Review of Wonder Woman (2017) by Saintdecky — 06 Aug 2017

Wonder Woman, though not a perfect movie in many ways, is still better than the preceding DCEU movies. The movie was fun in some scenes, boring and repetitive in others, and some were average and progressed the plot like it had to.

Acting: Gal Gadot is a great fit for Wonder Woman, and has a good range of emotions. Chris Pine was also good and pretty charming throughout. Chris Pine and Gal Gadot had great chemistry together, and exchanged nice, charming dialogue and sometimes even meaningful conversations about mankind and war. Every other actor and actress do what they have to, but aren't anything special.

Characters: The only people with the most characters throughout are Gadot and Pine. They spent good time developing a bond between them, and didn't force a love connection, which I thought worked out perfectly fine. However, many other characters fall flat. I didn't care for Diana's mother or her sister that much, and even got them confused constantly. They were just characters that existed to move the plot forward and weren't necessarily good or bad. Just, characters that exist. The three guys that tag along with Gadot and Pine have virtually no characters, and I don't even recall any of them actually killing anyone. They are one of the most extreme examples of supporting characters I have ever seen. They exchange some lines and have a hint of a backstory here and there, and can be a tad charming at times, but really only existed so the plot could utilize them to benefit Wonder Woman or Chris Pine. The villains are okay and have their motives, but in the end, are still superhero villains, who usually end up being forgettable or nothing special. In this case, they are forgettable, as I will probably forget the villains by the end of this year.

Plot: Of the three acts in the movie (Diana growing up and leaving the island with Pine and strolling through London, the crew fighting their way through the war to get to the Germans, and the final fight scenes and conclusion), the second act was the best. The first act didn't necessarily do anything wrong; they introduced Diana, had the basic exposition scene, had the aunt/trainer get shot and try to tell Diana something before she dramatically dies, and she leaves the island. It did everything it had to do, and wasn't necessarily boring, but just struck me as pretty basic storytelling. The third act was probably the worst for me. The twist was introduced and was okay, but then the final fight between Wonder Woman and Ares was boring and repetitive and done badly. They punch back and forth and fly through the air and throw big objects at each other, kind of like Man of Steel. It goes on for what seems like forever, and though the effects are good, feels boring and like it doesn't progress. Just the same thing over and over. The second act was the best for me because it had the best action. There were some good fight scenes that would've made the movie much better if there were more of them. It also introduced a good look at war and mankind. Since this is Diana's first time experiencing war, it is a fresh take on the horrors of warfare from the perspective of someone who is seeing it for the first time. She says stuff like "why are they fighting?" or "this is horrible." It is a good reminder that war is hell and it adds to the sinister tone of war because it is from the perspective of someone who is just now seeing it. Imagine you lived in peace for your whole life, learning to fight but never actually having to use it. Then, you jump into a world where men are shooting each other's heads off, you would most likely be disgusted or confused about why they do it. The movie did a good job of putting us behind Diana's eyes and feeling what she feels when she sees a whole village of innocents get wiped out. This made the second act the best part of the whole movie, and where most of the 5 rating comes from.

Script: The script is nothing special except for the scenes where Diana and Pine share deep insights and dialogue about the behaviors of man. It is charming at times, but otherwise is nothing special.

Zack Snyder stuff: Though Snyder only produced the movie, he still slapped his signatures all over it. The signature dark, gritty, dirty color scheme is very apparent in this movie. Dark tones and imagery can, of course, be used very well. I always felt Snyder overuses this dark tone that doesn't always work with some superhero movies. However I did like the choice of making the island very bright and happy, and then, when entering the cruel world of war, is plunged into a darker color palette. Although it still feels over-the-top at times.

Wonder Woman is an okay superhero movie with good leading characters, an otherwise forgettable cast, good action scenes, but fails to entertain through most of the movie. It was a bit predictable, but it mainly gets a low rating because of the whole last act, which I thought was done very poorly.