu and killing the Ancient One. Strange becomes the Sorcerer Supreme to effortlessly defeat Mordo and avenge his dead master.
Then, in epic fashion, Strange fights the otherworldly Dormammu and barely wins—which made me happy—seeing Strange strain a little bit to fight makes him a lot more credible in my eyes. Against Mordo, he actually has a hand behind his back for most of the fight…everyone who is not arrogant please take one step back—not so fast Stephen Strange! That was a true mark of the character in my eyes; his posture and regal, yet slightly arrogant, demure started to bleed into the framework of the story almost at a subliminal level.
The piece closes really nicely with Strange playing nice with his colleague—perhaps romantically rekindling things off-screen—and coming to terms with his familial tragedy.
It wasn’t the Doctor Strange from the 616 version of the Marvel Universe but I grew to appreciate the film as it carried out its mission to entertain me and the other hundreds of people sitting in the convention center. I didn’t really like the non-denominational pseudo-Eastern religiosity of the film—but I understand how heavy handed any kind of spiritual concept can be. The conventional manner of the portrayed “mysticism” and “magic” that Lionsgate and their talented staff have come up with has plenty of real traction and creates a really firm and compelling story.
For the cartoon fans that have enjoyed the <i>Hellboy</I> cartoons and Marvel’s previous direct-to-DVD offerings, I recommend running out and buying this when it hits shelves on August 14th. For fans of Doctor Strange, I say give it a try and remember that this is made for a larger audience to try wrap their heads around—so be fair like I was—I think you’ll really get a kick out of this new project.
<i>Steve asked Craig Kyle about the trailer for their next big project - Avengers Reborn, which will be on the Doctor Strange DVD, and he couldn’t say too much; however, when asked about the project proceeding it, Kyle blurted, “Trust me, the next project coming down the pipe will #$%*-ing blow your mind.” Steve likes this kind of enthusiasm.</i>