Review of Wonder Woman (2017) by Tal G — 08 Apr 2018

Wow, what a pleasant surprise.

This movie brought back my faith in the DCEU. Congratulations to Patty Jenkins on somehow managing to get this movie made in her own vision.

Gal was much better than I expected in her role. Conveyed innocence, ferociousness, sensitivity, and even humor, in a really believable and natural way. Good acting. Chris Pine next to her was amazing, he honestly stole the show. He was charming, funny, heartfelt, passionate, and had some of the best dialog in this entire movie. I seriously choked up during his speeches near the end. His performance was incredibly nuanced for this type of movie.

The humor in this movie was done perfectly. It was synchronized with WW's loss of innocence as she got to know the realities of the world better. As the story got progressively serious and dangerous, the humor naturally drifted out of the dialog. No immersion breaking quips during critical moments, no forced humor to "break up the morbidness" as you'd expect from a Marvel movie these days. It respected the gravity of its plot.

The pace faltered a bit during the second act, but after that it went back on track and delivered an incredible finish. The WW theme was used really well during the important action sequences. The action itself was amazing, the choreography beautifully elaborate, WW power was conveyed really well. You sensed that she had godlike strength and abilities.

The story itself really surprised me. I remember thinking how cool it'd be if Ares turned out to be David Thewlis' character, and when it actually did happen I was incredibly happy and impressed. The themes about mankind's duality and Ares' corruption of mankind were fascinating and provided for a very interesting ending.

A fault this movie sometimes had was kind of bad CGI, noticeably cartoonish at times. And maybe Ares' character got a little bit too cliched with some of his lines near the end of the battle.

Overall it was one of the best recent DCEU movies, with probably the best finale in a long time. Reached incredible emotional heights. Excited for Patty Jenkins' second WW movie.