Wonder Woman (2017) (1 Viewer)

[ponset]

After three lackluster movies WBDC finally hits a HOMERUN with WW. Gets a solid 'A' from me.
Gal Gadot was nearly perfect as Diana/WW.
Chris Pine was excellant as Steve Trevor.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

It's 93 percent fresh. The 76% figure comes from the "Average Rating 7.6/10" that Rotten Tomatoes assigns in a half-hearted attempt to do what Metacritic does.

Pretty good half-hearted attempt then . Metacritc has the exact same number.

 

[Tino]

Pretty good number.

 

[Johnny Angell]

We saw the movie at a Cinemark XD screen in 3D, which is not as good as IMAX, but our only IMAX is closed for refurbishing and new ownership.

We both enjoyed it very much, the movie fulfilled expectations and then some. That's a lot for an origin movie. I didn't notice any mis-steps in casting and Gal Gadot was perfect at WW. I could believe she was WW.

I think the technique of doing slo-mo while characters are leaping has grown old and stale. However, with this movie, it was re-born. It was almost like it was new.

My greatest compliment is to go see the movie more than once in a theater and second best is buying the movie on blu ray. I'm going for the blu ray. It is very rare for me these days to see a movie twice in a theater. When I do, either the movie is so great it demands I see it again. Or the movie addresses a passion of mine like dinosaurs or big monkeys.

Bring on WW2 (not the war).

 

[JimmyO]

I think I have successfully slayed the dragon that is "must see this film again", to hold me over until digital releases.

I saw this film for a 4th time today. I don't think there will be a fifth, unless yet another friend insists on me going with them.

Still in love with the movie (duh) but I should be good for now. I've never seen a movie more than 3 times in a theatre before this.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I think I have successfully slayed the dragon that is "must see this film again", to hold me over until digital releases.

I saw this film for a 4th time today. I don't think there will be a fifth, unless yet another friend insists on me going with them.

Still in love with the movie (duh) but I should be good for now. I've never seen a movie more than 3 times in a theatre before this.

You slayed the dragon with your sword of dollar bills.

 

[JimmyO]

You slayed the dragon with your sword of dollar bills.

I'd say that's a pretty accurate description of what I did. Have a feeling that the dragon will be reborn one day with a new form. Hope I still have a sword by then.

 

[Hanson]

Objectively, Wonder Woman is a good film, and it is basically a statement of fact to say it is the best DCEU movie. And yet, it's still mired in the same problem shared by almost all comic book movies -- namely, no logical consistency with regard to the mechanics of powers or origins. And the last act? Another mailed in punching match with deadly blue blue beams. For all of its criticisms, I loved the ending of Dr Strange for having an inventive final fight and a resolution that wasn't an ever escalating brawl.

Really, no film in this genre is immune to the issues faced when translating from comic book logic to live action movie logic. It's just a matter of outweighing the, "How the eff does this make sense?" with the good stuff. And there is good stuff here - Gadot, as universally acknowledged, absolutely owns this role (although I was already totally in love with her portrayal in BvS). Pine is outstanding as well. But the villains are weak, a lot of the dialog sounds like word salad, and all of the mythology setting up the movie makes zero sense. And the bravura set pieces on Themiscrya and No Man's Land were undercut by the sense that the visuals had no logical underpinning. I really wanted to love this movie, but it's just... pretty good. I totally want watch it again though.

I did want to mention how many times Diana's fish out of water scenes made me think Gadot was channeling Kimmy Schmidt. I was amused at the notion of Diana Prince living with Titus Andromedon in NYC.

 

[Sam Favate]

I was amused at the notion of Diana Prince living with Titus Andromedon in NYC.

Oh yeah! Sequel!

 

[Edwin-S]

Probably the best non-Batman DC film made so far; although I felt that the issues facing women during that time period didn't get enough development, giving them a tacked on feeling. They kind of dropped the ball there as I think it might have made a more interesting film with her coming into conflict with the patriarchal mores of the times, rather than being just about beating up some stock villains.

I also thought the slo-mo started getting overused. Other than those points, it was a good flick.

 

[RobertR]

Objectively, Wonder Woman is a good film, and it is basically a statement of fact to say it is the best DCEU movie. And yet, it's still mired in the same problem shared by almost all comic book movies -- namely, no logical consistency with regard to the mechanics of powers or origins.

The mechanics of comic book superhero powers never make any sense. When I was a teenager, I half heartedly wanted them to, but they don't. They're pure fantasy, having essentially nothing to do with the real world.

My problem was that the degree of WW's powers wasn't consistent. At the beginning, she's pretty strong, but not immensely so. She has to hide behind a shield to avoid being hit by bullets. Later on, she's so strong that she's easily tossing around tanks, blowing away an entire platoon of soldiers, and raining fiery death on a god, after he's subjected her to physical force that's greater than any bullet.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

For WW specifically, I think that was an intentional plot point.

At the beginning of the film, Diana believes that she's a "normal" Amazon woman capable of feats of strength and longevity, but not immortal or invincible. With that first battle on the beach, when she sees her fellow women struck down, she learns to fear bullets and injury.

But as the film later reveals, she's not the same as the women on that island; she's much more powerful. She doesn't know this herself. It's only in battle, after learning that it's she herself who is the "god killer" weapon and not the sword she carried, that she begins to understand and use her power.

 

[Tino]

Yeah. She slowly realizes how powerful she is (as her mother told her "you have more power than you know"). Her gradual increase of power made perfect sense I thought within the rules of the film.

 

[Hanson]

But Diana received a bullet graze on her arm during the beach attack. So she did grow in power, it wasn't just breaking some psychological shackles.

 

[JimmyO]

And the last act? Another mailed in punching match with deadly blue blue beams. For all of its criticisms, I loved the ending of Dr Strange for having an inventive final fight and a resolution that wasn't an ever escalating brawl.

I wanted to address this point specifically. I've had some time to reflect on that, and I think this final battle is lot more than just a slugfest. There was something of an ongoing dialog of Ares trying to bring Diana over to his 'side'. Towards the end he offers up Dr. Poison to Diana as his example as to why mankind needed to be destroyed.

It's at that point that she seems to seriously consider it. She picks up a vehicle with the intent. She's angry. Then she reflects on what Steve said. This is where her path is forged and she takes the side we saw her take, and she destroys Ares.

I guess what I am saying is that Ares is toying with Diana, he doesn't want to kill her, he's trying to make his case to her. He comes close to succeeding but ultimately fails. This elevates it above a typical "you're bad, I'm good, let's fight" kind of thing, for me.

 

[Citizen87645]

But Diana received a bullet graze on her arm during the beach attack. So she did grow in power, it wasn't just breaking some psychological shackles.

I would say the two are connected. Freeing her psychological shackles (or just realizing she's the Godkiller) allows her to become more powerful.

I wanted to address this point specifically. I've had some time to reflect on that, and I think this final battle is lot more than just a slugfest. There was something of an ongoing dialog of Ares trying to bring Diana over to his 'side'. Towards the end he offers up Dr. Poison to Diana as his example as to why mankind needed to be destroyed.

It's at that point that she seems to seriously consider it. She picks up a vehicle with the intent. She's angry. Then she reflects on what Steve said. This is where her path is forged and she takes the side we saw her take, and she destroys Ares.

I guess what I am saying is that Ares is toying with Diana, he doesn't want to kill her, he's trying to make his case to her. He comes close to succeeding but ultimately fails. This elevates it above a typical "you're bad, I'm good, let's fight" kind of thing, for me.

I completely agree. The final battle is a CGI slugfest if you look at it superficially, but there's a continuous dialogue (in both words and action) between the two combatants that builds on Diana's character development leading up to it. She's lost her faith in humanity, Ares is testing and tempting her, and the battle between them is not just about who can hit each other harder, but whose core beliefs will prevail. This is what all action and fight scenes should aspire to be - ultimately about something more than just physicality and pyrotechnics.

The only complaint I have about Ares is that they should have changed him out of his chevron mustache once he revealed himself. It seemed a bit silly to have that caterpillar on his lip the whole time.

 

[JimmyO]

I would say the two are connected. Freeing her psychological shackles (or just realizing she's the Godkiller) allows her to become more powerful.

The only complaint I have about Ares is that they should have changed him out of his chevron mustache once he revealed himself. It seemed a bit silly to have that caterpillar on his lip the whole time.

Yeah, that's a pretty common complaint that I have read online. For me it goes on the list of things I am willing to overlook. But certainly it would have made for a more compelling/powerful opposition for Diana if Ares had taken on a more sinister looking form.

 

[JimmyO]

Interesting article today that linked to some concept art for Wonder Woman.

If you haven't seen the film, probably best to avoid. One thing I found interesting about it is...

Spoiler

...the vision for Ares seemed to involve him transforming into something a lot more menacing than what actually came forth in the film. My guess is that this was a budgetary constraint, as I don't they had a lot of bandwidth for the kind of f/x needed to pull that off. The final battle f/x have been widely panned.

Link to concept art is here: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/zqVY4

 

[Citizen87645]

Yeah, but then people would have complained he looked like something from Lord of the Rings.

 

[JimmyO]

Yeah, but then people would have complained he looked like something from Lord of the Rings.

Hah. Yes, I suppose so. Never even occurred to me.