Monday, November 21, 2016

People are strange, when you're a Doctor (Strange)



I saw Doctor Strange last Saturday with Lily, and I generally liked it, aside from a few quibbles.

Big Quibble! Halfway through the movie, Rachel McAdams uses a defibrillator to shock Strange back to life when he was flatlining. That's just...not how they work. I can accept demonic pacts and mirror dimensions, but that totally ruined my suspension of disbelief.

Smaller Quibble: Sling Rings have a really dumb name. I'm not sure if it's canonical, and I don't care. If something is dumb in canon, you change it for an adaptation, which is a point I'll address momentarily.

I thought it well produced and visually distinctive. The cast was solid. Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mads Mikkelsen, all great.


But mostly for Chiwetel


Cumberbatch, an actor with a face like a Mad Magazine parody sketch, who, if the once great Mary Sue had its druthers, would be cast Malcovich-like in every role in every movie, is good too, but he's eclipsed by both the effects and his costars. His American accent was decent.

 It was a fairly standard super-hero origin story, and that formula is starting to wear a bit thin at this point, but I think it's largely forgivable, in that Strange's origin is such an important component of his identity. However, the emphasis on his origin led to an abrupt third act resolution, because 85% of the movie is "Ehhh...I'm not sure I want to be a superhero" Joseph Campbell-seque refusal of the call. "Ooops, I guess we're at the end of the movie already. Time to wrap it up."

 I had some concerns about Tilda Swinton (a white woman) as the Ancient One (traditionally an Asian (specifically Tibetan, which is another thorny issue) man, but I think in casting her, they chose one of the better options.  I'm still not entirely comfortable with it, but the Ancient One, as a concept, is rooted in 1960s exoticism, and what might have seemed acceptable back then looks an awful lot like cultural appropriation today. The comics version of the character was unknown except to serious Doctor Strange fans, but millions of people are going to see the movie before it's through. None of the options were great, but I think they did the least bad thing by not perpetuating a damaging and dehumanizing stereotype.

I'm glad we saw it on the big screen, if only for the trippy visuals of the Inception city folding. The first one reminded me of nothing so much as Fred Astaire dancing on the ceiling and the walls in Royal Wedding, 


but the second one was really impressive.

There was some nice details. I like how Strange first looks for a rational explanation, and when he asks the Ancient One if she's practicing in such an isolated location because there is no medical board to come down on her.

I liked Swinton's fidgety mannerisms and the fact that she had no master plan. I think my biggest complaint, other than the defibrillator, is that it didn't take a lot of risks with the narrative. It was a fairly standard super-hero origin story, and that formula is starting to wear a bit thin at this point, but I think it's largely forgivable, in that Strange's origin is such an important component of his identity. However, the emphasis on his origin led to an abrupt third act resolution, because 85% of the movie is "Ehhh...I'm not sure I want to be a superhero" Joseph Campbell-seque refusal of the call. "Ooops, I guess we're at the end of the movie already. Time to wrap it up."

I do like that he defeats Dormammu, through save scumming and I laughed at this

Kaecilius: You'll die defending this world, Mister...
Dr. Stephen Strange: Doctor!
Kaecilius: Mister Doctor?
Dr. Stephen Strange: It's Strange!
Kaecilius: Maybe, who am I to judge?

4 comments:

  1. Haven't seen the movie, but what you describe is certainly how defibrillators work on every TV show and movie I've ever seen. Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if it's dead wrong (depictions of CPR generally are, from what I understand), but if so it's so universally wrong that it strikes me as an odd thing to complain about just for this one movie.

    BTW, happy thanksgiving!

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    1. My understanding is that they're used in instances where the heart is beating in an irregular rhythm that isn't getting the job done. The shock interrupts the bad rhythm and allows the body's proper, effective rhythm to take over.

      You're right. It's a tiny complaint, and the kind of situation where the audience has come to accept the wrong way.

      A friend tells me that an early episode of Supernatural got it right, but I really have seen a lot of media that does.

      A happy Thanksgiving to you too!

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    2. I didn't see this comment earlier...yes, defibrillators only work when there is still an electrical rhythm in the heart. If there's actually a flat line, defibrillation won't work. But having said that, it's still the practice to at least try to shock a flat line once or twice in the hope that a) the flat line is an error, that there is an electrical rhythm not being detected for some reason, or b) that it will work despite a flat line.

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  2. Interesting to learn, though. The TVTropes entry (https://is.gd/nsOhA9) reiterates basically what you said, but includes a little more detail. These kind of mistakes are very common, of course. As a programmer, I have to expect that any otherwise realistic mainstream media will instantly turn into sci-fi/fantasy the moment computers come into play. Some shows do better than others: Mr. Robot is notable for doing meticulous research, and Elementary is usually pretty good, or at least keeps the tech details vague enough that they can sidestep making any mistakes, but they recently had an episode that used some kind of Internet domain verification group as a plot point that was just pure nonsense. It's frustrating as someone who actually has decent knowledge in those areas that the writers basically flat-out don't care about my suspension of disbelief, and more frustrating that so many storytellers just don't care about spreading misinformation to people who don't know any better.

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