Film Preview: Doctor Strange (2016)

Page Revisions:

(April 17, 2016) Original
(July 31, 2016) New Trailer (#2) / New Poster (#3)
(October 2, 2016) New Trailer (#3) / New Posters (#4-#17)
(October 30, 2016) New Posters (#18-#20)

Release Date:

November 4, 2016

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “After his career is destroyed, a brilliant but arrogant and conceited surgeon gets a new lease on life when a sorcerer takes him under his wing and trains him to defend the world against evil.”

Poster Rating: A- / B / C+ / C / C+ (6) / C- (6) / C / B (2) / B-

SEE ALL POSTERS BELOW
Review: (#1) A cosmically colorful design that embodies all the magical excellence of the source material without relying on cheap parlor tricks. (#2) This is a bit of a tease, which will work well if interested viewers haven’t already seen the other, but should be ignored otherwise.

(#3) A nice, balanced design, but one which over-accentuates the reality-bending elements of the film. That might seem like a positive quality, but this poster does not have the strength of design to create much in the way of a good impression.

(#4) An attempt to make the this mind-bending concept the defining one of the film doesn’t quite work when it’s not that interesting as a background device. (#5-#10) These character posters are individually interesting and visually stimulating, but they suffer from being too predictable. (#11-#16) Another set of six character posters and they are decidedly less stimulating than the prior efforts with incredibly dull backdrops. (#17) This seems to be the poster that the producers seem most focused on pushing and it’s interesting to a small extent, but ultimately unfulfilling.

(#18 & #19) While the first of this pair is more traditional in its artistic style, the second gives it a more glaring makeover, tying them both together in a seemingly cosmic way. It’s a strange and fascinating pairing. (#20) It’s basically like the myriad other designs, but seems to be constructed with more detail.

Trailer Rating: B- / C+ / C

SEE ALL TRAILERS BELOW
Review: (#1) The trailer tries too hard to explain the origin of the character without giving him a suitable opponent or hardship to overcome. It would be like if Batman Begins was a film that was singly about Bruce Wayne’s training or Spider-Man’s origin. Disney can certainly do better at creating a more fascinating trailer experience.

(#2) There are a lot of elements in the trailer that are fascinating, but there are several, including the abundant Inception-like visual effects. Understanding the concept does not require you to appreciate the excessive reliance on the effects in the trailer.

(#3) For a film that hopes to engage Marvel fans, the trailer sure does a poor job of getting it defined within the overarching Avengers universe. They make one mention and that’s it. There are some compelling elements, but they are few and far between. This feels like one of those phone-in Marvel productions when it likely isn’t.