Boba Fett is Overrated. There, I said it.

Growing up in a clearly original-trilogy loving Star Wars world, one of the most beloved characters of the era is clearly the Mandalorian bounty hunter, Boba Fett. Having just about 15 minutes of screen time in the feature films, what was a glorified background character spawned into a fan favorite. He was featured in early Star Wars cartoons, video games, and Christmas specials; he sold like hot pockets as action figures and coloring books; his design alone has been the hallmark for the intergalactic bounty hunter standard of coolness. And he didn't do a single thing to earn such a love. He simply existed.

Now, that's obviously an oversimplification. Boba Fett was sent out, on the payroll of Darth Vader, to find the Millennium Falcon and its passengers, and return to Vader with said prizes. Furthermore, by the time he delivered Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt, he served as a bounty hunter on permanent guard for the slug-like crime boss; Fett enjoyed the comfort and simplicity of a revered bounty hunter's lifestyle within the Tatooine palace. And after arriving to the Sarlacc Pit, Fett did his best to contain the escalating situation the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker had begun. This was all to end in vain, however: taken out by the prize he had caught not two years ago, Boba Fett plunged into the belly of the thousand-year old desert monster. And as far as my canonical knowledge goes, that's where he remains to this day.

But put into context that short description of a character's achievements within two separate films, and it's kind of surprising that Boba Fett is as beloved as he is. He certainly looks cool: decked from head-to-toe in a dark green set of armor, equipped with a flamethrower, a grapple, several wrist-dart guns, a jet-pack, and a rocket-pack, and one begins to envision the kind of skills someone like a Boba Fett would need to have in order to effectively utilize each and every one of these tools.But he had, in the movies, never even really used any of his various gadgets. He used the flamethrower maybe once, his dart/rope launcher maybe once, all within the time span of appearing on-screen for no longer than 20 minutes; at least, as the version everyone likes him.

Now, no one hates Star Wars: Attack of the Clones more than me, but the interesting aspects of the movie (like those surrounding the Obi-Wan journey) introduce us to Boba Fett as a child, and his origins. We see how his mind was warped to be someone so soulless, we understand the beginnings of his trailblazing schemes to make his name in the universe. The animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars featured several story arcs that show a young Boba in action even more, and we get an understanding of the friends Boba had to make in order to survive the criminal underbelly of the Star Wars universe. Without these cornerstones to the Boba Fett character, he's just a masked bounty hunter. In theory, that's a really cool character idea; in reality, it doesn't mean he deserves the praise that he gets.

I'm not here to tell you that you shouldn't like Boba Fett, or the mystique that the character had before the new age of Star Wars content. I'm sure it definitely seems like that, but I'm not. I understand that a lot of kids of the early Star Wars era projected what they wanted on the unexplained, on the undefined. All I'm saying is that you have to consider what good has been given thanks to the new additions. We've got a more grounded, more relatable, much cooler character in Boba Fett than we did 30 years ago. At least, that's what I think.

Doctor Strange REVIEW

In the ever-expanding world of superhero films, it's important that the newer ones releasing keep the genre as a whole fresh and exciting. And whether or not you see it as such, the 'superhero' films are a genre all on their own now; it's their responsibility (being the highest-grossing films of the modern day) to not keep giving us the same material. Doctor Strange both does that, and doesn't do that. It's an oddball film with fantastic visuals and a great lead performance, but the central themes and overall arc isn't anything we as moviegoers haven't seen before. With all that being said, this is a movie made for Marvel fans and newcomers alike.

One of the reasons this film can be so widely appealing is thanks to its wonderful lead in Benedict Cumberbatch. Over the past 7 years that he's grown in popularity, we've seen him do everything from Sherlock Holmes to Alan Turing. The man has the amazing talent to captivate an audience with his bravado and powerful voice, and it's not lost in his role as Doctor Stephen Strange. As yet another Marvel film where a character needs to learn humility through loss, one wouldn't be blamed for thinking this isn't anything we've seen before. But Benedict brings a lot of gravity to the role, and it's ultimately a joy to see another great underdog story in this world of heroes. His supporting cast populated by Chiwitel Eijiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen, and Tilda Swinton all do solid work, albeit being significantly background compared Cumberbatch. Highlights include Eijiofor's solid wing man in Mordo, who proves to be a good friend component similar to a James Rhodes/War Machine or a Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier. Tilda Swinton is both graceful and powerful as the Ancient One, and her talents both as an actress and a sorcerer are stunning to see on-screen. As for the other main players, they have less stellar moments: McAdams plays a relatively insignificant love interest, Wong plays a criminally underutilized source of comic relief, and Mikkelsen, while certainly terrifying-looking, does nothing for me as a villain. And it's especially tough for me to accept these weaker characters after seeing superhero movies like Deadpool, Captain America: Civil War, and Suicide Squad give audiences a plethora quirky and likable characters with multiple opportunities to be exposed to their personalities. Doctor Strange  gives us plenty of likable characters, but not a lot of time to focus on them.

What the movie spends most of its time on is overall lore-expanding for the universe and the visceral visual tricks that comes with the nature of a sorcerer's world. The visuals in this film, while not as out-of-this-world or as bombastic as I was hoping, are a real treat to see with one's own eyes. And in 3D, the bright colors and amazing spectacle of magic is even more engrossing. It also provides Marvel films with a new level of action that we haven't seen before. Rather than action and conflict relying on tech or superpowers, this magic changes the game for the characters to move, attack, and defend. This sounds a lot like video game design lingo, but believe me, this changes the way that opponents of the Avengers (because of course Doctor Strange will become an Avenger) have to fight. It causes fight sequences to be more dynamic as a result, which is awesome to see unfold on-screen. And trust me when I say that if nothing else, Doctor Strange has some of the best fight scenes in any movie this year.

After all was said and done, Doctor Strange is another engaging and fun entry for the Marvel saga, but I can't help but feel slightly underwhelmed by the final product. Spectacular action, visuals, and a stunning lead in Benedict Cumberbatch aside, Doctor Strange is an average origin story, but the possibilities that it brings for the saga as a whole are certainly fun to ponder. It's by no means a bad time at the movies, but as a story, it isn't anything you haven't seen before.

Rating: 7.5/10