Editorials
Doctor Strange Is the Selfless Superhero America Needs Right Now
We often talk about villains here on BD, but let’s shine the spotlight on a hero.
Why? Simply put, we need one.
On the morning of November 9th, 2016, America changed. We can’t yet be 100% sure if it’s for the better or the worse, and at this moment in time, we really have no idea at all what to expect from a Donald Trump-run America. But needless to say, things aren’t looking very bright. Millions of Americans are worried. They’re scared. They feel that the wrong choice, if there even was a right choice, was made. The country feels darker this week than it was at the start of last week, and I don’t know about you, but I’ve been seeking comfort, as I always do, at my local movie theater.
Inside the theater, the real world washes away and fictional, oftentimes magical experiences take its place. The movie theater invites men, women, and children of all sexes, races, and political beliefs to gather together in a dark room and, if only for two hours at a time, feel unified by the power of cinema. But as much escapism as they provide, movies aren’t all distraction. Some of them, like Arrival, can teach us a thing or two about ourselves; the incredible sci-fi film ponders an alternate reality wherein all of us, literally all of us, communicate and deal with world problems together, as one powerful force. The message of Denis Villeneuve’s latest is a timely one here in the present, and so too is the message of another film dominating the box office at the moment: Marvel’s Doctor Strange.
In the first act of the Scott Derrickson-directed hit, title character Stephen Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) isn’t exactly painted as the most likeable hero we’ve met in the Marvel Universe. A surgeon who’s as self absorbed as he is brilliant at his job, Strange is the kind of guy who’s 100% sure that his shit don’t stink, and in many ways, he’s the perfect representation of the privileged white man in America. He (dangerously) drives a ridiculously fancy car, doesn’t seem to care about anyone but himself, and when he’s presented with the option of helping others with his expertise, he’s only really interested in the cases that personally amuse him. The accident that results in him becoming a superhero, well, it’s one that is directly caused by his lack of consideration for the world around him.
At the very least, Strange is initially the kind of guy you’d expect would vote for Donald Trump.
But the most compelling thing about Doctor Strange, brilliant visual effects aside, is the character arc that plays out in the wake of Strange’s debilitating car accident. Despite his own unwillingness to change, the once-selfish man has, by the end of the movie, become perhaps the most selfless superhero we’ve yet seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yes, Doctor Strange is another superhero origin story, and no, that’s not something that any of us can really relate to on a personal level; but at its core, the film is just as much the story of a man becoming a better man. And the message is crystal clear: We all need to start putting others above ourselves.
In the epic finale of Doctor Strange, the good doctor finally makes a decision that he was presented with earlier in the film. He’s told by the Ancient One that he can use his newfound, mystical powers to help others or, if he chooses, he can use them to heal himself and return to his old life of being one of the best surgeons in the world. While Strange’s whole reason for trekking to Kamar-Taj was to heal himself, he eventually decides to put the greater good ahead of himself.
Once Dormammu’s destruction of Earth begins, Strange uses his powers to trap the villain in an infinite time loop inside the Dark Dimension: with Dormammu trapped in that single moment forever, he cannot carry out his complete destruction of the planet. And the heroic act comes at a huge price to Strange himself: in addition to trapping himself in the unpleasant moment, he also resigns himself to a fate of quite literally being brutally murdered over and over again, in increasingly creative ways, for the rest of time.
It doesn’t get much more selfless than that.
Ultimately, at the promise of the loop being broken, Dormammu agrees to leave Earth. By putting himself directly in the line of fire, Doctor Strange has saved the entire planet. He has cast aside his own privileged life because he has finally seen the bigger picture. It’s not about him.
It’s about EVERYONE.
What can those of us who aren’t superheroes with special powers learn from Doctor Strange? The same thing Strange himself learned, of course. The decisions we make must not always be motivated by selfish desires, and that’s a message that needs to be heard loud and clear in America RIGHT NOW, more than ever. The reality is that a lot of people in this country voted this year on the candidate who seemed to have THEIR best interests in mind, in the process completely ignoring the millions upon millions of Americans whose lives have directly been made a whole lot less pleasant as a result. As humans often do, far too many of us put our needs and desires above the safety and well-being of others, and what Doctor Strange stresses is that this way of thinking, well, it has the power to destroy the world.
But like Stephen Strange, we also wield the power to save it. We must use it wisely.
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
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