“I will fight, for those who can not fight for themselves.”
It appears that everyone is praising Wonder Woman; a female superhero lead’s cinematic debut has finally arrived, and it’s alarmingly average.
I rarely second-guess myself when making unpopular assessments on movies, and I’m sitting here mind-blown as to why this movie (as a whole) is being lauded as the greatest of the great for women.
As Christina Cauterucci at Slate asked herself in her review, and as I currently ask myself: Did I blackout during some essential scenes?
“Wonder Woman Made Me Finally See the Importance of Female Representation,” Dana Stevens wrote at Slate. Or “Her femininity is part of the story, for the way it makes even the other heroes in the movie underestimate and discount her. But her gender is never the story’s primary thrust,” wrote a critic at the Verge. Right. The “most beautiful woman the world has ever seen” whose male characters are constantly wagging their tongues at throughout the movie…gender is no thrust here.
This is one of the safest movies I’ve ever seen, but some critics are already asking about the film’s Oscar potential.
As my queen Ellen Ripley would say, “Did IQ’s steadily drop while I was away?”
Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained warrior. When a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, she leaves home to fight in World War I, discovering her full powers and true destiny.
Let me first begin by applauding director Patty Jenkins for her tremendous effort. This is the first female dominant superhero film in twelve years since 2005’s forgettable Elektra.
The film went through a handful of writers that dropped out due to conflicting schedules or creative differences. The holy script finally came from Allan Heinberg best known for writing some episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and The O.C. Do you see a red flag yet?
But, before I give my lamentable feedback on this “feminist film,” I want to give serious kudos to the film’s lead, Gal Gadot. The monumental weight of the film rested on her brilliantly defined shoulders, and while the majority of her dialogue was laughable, her delivery and charisma were both fantastic.
Despite the wondrous Gadot, the film (as a whole) is beyond mediocre. Although I’m one of few, I’m surprisingly not the only one who thinks this.
“It gives us a mesmerizingly brilliant performance from Gadot, but with all of that focus, very little attention was paid to the product as a whole, and Wonder Woman is another dreadfully boring and ‘safe’ superhero film in a genre that is becoming all-too formulaic. While many celebrate the “savior” of the DCEU, we should collectively lament the death of the genre’s creativity.” via Epic Film Guys
I’m going to be slammed by the ladies, but as a movie lover and critic, I cannot solely praise this film’s almighty “greatness” for slapping an uber-hot female superhero lead on screen and call it a brilliant movie. That goes against everything I stand for as a critic. DCEU, you can’t give me something cinematically brilliant and unforgettable like The Dark Knight – from it’s acting to script to cinematography – and expect me to consider Wonder Woman in the same movie ballpark. NO.
Wonder Woman suffers from pacing issues to a cramped plot to cheese-filled action sequences to name a few. There’s absolutely no flavor, creativity or memorable moments outside of the No Man’s Land scene, which was probably the only outstanding scene of the movie. Sorry.
On a more positive note, Chris Pine is as fantastic as Gadot, and their chemistry together is brilliant. Fans and moviegoers are praising Pine as if they’ve never seen him in a movie before…did everyone miss Hell or High Water last year? Pine is an incredible actor, and I’m glad to see him getting some deserved love and attention.
Unfortunately, the supporting characters that play beside Pine are absolute jokes in comparison. Pine’s possé includes Sameer, Charlie and the Chief … all wasted potential. If you disagree with me, I have no words for you. Sameer was enjoyable, but the lack of development with these characters is truly disappointing. We get a glimpse into Charlie’s severe shell shock; he’s a renowned marksman but unable to shoot. Okay, he’s dealing with some traumatic emotions, which is very common in war, but…his character just falls flat, never develops, never makes that pivotal shot to help save the day like we all expected him to. He just flat lines as a character. And Chief, who communicates through smoke signals and delivers the most poorly acted one-liners I’ve ever experienced, I won’t even dive into that mess.
And the movie’s antagonist, Ares? What was even the point of that character? lol. Epic Film Guys say it best:
“One could deride the utter lack of development in the plot for Ares as a villain, but as he’s not the true villain of the piece, that’s not the real issue. He instead feels like a pointless afterthought, a CGI money shot to try to dazzle the audience and make up for the terrible slow-motion that has robbed the strength and energy from the previous action pieces. The entire sequence is utterly and completely needless to both the plot of the film and to the culmination of Diana’s emotional journey; it quite simply doesn’t need to be here.”
Am I the wrong audience for this film? Possibly. I’m certainly no fangirl of DCEU or Marvel, but this should reaffirm the fact that I’m an unbiased critic going into this. Being force-fed Wonder Woman lines like, “What I do is not up to you!!!!” doesn’t scream “Yay Feminism!” to me, nor does it scream anything profound. What I wanted was to be left in awe by a film’s female lead, like Ellen Ripley, a superhero in her own respect. Are my standards a little too high? Yes, but why the hell shouldn’t they be? This movie is a big deal, and it should be treated as such. Yes, I got to see the first female lead superhero on screen directed by the first female director of a superhero film, but the movie as a whole left me utterly disappointed.
What did you think of Wonder Woman? Disagree with me? Leave a comment!
On the Screen Reviews 
Great review – I am probably going to see it this weekend with my wife, but I am not excited – so many accolades always set a film up to let me down, and since I have little interest in the story, I don’t see how this is going to win me over, but I can hope!
I definitely don’t want to deter anyone from seeing this…I actually encourage it, because it was a GOOD movie! I just wanted to throw in my two cents that it’s not this mind-blowing, brilliant, Academy Award-worthy movie 🙂
Got it! I am seeing it tomorrow at Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome
Report back and shoot me your review if you cover it 🙂
Thank u, Courtney, for a more sensible perspective – 3-stars is what I wld give it
This is a good film, but not as special as many reviewers are saying.
I found Ares 1 more memorable than I thot he wld be, but then again, David Thewlis can usually be relied upon.
For me, having worked on 1st World War history for th centenary commemorations, putting Diana on th Western Front is both incongruous and objectionable (her comic origins were in th 40s!)
Actually, having had 2 family members badly wounded on No Mans Land, I found WW’s march towards th German trench both insensitive and distasteful
I have tried to write my own Review, but some things r better left unsaid
Great Post
Cheers!
Thank you! You should definitely review it…get your opinion out there!
Congrats! I’ve nominated u for a Liebster Award!
You can find all th details here:
https://bradscribe.wordpress.com/2017/06/14/do-the-wampa-stomp-dancing-to-another-liebster-award/
Cheers!
Maybe instead of standing as a ‘critic’ you should this time first and foremost stand as a woman. Because it’s lamentable people can focus on stuff like glitchy ending, supporting characters etc. first and only throw ‘oh it’s an important film’ line in last paragraph. Didn’t you praise Arrival? Remind me what was so great, distinctive or…any adjective about supporting characters there? And you call TDK screenplay brilliant…really? The screenplay with convenient devices sprinkled throughout it like sonar and ferry sequence just to resolve the plot.
You are literally criticizing a character for not following the trope ‘saving the day’….and I’m sure just to go against the grain if he did yo’u’d would call it a cliche. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but seeing women not stand by this one because of some small reasons is disheartening. Perhaps we had to wait for this movie this long because most of us cannot look at another woman success and appreciate it too and consider what it means for the rest of us. And nothing in the movie is so offensive that it deserves all of this. The depiction of WW1 being an issue is a laughable complaint – it’s a fantasy film. Fantasy films especially in CBM altered history all the time. I’m not saying that this is not the issue but I’m sure as hell other CBMs didn’t get criticism for that . Those were the mostly poorly acted one-liners? How about BvS and Suicide Squad? Really, ‘the most’ poorly acted? ? I don’t know if your criticisms of Ares on twitter were jokes but if you weren’t kidding then that story and character went over your head. This is far from a masterpiece but the bulk of your complaints here is so minor for reasons stated above it’s actually unpleasant to read.
No offense I don’t think your standards are high. I think you just take that feeling of ‘underwhelming’ you experience at some point of the movie and decide to go with it and criticize a movie most love for whatever reason. That’s your business and you are free to write whatever your want but honestly in this case it’s just..disheartening to witness. This isn’t a raging trashfire of Ghostbusters. This is a movie that has women so moved they cry. Little girls ask their parents to do their hair like Diana after seeing that. A movie that made DCEU fastback Batgirl. And you choose to spend your time and your website space to talk of one-liners.
Unpleasant to read? Girl, you’re taking offense to this as a personal insult toward you more than anything else.
“And nothing in the movie is so offensive that it deserves all of this.” And nothing about the story is really good enough to deserve all the praise it’s getting. It’s a mediocre movie, but that’s my opinion. My gripes are exactly that…my gripes. That doesn’t make me anti-feminist either, which is entirely what you’re implying. I had extremely high expectations for this movie, because why the hell not? Shouldn’t we all have high standards for something this important, no? I don’t lower my standards because it’s “what we need to see” …a vanilla, scantily clad, most beautiful woman in the world… on screen. Really???
Disheartening to witness? Because I have an opinion, and I choose to stand behind it? People are acting like there’s never been female representation on screen. Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor are my personal heroes, THAT’S female representation. Yes, those two are from decades ago, but they nailed female badassness and empowerment far greater than any literal superhero could for me personally.
If younger generations love her, that’s great…I have nothing but praise for that, but I’m not going to applaud a movie solely because it’s the first female SUPERHERO on the big screen. That’s moronic. I’m sorry you disagree.
I know it’s not nice to get in the middle, but I couldn’t ask myself whether a superhero movie is actually worth is fighting, even if it’s with a woman in leading role (thing that I appreciate not less than you, being a guy). Another question would be how much of this was calculated by DC because this kind of hype is exactly what they need since their superhero movies of the last 5 years mostly weren’t really good.
Interesting review! I LOVED Wonder Woman, but Academy Award fare won’t hold traction once award season hits. That hype is a little crazy. I agree, WW could’ve used some sprucing up such as not being bookended in the present moment and for Diana’s childhood to be a bit smoother direction/script-wise. But other than that, I found the movie hit its stride once they head out to London until the end. As well, Ares didn’t bother me a villain, as I likened him and a lot of facets of the movie to Captain America: The First Avenger; as an evil dude for evil’s sake, which is how a lot of villains in most action movies feels like regardless of the good actors who play them. I thought this was an entertaining, well-layered start for her franchise.
I’d like to respectfully take a stand though that this is a feminist movie (to me) because Diana’s given the typical hero’s journey from young girl glorifying war to a mature woman understanding that it’s not a spell mankind falls under; people are capable of evildoing and she can be an agent for good regardless; independent, bad-ass, falls in love, compassionate. To me, it’s not just “No Man’s Land” scene or her saying “What I do is not up to you”, but her whole arc. It bothers me that critics have honed in on Gadot’s looks more than or equal to her performance.Robert Downey Jr., Andrew Garfield, Christian Bale and Edward Norton’s lack of muscles (compared to Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth) didn’t devalue their performances or superheroes, where critics balked at the story more than their looks, if the latter was ever even mentioned. If Gadot was average looking, I can’t help but think people would say it’s a good story, but she’s not gorgeous enough to fully capture the beauty of Wonder Woman. Even Ripley in her underwear suffered just as much as the male gaze. It’s only now more people recognize her as a whole character. I’d hope the latter would be extended to Gadot a lot more forty years later. In the end, WW isn’t perfect, but it’s a better-than-average/better-than-nothing good start. 😀
Thank you for keeping it classy, Katy. Above all things I respect that the most. Perhaps I focused too heavily on the negative, because my expectations were too high, and when they weren’t met, I broke. Regardless, my negative remarks shouldn’t hide the fact that I thought Gadot herself was brilliant…I touched on that, but not in depth. I just wasn’t interested in writing an “all-praise” review mirroring everyone else when i didn’t feel the same. I think it’s terribly unfair to basically be called “anti-feminist” (see comment above), because I personally didn’t -love- the movie (3/5 stars isn’t bad…). The same thing happened to me with expressing disappointment for Birth of a Nation last year, and I was called a racist. It’s honestly unfair. Everyone is affected differently from cinema, and this is how I felt, against the norm. However, as a female critic, I don’t think I should mute myself over one female representation on screen that i felt ho-hum about, you know?
No problem!. I’d been wanting to see WW since I was eight, so having high standards is understandable. There were a few bits and pieces that were uneven or not fully developed, but the whole movie was worth it for me. I agree, as women and critics, we’re not obligated to like female-centered movies just because our gender is the same as the lead character. But I think I would’ve liked to have read more though why you didn’t think the movie had a feminist message, unrelated to Gadot’s being a uber-hot female superhero, just for context. At the end of the day, we’re allowed to disagree and share how we come to our own conclusions. 🙂
Hey Courtney! I agree that it isn’t some sort of zeitgeist or beacon for female empowerment and strength even though for a superhero movie, I think it’s a step in the right direction and a good attempt. I thought the early scenes and the fact that WW was a strong character throughout was a welcome sight. For me, it brought back that childhood excitement I had in the DC superheroes and unlike many othe superhero films, I was fixated throughout. I can understand though, if you weren’t a fan of the pacing and the action sequences then WW may simply be mediocre. WW may not be as relatable, but imo I still feel like her presence and what she symbolizes for young audiences is exciting and inspiring.
Step in the right direction is absolutely right!
I had to lol at what you said about Pine. Hell or High Water is the only time he’s actually been a different actor. Here he was just the less womanizing version of Captain Kirk – which is fine. I like that performance. I do think it’s a very feminist movie, but I certainly saw where that Slate writer was coming from when she spoke about the ogling that went on. I think Katy summed it up better than I could about why it works.
I’m 100% with you on Ares though. I was beyond disappointed with the finale fight. I don’t think they actually needed to include Ares at all. She could’ve just realized men make evil decisions and kept on fighting without Thewlis’ poor attempt at a villain and special effects that don’t capture the magic of the rest of the film.
Yes! I agree that they could have axed the final fight and settled on her realization of man’s corruption. Thanks for stopping by, Brittani!
I liked the movie better than you, and I think I can pinpoint why. I had no issues with the pacing, I never felt it was dragging. Actually, it felt like it was about three hours shorter than BvS, lol. I also enjoyed the action scenes, well, except that final battle. That was trash and the only place where I felt the runtime because it dragged on too long. Before that, it was pretty good, though. And yes, the No Man’s Land sequence is phenomenal.
Speaking of that last fight, axing it altogether and going with Diana’s realization of man’s corruption is a great idea. They did go with that, but in much more roundabout way, I guess, because you have to have that big overly-cgi’d finale. Sigh.
The other reason I think I enjoyed it more than you is the level of our expectations walking into the theater. Mine were considerably lower. This had nothing to do with the fact that this is a female-led superhero flick, but everything to do with my lack of faith in the powers that be at DC. Man of Steel was needlessly dark and brooding, Suicide Squad was a jumbled mess (that I actually enjoyed, somewhat), and BvS was both needlessly dark and brooding and a jumbled mess. Therefore, I was just hoping this wasn’t utter crap. It most certainly was not that.
I will agree that everyone needs to pump their brakes on all the Oscar talk. That probably won’t happen, unless the Academy feels pressured. If so, they’ll give Gadot a nod. And I wouldn’t be mad because she’s fantastic.
As far as her looks and how it contributes to or detracts from feminism, I’ll say this is a problem inherent in the character as she was created. Wonder Woman was never depicted to be an average looking woman and was almost always scantily clad. Within those constraints, I think this movie does manage to achieve a girl-power aesthetic. There are some other issues in the film that undermine this, but overall, it’s a woman kicking ass without the need to be saved by men.
I’m glad you did find it to be a good movie even if not quite on the same level as I. I’m probably at the midway point between your opinion and thinking it’s the best thing ever. That said, I was glad to read a piece that took something different away from the film than the masses. Art is subjective, so differing opinions are welcome, by me at least, so long as everyone explains why they feel a certain way. You have done that, and are not anti-feminist for doing so.
Great conversation here, Wendell. I really like what you said specifically about art being subjective and all opinions should be welcomed. I could have easily focused on the positives, like everyone else, and that would have been entirely too safe and not my style.
I guess my expectations were high because I’m not terribly familiar with DCEU’s tragic resume of movies…I’ve never seen BvS, or any of those, so I can’t compare. Regardless, I definitely appreciated the movie, and I hope that came through a little in my review.
Thanks for stopping by! Your opinions are great and always welcome!
Sorry you didn’t like it but I definitely disagree. I loved it, surprisingly. I felt very moved by it.
That’s for commenting, Jay!
I’m actually glad to see a not-so-super review. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but my expectations were already pretty high from previews/trailers etc. I always ALWAYS worry when a movie gets really hyped and I don’t see it right away that I’m going to end up being like.. really?? So I feel like this review sort of brought me back to even ground for when I finally do see it. Also YES Hell or High Water.
Thank you!!!
They say “safe/mediocre”, I say “traditional”. Although, yeah, I see your point, it’s not a particularly inventive story, But it is something that can be found in comic books and this is a comic book movie. But I agree with you when you say that it is a bit of a stretch to call this a feminist film. And now that you mentioned it, Ares was indeed hilarious as a villain. But not hilarious in a delightful, comical, hammy kinda way like Loki. He was more like Ultron, supposedly all powerful and evil, but appeared so lame and unthreatening. And I have to disagree with Epic FIlm Guys, I thought the slow mos were pretty good, and did not impede the action sequences in any way, but enhanced it. I love this review though, Courtney. I enjoy reading varying opinions because I get to learn about things I may have missed. (Or I get to tell them that they’re wrong! Hahaha!)
Thanks, Prudence! I love sparking discussion…I think that’s what makes blog reading so enjoyable. Glad you stopped by!
Well, Courtney, we have kind of discussed this elsewhere, so as you know we certainly differ on the experience we had watching this film.
Touching on a few of your (heavy) criticisms with the picture, like supporting players, the finale, etc. I see the validity of those, but I do feel this was a film about Wonder Woman (duh!) and the stature of the character – never going to be over-shadowed by trivial support characters or the almighty power of Ares. To be fair, those minor parts did well to bring issues such as race, PTSD, and the brain-washing power of war without swallowing up the whole movie. I swept aside the silliness of segments of the movie because at the end of the day it is a comic book story, a super heroine tale, but ultimately a truly important place mat in today’s Hollywood, and a no holds barred cinema experience.
The all-engulfing publicity of the woman director, woman centric story, woman saves the world etc. is all very plausible, yet I still think taking all the politics and gender agenda out of the equation (which is tough to do) Wonder Woman still remains a high tier motion picture, carrying more depth and weight than most of the other genre-like films of the last decade. I doubt it will sit in my own top 10 come end of the year, but I will think highly of it regardless of demographic and discourse.
I enjoyed reading the review (certainly not unpleasant – stepping in fresh dog shit with soft shoes is unpleasant), and I could almost feel your skin crawling. I hope you give the movie another chance, and soak up the adventure. You gave it three stars after all. If we all agreed about every aspect of movies, though, there’d be no blogging industry and we’d all be robots or zombies. So instead of belittling you from my high horse (which is not my style) I’ll tip my hat to you for speaking your mind. Now go slip into your Wonder Woman outfit at once.
Thanks as always, Robin! I certainly could have taken the safe route with this review (especially to not piss people off!), but varying opinions is what makes our blogoverse go round!
Oh pipe down misogynist 😁
By the way I am completely smitten by Gadot in that Drop the mic gif.
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Meant to reply to this when you posted it, but I totally agree. I really like Wonder Woman but all this praise and over glorification of it seems a bit much. I think the DCEU has largely been so bad that the people are losing it over the a good one.
I agree. When my title says it’s overrated, it certainly doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie, but Oscar talk? Come on, folks…
I’m totally cool with this review, even though I f–king adored WW.
Gadot and Pine, as you mentioned, we’re fantastic. And I actually dug the crew, one-note as they may have been. I ain’t got time for their stories, you know? Give them one or two qualities and let’s keep it moving.
My main concern, which you addressed much more eloquently, is really hard for me to put into words. Yes, this is a film for women and girls and little girls – the whole bit. I’m stoked they got a rad superhero finally. But, uh…this is also a movie for guys. Like, very much so.
I’m not saying something can’t be both, but those are opposing forces, no?
I don’t have any huge issues with your reaction, especially with the final battle, which was unfortunate. That fight was the only moment where I felt the film’s length. It also reminded me of Batman v. Superman, which is never good.
With that said, I feel like calling it “overrated” or “mediocre” is too easy. It’s a graceful film that most overcome the baggage of the DCEU, which has built such a dreary tone. This summer has also been pretty bad in terms of blockbusters, so to have a movie that’s fun and inspiring to so many is a great achievement. It’s not just about having a female superhero and director, but that is important too. It’s definitely the first superhero movie that I’ve taken my daughter to see.
Gadot is in basically every scene, so the fact that she’s so great is what drives the movie to work. The supporting guys were fine to me, and they played a small part in it too. Their presence adds to the idea of the ragtag band of adventurers coming together to battle a larger evil. The moment when Diana steps up and takes on the front was exhilarating, and I’m generally skeptical to throw around hyperbole like that very often.
I don’t mean to push back too strongly. It’s a very good movie, but there are items to nitpick. What gets my back up a little is when reviews seem like they’re pushing against people that like it instead of just discussing the movie. Just because opinions differ doesn’t mean the fans are idiots for loving it. If people want to talk about Oscars, that’s cool. I don’t expect it to happen, but it’s still a fun discussion.
Thanks for being so open to this post. I think the difference between me and other critics is that I’m not too familiar with the shortcomings of the DCEU universe…I haven’t seen many of the movies. When I say overrated, I meant that glowing review after glowing review didn’t resonate with me. I’m certainly not trying to dissuade people from seeing it, but I wanted to offer something different for people to read…even if it reflected more on the negatives than the positives. Thanks for stopping by, Dan!
A sensible review. This movie definitely doesn’t deserve the praise it’s getting. It’s a shame when merely passable movies qualify for near perfect scores by critics. Really muddies the waters for those films that truly go above and beyond.
Thank you, Kyle! It absolutely deserves praise, but not at the current magnitude. Agreed completely.
Thank you for not allowing your duties as a film critic and journalist to be clouded by an agenda or a call to blind loyalty. I have a feeling a lot of other critics (both male and female) had to look in the mirror and say to themselves “This is for the greater good,” or “You’re doing the right thing” before posting an inaccurate and bias-laden review. Wonder Woman is undoubtedly an *important* and *ground-breaking* achievement in cinema, but that doesn’t mean it’s a great film. This movie…I don’t know, it’s almost as if I was watching The Fifth Element again – a male protagonist trying to navigate through a chaotic series of events with the help of a fish-outta-water goddess; the only difference here being there was a little more backstory to the goddess. Her badassery evoked the same feeling one gets when an cool weapon is used but not the goosebumps you get when a hero does something awesome (e.g Trinity: “Dodge this.”). I even thought the No Man’s Land scene was surprisingly meh. This scene could’ve been gritty, dramatic, and even a bit traumatic. She could’ve overcame her fears and there would’ve been a huge emotional payoff. Instead, we get Zack Snyder-esque slow motion as she effortlessly deflects bullets (btw, where the eff did she learn to do this!?? Literally days earlier her mortal aunt was kicking her a$$ until she discovered her bracelet trick!) She then struts down the battle field Zoolander style while flailing her arms to deflect the [bad] CGI bullets. Smh. Finally, the “reveal” toward the end about Ares and Diana being the actual Godkiller was like watching my 4-year-old perform a magic trick where everything is obvious. Cute when it’s a toddler, cringe-worthy when it’s grown-up filmmakers. Still though, I gave my 4-year-old a big round of applause and told him the show was incredible, and it appears that most critics did the same for Wonder Woman.
Best comment to boost my confidence. I came very close to deleting this post initially, but reassurance like yours lets me know that I deserve to voice my opinion, even if it’s unpopular. Thank you!
I must admit that I haven’t watched the movie yet (too tired of Marvel/DC cliche superhero movie probably), but I admire your willingness to say an honest an unbiased opinion about the movie.
Good job!
Shamefully I just now getting to read and comment. I gotta say I loved WW. Admittedly I approach many of these super hero pictures with a certain amount of nostalgia. That always weighs in for me. Also I highly respect that this is a movie with a powerful female presence both in front and behind the camera. But as a goofy old guy I never approached it with that as a focal point. Again, appreciated but not focused on.
I say that because for me it was fresh, rousing entertainment. I do agree that it hops onboard with the superhero formula of big bombastic ending, but I really connected with this film from the start. I’ll give you the side characters weren’t super memorable, but I didn’t need them to be. This was all Diana’s story and I loved how Jenkins really kept this at the human level (even though the heroine is an Amazonian princess). I also thought it was visually amazing.
Oh enough rambling. I just went in head over heels for it.
I absolutely agree with you. I thought it very meh, so much so, that I actually fell asleep during the 2nd Act!!
Anyways, it does feel like everyone and every critics were soooooooooooooo scared of being called anti-feminists that they raved at out great it was! Like really? Is that the best movie we can get where the woman is a hero? Are the standards so low? Disappointment is an understatement.
But I also feel that months and years from now, people will be able to take a seat back and say ”yeah, Wonder Woman was actually mediocre at best and that’s being generous”, just like other movies before it. And an Oscar for this movie? Please. GTFO. Pardon my language.
BTW, I am a woman and didn’t feel particularly moved by the movie. And I think that bravo1224 is also right on the money with his reviews….
Honestly, I think people will look back and barely remember the film…on a wider scale, you know? Thanks for stopping by!
You’re spot on. While I enjoyed Wonder Woman (mainly bc of Gadot & Pine – LOVE Pine as an actor btw), the Ares BS was weak and oh so formulaic as you mentioned. They didn’t take any risks in bringing Wonder Woman to the big screen. I get they had a lot riding on it, but now that it’s solidified itself as an earner, make the next installment worth my money!
Same here, I don’t get why ever single person I ask about this movie says it was amazing. Off the top of my head I can name many movies that were way better that didn’t get nearly the recognition that they deserved. I thought it was just another run-of-the-mill okay movie. Not horrible, except for some accents, dialogue and FX. But definitely not the 92% on Rotten Tomatoes that it is holding. I don’t really care, but it makes me wonder why I didn’t like it so much but everyone is raving about it. Are people just listening to the reviews and not forming their own opinions?
I think people are afraid to be called anti-feminist if they don’t like the movie honestly…which is absurd.
it was boring ! could have done with some more editing – 2’21” is just tooo long, cut it to under 2hrs and it might move along at a better pace.
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Great review! I’m just so happy for Patty Jenkins. I love that this made over 100M. I hope it slays at the box office again this week.
I’m sorry for being late to the boat, but my opinion on this film is even more perplexed than the author. Where to start? I suppose my biggest criticism of the film is that i never felt as though I was watching Wonder Woman. To me this film was just mish mash of tired old tropes from other films that was done better in those films (think Captain America: The First Avenger, The Mummy, Raiders of the Lost Ark with a healthy heaping of any old Sword and Sandal film that has ever existed from Beast Master through Spartacus.) Can anyone honestly tell me what element of this film was fresh? What exactly was so innovating? Didn’t Chris Pine play off as every other good spirited red blooded American male you’ve seen before? What was the deal with his secretary? Was she supposed to be funny? What about the oodles of plot holes in the film. Just to list a few:
-Why did the Germans speak English to one another?
-Why are the Germans portrayed as ‘evil’ proto-nazis in this film? This is WWI, if the Germans were evil in WWI then everyone was evil in WWI. It was so obvious they wanted this film to be set during WWII, and yet, for reasons only the writers know, they placed it in WWI. Wonder Woman the character in the comic never had anything to do with WWI and had a great deal to do with WWII. I think they thought they would break the mold (and avoid the obvious comparisons to the far superior Captain American: The First Avenger film) by placing the film during WWI nut to me it felt like it set in WWII the whole time,
– How did the Nazi’s, oops, I mean Germans catch up with Chris Pine? I mean, since when do U Boats and Air Craft Carriers have the speed to chase down airplanes? I mean I’d get it if they were just sort of following his trail but from what I saw they were right on his ASS.
-How did the Amazons speak Modern English? I heard WW explanation and it doesn’t make a lick of sense. English, forget about Modern English, didn’t exist before they went in hiding. If they had some sort of emissary keeping tabs enough to give them a Webster’s dictionary then how the hell did they not know what a Gun, plane or freaking WRIST WATCH was?
– What exactly are the Amazons doing with their training for apparently two thousand years? I mean, to what end?
– What purpose did having a villain with a mask serve other than to make it clear that she’s evil because she’s scarred?
– How did Chris Pine (ahem) “sneak” into a top secret military base without any identification, without speaking a lick of german?
– Why did the germans recognize him as soon as he arrived in London? If he was that recognizable he never should have been able to (ahem) “sneak” into the german military base in the first place.
There are more and there are worse plot holes in this film. All this and you combine it with that fact that it borrowed every familiar trope in the book and you have what I thought was an abysmal film. Compare this film to Superman in 1978. Yeah, there were cheesy elements to that film, but Superman is cheesy. However, Superman felt fresh, it was new, and innovative and most importantly, when I saw Superman the Motion Picture, I FELT like I was watching Superman, THE Superman. Not Buck Rodgers, not Flash Gordon, not the Lone Ranger. Wonder Woman was freaking Pretty Woman meets Indiana Jones the Last Crusade.
Thanks for commenting, Jason! Definitely a lot of plot holes, and you definitely dug deeper into this one than I did. I was just overall confused by the hype and disappointed with the end result.
Dude, I thought I was alone. I could not even finish watching this movie. If women want a strong character to represent them on screen there are so many. Women rock. This movie doesn’t.