The new problem facing "Doctor Strange" is that the protagonist's superpowers belong to a brand new world view, so in the process of the protagonist's transformation from human to hero, introducing magic into the existing world has become another task that must be completed. Then the story structure of the film also has a dual origin limitation. Because of the multiplicity of goals, the content arrangement also faces a balance problem.
From the perspective of the finished effect, roughly based on the 55th minute of the 105-minute feature film, the film can be divided into two parts. For the introduction of magic, the front and back are the presentation of general concepts and the impact on the real world; for the rise of heroes, gradually mastering abilities and rediscovering oneself, the often entangled relationship is separated and placed separately. In the two parts before and after.
Therefore, the part of Casillas stealing the book in the first 5 minutes of the film can't be regarded as a foreshadowing, overture, or introduction. In that case, it is enough to successfully escape after stealing the book. In fact, there is a rather dazzling London street fight. The meaning of this fight is to make the audience aware of the existence of the magical world outside the real world. Of course, the proposition of the magical world is not mentioned too much here.
Corresponding to it is the presentation of the protagonist, which is about 5 minutes in length. Before the car accident, we saw two operations and two conversations. Unfortunately, they are functionally repeated, and only show the protagonist’s skill and arrogance, but they did not provide sufficient evidence for his inner goodness. Therefore, it is difficult to get the sympathy of the audience in the process of subsequent car accidents and failures in rehabilitation.
After adding the above content, before Kathmandu, it seems that it is still a standard procedure to establish roles, encounter changes, and find solutions. But in fact, this process has been severely compressed, so that the protagonist of the film has a considerable problem. Finally, the failure of rehabilitation was accompanied by loss of work, separation of friends, and separation of lovers. At this time, a rehabilitation case rekindled new hope and brought the protagonist to Kama Taj in Kathmandu and the new magical world.
The next regrettable and quite surprising thing is that there is not much hindrance to becoming an apprentice of the ancient master. This kind of difficult setting is indispensable in biographical films that are generally character-centric. This is also one of the key issues in the frustrating character creation of the film. I can only think that the new worldview is waiting to be fed, so that the main creator has no more thoughts to spend on the growth of the protagonist.
After getting started, things became a lot smoother. From 35 minutes to the beginning of the apprenticeship to 55 minutes Casillas captures the Sanctuary of London, leading the protagonist to enter the Sanctuary of New York, basically completed two goals, the protagonist's gradual depiction of the protagonist's skills, and the gradual progress of the magical world reveal. Even though these two goals seem to be accomplished in a hurry, the overall structure is still complete.
For the protagonist, there have been three stages.
From witnessing the charm of magic and praying for apprentices to seeing high-level magic books in the library, this is the first stage. This stage still stops at the level of diligent reading that can be understood by the general real world. This is also the least distressing part of a high-quality medical student and a social elite.
In the second stage, facing the stagnation of magical practice, after being taken to Mount Everest by the ancient master to realize the way of magic, the protagonist has advanced from the first knowledge of magic to the beginning of mastering the skills. However, the transition at this stage is a bit too simple. Can only the moment of life and death on the summit of Mount Everest arouse the small universe? Or does it mean that this is the chosen person, and the audience only needs to accept it?
In the third stage, besides being familiar with the technique, thinking about magic is also started. From the introduction of the different-dimensional space to the magic and the instructor when fighting with Mordor training, the library finally learned the power of the time gem in the eyes of Agomoto through the exercise alone. After being taught by Mordor and Lao Wang, he realized the seriousness of the situation and intended to withdraw. The problem is the same as in the second stage, with only the skeleton and no flesh and blood.
In the above 20 minutes, the protagonist has experienced the evolution from ordinary people to apprentices to magicians. Traditionally, this should be at least 60 minutes of content. The new arrangement has greatly compressed the process. It should be noted that during this process, the protagonist has not received much attention as to whether there is any change in his or her own understanding.
On the other hand, for the introduction of the magical world, this part is mainly limited to its own mystery. The possible impact on the real world is only slightly involved when the time gem is used for the first time to reverse the time and space to play with apples and book pages, and then it will be connected later. The invasion of Casillas.
It can be seen that in the first 55 minutes of the 105-minute feature film, in addition to the necessary beginning, the film is mainly doing two things, one is the protagonist's gradual mastery of magic, and the other is a conceptual introduction to the magical world. This obviously avoids any changes in the characters that must be in any film. In McGee's words, the arc of the characters cannot be seen, and in the words of Xiaogang Pao, the hearts of the people cannot be seen. At this time, the film time has passed halfway.
Starting from 55 minutes and more than 30 minutes later, we first scrape the end, which can be called a big battle for the Sanctuary of New York. In this part, the introduction to the origin of the magical world has begun to involve its serious impact on the real world. Of course, this paragraph mainly focuses on the self-perception of the protagonist who has not received attention before. After this period, Dr. Stephen Strange began to become Doctor Strange.
The first part of this paragraph is the first battle to defend the Sanctuary in New York. The protagonist unexpectedly arrives in New York, accidentally encounters Casillas' offense, and begins to meet the enemy very passively. At this time, a cloak of unknown motive appeared. There is no reason why it is so close to the protagonist. Then with the help of this cloak, the protagonist becomes Doctor Strange in costume (the theme music of the reunion also plays at this time), but he captures the opponent but is calculated. Then fled to the hospital.
Note that the main motive of the protagonist at this time is still to save his life. Before the fall of London, he wanted to withdraw. After accidentally entering New York, he would not take the initiative to attack. After being injured, he would even join the escape.
The next scene in the hospital (plus the dialogue between the three who returned to the Sanctuary in New York) should have been the most critical part of the film, but it was not handled satisfactorily. This play should explain how a doctor who believes in science and takes saving people as his own responsibility thoroughly began to believe in the power of magic and realized the relationship between killing and saving people, and then the protagonist became the true Doctor Strange, the guardian of the earth (and It's not just costumes) and other characters to provide support. From a practical point of view, Dr. Palmer’s rescue of the protagonist’s body and the battle between the protagonist and the villain’s soul failed to achieve the above-mentioned goals, so this scene also began to appear redundant.
However, it needs to continue to be noted that the protagonist can now take the initiative to attack the villain. This is the second step to truly become Doctor Strange.
Finally, after returning to the Sanctuary of New York and talking with the ancient master and Mordor, Casillas attacked again. At this time, the protagonist—perhaps we should start to officially call it Doctor Strange—has been able to actively follow the brother to fight the powerful enemy.
From inside the house to the streets of New York, after a dazzling series of special effects, at the time of life and death, Gu Yi mage appeared again. Then he was seriously injured and went to the hospital. Before he died, his soul came out of his body and talked to Doctor Strange. After the death of Gu Yi, when he was faced with the crucial choice to defend the last holy place, Hong Kong, which is to defend the destiny of the earth, this former protagonist in costume and a magician in action began to take the initiative to take the responsibility, and it became a complete meaning. Doctor Strange on the board.
Lenovo flees in a hurry when London is lost and is forced to resist the enemy, to New York's second battle without fear of danger, to attack again, and then to the death of a teacher who takes the initiative to defend the world. Although it is simple, it also fully presents the protagonist outside the costume and technique. Inner changes. Coupled with the advancement in the spell in the first half of the film, it was only at this time that the character transformation was completed from both the inside and the outside. For the origin of a hero, the subject has ended. Of course, the main problem is insufficient flesh and blood, especially under this time limit.
Let’s break in. After the fall of London and before the streets of New York, Gu disappeared once or twice. It can be considered that he went to the dark, different-dimensional space to absorb energy, right? Maybe TA has realized that with TA's current ability, it is no longer possible to defeat Casillas in pure spells? Dr. Strange would also realize this later, so he came up with another solution, negotiation.
In the final battle of Hong Kong, for the characters, all the shaping work has been completed. For the magical world view, it is still the final blow that is related to the survival of the real world. This blow was done by the gem of time in the eyes of Agomoto, and its operator was also a newly formed Doctor Strange in the true sense. In the beginning, Doctor Strange still wanted to simply reverse time, and then look for a chance to defeat the villain. But when Casillas released a big move to pause the reversal process, he realized that it is difficult to win the opponent by his own hard power. However, relying on the characteristics of time gems can protect the safety of the earth from a higher level (of course this is also temporary, it is effective before the arrival of Thanos), so there is a trick that almost annoys Doma afterwards. . That trick can be said to be a wonderful combination of the protagonist's characteristics and the magical characteristics, and it is also a rare shining point in the film after stripping off the visual effects.
After trying to forget the impressive special effects, look back at the structure of the movie. The transformation of people is disassembled into two aspects before and after interpretation, the first focuses on external progress, and the second focuses on inner changes. The introduction of the new world outlook is divided into two levels and gradually presented. This arrangement can be said to have both advantages and disadvantages. As for how to weigh the pros and cons, it depends on the purpose of our appreciation. Do you purely want a pseudo-biography of a mortal rising to a hero, or do you want a guide to a new world? There may not be a standard answer. It’s just that when focusing on the former, a well-known story evolution method will deprive a lot of the experience of the new worldview; while the latter will make the protagonist at the core of the story thinly isolated.
As far as I am concerned, of course, it is unrealistic to seek fresh excitement of film language in mainstream commercial films, so I should put it second, I am more concerned about the integrity of the characters and the story. A complete and fulfilling step-by-step evolution can bring more satisfaction than accidental physical stimulation, even if it is not during the first time watching the movie, but also when reviewing it afterwards.
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