Review of Wonder Woman (2017) by Thewaffle — 20 Nov 2017

Wonder Woman hits all the right beats, it's got good action and a lot of heart. Unlike Superman, she's actually vulnerable to bullets, which gives the film more tension. Gadot is a bit one-note, but that works for most of the film, and her relationship with Chris Pine is endearing and feels natural.

There are a few moments when the film flirts with being something more, but the finale doesn't quite live up and ends up being more standard fare. It seems a bit weird to defeat the God of War by out-fighting him, rather than out-thinking him.

You'd think Ares would be unstoppable in a fight, and the film seems ready to end with Ares seeing the good in humanity, but then he just kind of growls and keeps fighting. Seems like a lost opportunity.

And it's a bit dissonant to see Wonder Woman bemoaning war while she slaughters her way through dozens of soldiers, clearly killing them instead of disarming or incapacitating them. There are a number of smaller issues as well, the film sets up quite a few side-plots that never really develop at all.

We're introduced to a number of quirky side characters, but their quirks never amount to anything. The CG was also quite poor: you've got a $150 million budget and yet the lasso of truth looks laughably bad, and why does she need to be in front of green screen for the trench shot, which is basically just a muddy field with some smoke in the background.