Doctor Strange

Scott Derrickson’s Doctor Strange is the thirteenth movie installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Based on the comic books of the same name, the film follows the origin of Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), a talented and proud neurosurgeon whose hands become irreversibly injured in a traffic collision, so he travels to Asia where he meets the mysterious master of magic, the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), to heal himself, but instead gets enrolled in an order of magicians who protect the world from supernatural threats.

Cumberbatch portrays the egocentric character well. At first it may be a little strange to hear him put on an American accent but by the end you forget he’s doing it. Our leading lady is Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer, Strange’s love interest. Something you might notice is that Stephen and Christine’s kind of banter is awfully similar to that of Tony and Pepper from Jon Favreau’s Iron Man movies. They even have the similar character designs; Christine has red hair and Stephen has black hair and Tony’s beard.

Among those in the order of magical fighters are Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), known as Baron Mordo in the comics, the serious librarian Wong (Benedict Wong), and Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One. Wong is pretty much there for a couple of running jokes in this movie. Mordo in this version is introduced as a companion, whom Ejiofor portrays through a sort of kindly charm and tough love, while also having his faith in the order be a big part of his character and his arc. Swinton plays the Ancient One quite dignified and secretive, but also awkwardly quirky at times, which seems quite typical of the mentor character at this point.

Good character writing is done for some characters better than others. Strange is portrayed as proud and confident, desperate in harsh situations – also thanks to Cumberbatch’s performance – but also an eager learner. The antagonist throughout most of the film is the renegade Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and his band of ruthless ‘zealots’. Unfortunately this is not a complex character, having only a stock goal or motivation. For a moment Mikkelsen is allowed to give an emotional performance, but the character is written so one-dimensionally that in one line he seems genuinely sympathetic and the next he reverts right to scumbag; ‘dropping the pretense’ is an understatement.

This is as good a time as any to bring this up (here we go again): the Ancient One was rewritten from a Tibetan man to a Celtic woman, having Tilda Swinton cast in the role. While there seems to be no apparent bias against Tibetan people over at Marvel, the reason for this change is because eighteen percent (nearly one fifth) of Marvel’s movie income stems from China, and unfortunately there is a… particular uneasiness between China and Tibet. A shame… The film even has a minor character who looks just like the comic book version in his costume. The choice to rewrite the character’s race was to ensure the studio could still make a significant profit, but with the backlash it received – which they seem to have anticipated, essentially calling it a “no-win scenario” – perhaps there were other routes they could have taken. Would western audiences have reacted the way they would if the Ancient One were rewritten to be any other race but white or Asian? Or, why not cast an Asian actor but keep the character’s country of origin ambiguous? What if he had an accent that had changed over the centuries, like the immortals from Russell Mulcahy’s Highlander (1986)? Of course, hindsight is 20/20. (They also cast a British man of Nigerian ancestry to put on an accent and play a character that was originally a white Transylvanian, but no one seems to talk about that. Not that it necessarily matters; both actors perform well enough.)

The overall tone is quite accommodating for the MCU’s audience. The use of colour grading seems consistent to the other films, the action is creative, the drama and its intensity is set up and developed, and it keeps the audience’s interest with some humour now and then. But one of the first things that audiences have noticed, especially from the trailers, are the special effects. The images of the surroundings expanding and duplicating seems pretty state-of-the-art, like if the dream realm of Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010) were inside a kaleidoscope. Some things about the visuals seem a little odd though. One can joke about Strange’s similarities to Tony Stark but those comments are only reinforced when one sees how luxurious his apartment is (and how expensive it must be), and his car, and his drawer full of rotating wristwatches.

It was a bold move to give Doctor Strange a costume like that from the comics, and it paid off. Try doing that with Alan Scott’s costume from the 1940s; it survived up until the DC Comics reboot in 2011. It seems though that nearly everyone else has a different design, particularly the final boss Dormammu (also Benedict Cumberbatch, apparently). Creating a new character design is fine if they want something different from the robed armoured flaming head guy (not that it isn't a cool design), but what is it we’re looking at? This big dark shifting head (and the rest of him) who wants to absorb everything reminds one of Parallax from Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern (2011). He’s about as underdeveloped a villain too.

The plot seems fairly decent. It takes us through Doctor Strange’s arc from egocentricity to selfless dedication, although the screenplay has the emotional need spelt out for us rather than letting the protagonist learn for himself and making the audience think about it. It would be fair to say the narrative climax is quite clever. Since the lore of the stories has its fair share in it, exposition is not uncommon throughout the film, often explaining or namedropping story elements as briefly as possible. And then there are some unfortunate plot holes. For example, if Doctor Strange can manipulate time to affect specific objects, why doesn’t he use it to heal his or others’ wounds? And why does Kaecilius, at the beginning of the movie, only steal a couple of pages from the important mystical book and then leave it lying around instead of taking the whole thing? He could have put it in a satchel and slung it over his shoulder while he escaped with it.

Doctor Strange is definitely an entertaining addition to the franchise. Its action, visuals, protagonist, design and comedic elements make it well worth a watch. However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have problems. Again, Stephen and his girlfriend seem somewhat similar to Tony and Pepper, which doesn’t necessarily hurt the movie but it does suggest that the filmmakers are resorting to recycling characters from the same fictional universe. The performances and characters are mostly acceptable but the villains have no complexity beyond one or two moments. Since we’re at movie thirteenth now, it may be time for audiences to demand the MCU create better-developed antagonists other than Loki. The writing is on the nose, and then there are the plot holes, which are debatable at best. The movie as a whole is a fantastic effort. It is somewhat messy around the edges, but it is an enjoyable experience, seems to be as faithful an adaptation as possible, and an extremely marvelous spectacle.

Cyborgs, Race & Animé Adaptations: Discussing the Justification of Casting in 'Ghost in the Shell'

Upon announcement of the cast in Rupert Sanders’ upcoming American remake of Mamoru Oshii’s feature-length Japanese animé Ghost in the Shell (1995) – and especially with the release of a production shot depicting Scarlett Johansson as the lead character Motoko Kusanagi (otherwise simply known as the Major) – the project has become somewhat associated with the controversy of ‘whitewashing’ in contemporary Hollywood. Casting a white woman in a live-action remake of a Japanese property, as a character who is originally Japanese, has had some audiences accusing the filmmakers and Johansson of “stealing” roles from Asian actors. In order to amend the controversy, computer imagery was tested on Johansson’s character to make her look Asian. In theory, one could argue that audiences are concerned with the outward appearance of a character. However, this attempt only exacerbated the issue, so it was abandoned.

Of course, this is not the first film to be accused of whitewashing during this last decade. Most notorious among adaptations of animations are James Wong’s Dragonball Evolution (2009) and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender (2010), respectively based on the Japanese animé Dragon Ball and the American cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender (which drew influence from Eastern animation styles). It is not uncommon for audiences to sometimes fail to perceive that most animé characters such as those depicted in Dragon Ball and its sequel series are supposed to be or look Japanese, including those from outer space. Some don’t know unless they’re told. To Dragonball Evolution’s credit, it does cast Asian actors in the roles of Chi-Chi, Master Roshi, Yamcha and Grandpa Gohan, but audiences mostly take issue with the protagonist, the main character Goku, being played by a white actor (and depicted as a teenager). Some argue that since Goku is an alien he can technically be any race at all; that may be true, but at the same time one might ask if he can be any race, why not make him Asian like he is originally instead of defaulting to Caucasian?

The same has been argued about the Major in Ghost in the Shell – she may be a cyborg, but she is supposed to look Japanese; and if the setting of the film is an “international world” as Producer Steven Paul described it, with actors from several national and/or ethnic backgrounds, why does the ethnicity of the protagonist default to white? One familiar with the different Ghost in the Shell media and official resources will probably tell you that Kusanagi’s cyborg body may not resemble her original and that she has no knowledge her identity before – in the 1995 animé, Kusanagi speculates that her memory could have been erased – implying that the ethnicity of the character, in this case, is unimportant. But we’ll get back to that later.

In The Last Airbender, white actors portrayed Aang, Katara and Sokka (and an Indian actor played Zuko) even though in the cartoon they were supposed to look Chinese and Inuit (and Japanese) respectively. And in this instance we’re not dealing with aliens or cyborgs; Avatar is set in a world where these ethnicities make up the majority of the population in their respective nations. Also mentioned as an example of whitewashing is Joe Wright's Pan (2015) where Rooney Mara plays Tiger Lily instead of a Native American actress. However this may be an unfair criticism since no one seems to address the context of the film; the entire tribe is multiethnic, the Chief (Tiger Lily's father) is played by Jack Charles, an Australian Aboriginal man, and it could be theorised with some merit that the so-called natives of Neverland in this version are runaways from enslavement in Blackbeard's mines. These examples, along with Alex Proyas’ Gods of Egypt (2016) – based on Ancient Egyptian mythology – demonstrate a white protagonist or [most of the] main cast in place of characters that were originally other ethnicities like Asian, Inuit or Arabic, but where the supporting cast or background actors are more accurate or, failing that, diverse. Some attribute the failure of these films to ‘whitewashing’ the main characters. While some may have been upset, this seems like a dishonest conclusion; all these films were bad in their own right, because of quality and narrative, regardless of race change – in the case of those that are adaptations, because they misrepresented their source material also.

While American audiences’ reactions to the casting of Scarlett Johansson in the lead role of Ghost in the Shell have either been perceptions of blatant and offensive ‘whitewashing’ or attempts to analyse the reason behind the choice, the major consensus among Japanese audiences seems to be accepting of Johansson as the Major (as illustrated in the YouTube video ‘What Japanese Think of Whitewashing (Ghost in the Shell, Death Note, Interview)’ by content creator That Japanese Man Yuta), showing little surprise or objection, if any, to the casting choice. The only issue taken in these interviews was that casting directors should not exclude or reject actors because of their ethnicity, such as was the case with Edward Zo’s audition for Adam Wingard’s upcoming remake of Death Note. As commented in the video, one can see a resemblance between Johansson and the character.

Initially, one may feel it would have been more appropriate for an Asian actress to be cast as Kusanagi. However, one recognises the reasoning behind the decision and the nature of casting in transnational adaptations. According to animé reviewer Bennett White (a.k.a. BennettTheSage):

“Look, there’s been a ton of animé-based adaptations that have been stuck in development hell for God-knows-how-long because everyone and their mother has been scared to actually pull the trigger! James Cameron has been battling for over a decade to get a Battle Angel Alita film made, and Ghost in the Shell took seven years before principle photography even began. Cowboy Bebop has certainly been milled around too and Akira is infamous for being green lit, only to have production stop four different times! And don’t even get me started on Robotech!” (Anime Abandon: Speed Racer (feat. NOSTALGIA CRITIC)).

Seven years! It’s understandable that the creators, producers and/or studio would want to ensure the film would be as successful as they could, hence why they cast Scarlett Johansson, one of the biggest names in Hollywood. That’s not to say there aren’t any well-known Asian actresses in Hollywood that would fit the part. Personally, one would suggest Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. star Ming-Na Wen would make a good Kusanagi as she could easily pull off the character’s temperament from the animé and seems suited for martial arts and gunfire in the action genre. True, she is technically of Chinese descent and not Japanese, but if an Australian, a New Zealand citizen and an American can be the main trio of a musical set in Revolutionary France with no one kicking up a fuss, there should be no problem with Wen playing the Major. However, the difference is that Johansson is a bigger name and will draw a larger crowd, not excluding those unfamiliar with the animé in the first place. Given the track record of failures from previous live-action animé adaptations – such as the Wachowskis’ Speed Racer (2008) and the aforementioned Dragonball Evolution – and the time it has taken to get this remake into production, one can’t blame them for trying to make Ghost in the Shell as successful as possible.

Some audiences argue that the role should have been given to an Asian or Japanese actress because Ghost in the Shell is part of Japanese culture. An interesting thought, seeing as how Hollywood has made several remakes of Japanese titles in the past – Godzilla, The Magnificent Seven (Seven Samurai), The Ring, The Grudge (Ju-On), Django and A Fistful of Dollars (Yojimbo) – some of which are infinitely more iconic, and no one has had a problem with the casting of white people in the leading roles of any of these remakes. Is it because Motoko Kusanagi is a Japanese name? Sadako Yamamura, the antagonist from Hideo Nakata’s Ring (1998), is adapted in Gore Verbinski’s version (2002) to Samara Morgan (Daveigh Chase). Sadako in the South Korean version, Kim Dong-bin’s The Ring Virus (1999), is called Park Eun-suh (Doona Bae). The name is not sacred. It can be changed. And again, no one had a problem with it then, and Japan has no problem with Johansson playing the Major now.

And it’s not simply a one-way street. Japan has made adaptations of American films using Asian actors: Taro Otani’s Ghost: Mouichido Dakishimetai (2010), a remake of Jerry Zucker’s iconic supernatural romance Ghost (1990), and Lee Sang-il’s Unforgiven (2013), a remake of Clint Eastwood’s action movie of the same name (1992), which funnily enough reversed the formula used in some Spaghetti Westerns to turn an American western into a Japanese samurai movie. Their characters have Asian names. Even if they don’t it doesn’t matter. Shinji Higuchi’s Attack on Titan (2015) is a two-part live action Japanese remake of the popular animé series of the same name. Despite both the source material and the adaptation being Japanese products, all of the characters have/retain their European names, yet Japanese actors portray them instead of white people. Is America or Europe in any way offended by this? Nope!

Japan and America recognise each other’s main racial demographics, and so would expect a player from that demographic to play the part in a film from that country. The best way to look at the Ghost in the Shell remake is not as an example of Hollywood’s shortcomings when it comes to race, but rather one of several American remakes of a Japanese property, such as Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla (2014), John Sturges’ The Magnificent Seven (1960) or Gore Verbinski’s The Ring, created through fair acquisition of the rights from other studios. The decision to cast Scarlett Johansson in the lead was not to snub Asian actresses; it was simply so the film could appeal to as wide an audience as possible and to compensate for the project’s prolonged time in “development hell”. Therefor the film, when released, should be critiqued on its narrative and cinematic merits, and acting. To boycott this film based on Johansson’s involvement because she is white, as some may plan to do, would be prejudiced.

The Magnificent Seven

Antoine Fuqua’s The Magnificent Seven is a remake of John Sturges Spaghetti Western of the same name (1960), which itself is a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s acclaimed Seven Samurai (1954), not unlike Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (2012), a remake of Sergio Corbucci’s Django (1966), which was a remake of another Kurosawa film, Yojimbo (1961), Corbucci being Tarantino’s favourite director in the Spaghetti Western genre.

The cast is well selected, Denzel Washington filling Yul Brynner and Takashi Shimura’s role as the leader of the team, and the ever-charming Chris Pratt as his second. All actors are invested in their roles. The Seven meet the characters that recur from film to film, and are also easier to tell apart with their varying costumes and looks, though admittedly it may help that the Seven are cast with a degree of ethnic diversity in mind. The villain is a bit one-dimensional as a character, even displaying how evil he is with the ol’ “shooting the messenger” cliché. The plot is more or less the same as Sturges’ version; Fuqua even mimics scenes that Sturges mimicked from Kurosawa. As is typical with most remakes, it repeats some of the more iconic or effective lines from the 1960 version, though it does manage to avoid the quotes sounding corny. The action is gritty, tense, explosive, and tries out some new ideas.

Fuqua’s The Magnificent Seven remake is honestly no better than Sturges’ version and definitely not up to the same standard as Seven Samurai, but at the same time it’s not an unfaithful adaptation. The acting is crisp, the characters are defined and discernable, the tone and visual style fits the genre, and (whether to its merit or detriment) the plot is virtually identical to the other films. It is by no means a bad remake – rather, it is simply another version.