Thought of the Flash, too...



and also of the Phantom, who actually uses two of them...

   

Isn't ths guy a hero to some?

I'm surprised. You didn't like the movie?

Well, maybe "Godawful" is a bit strong, but I really didn't think that it was anything to write home about. I kind of enjoyed it while it played, but in the following days I began to pick more and more holes in it.

For a start, the script and direction were really quite pedestrian, and it had that horribly de-saturated look that most other Marvel Studios movies have. The CGI special effects were also wildly uneven -- they looked great in some places and decidedly ropey in others. I appreciated that the filmmakers made the effort to try and capture the mind-bending, psychedelic, M.C. Escher-esque look of Ditko's magical realms, but often it came off looking like a tired retread of Inception, rather than looking truly Ditko-esque. I guess I just found it formulaic in look and tone.

Then there was the so-called "sling rings" that Strange and company had, which seemed like such a Hollywood contrivance...you know, as a device that Strange could loose to cheaply inject some kind of jeopardy into proceedings. To me, they just seemed way too "Harry Potter" as a device -- as if some studio exec had decided that audiences wouldn't believe that Strange could enter magical dimensions or travel through space and time by simply using his hands. He needed to have some kind of "wand" or other magical tool in order to do it.

Lastly, I thought it was a real shame that we never got to see Strange uttering any incantations or saying any of his colourful catchphrases, such as "By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth!" or "By the Flames of the Flawless Faltine!" Strange's catchphrases are such an integral part of the character, that, to me, leaving them out seemed akin to doing a He-Man film and never having the title character utter the words, "By the power of Greyskull...", or doing an A-Team movie and never having Hannibal say, "I love it when a plan comes together!"

The Doctor Strange movie probably worked fine for mainstream cinema audiences who had never read any of the comics, but compared to the source material, I thought it was lackluster as all hell. That ain't my Doctor Strange!

Sort of, hell.

There's no need to fear, Underdog is here! As is his Super Energy Pill concealed within his beautifully monogrammed ring, probably by Jostens:




sorry, gothos.