Wonder Woman was… surprisingly good!
After a series of offerings which ranged from disappointing to flat out awful DC finally made a movie worthy of the hero it's about. Wonder Women doesn't do revolutionary with its concept, but what Wonder Women gets right is the tone. DC has been going for this oppressive joyless dramatic approach to their films which has made the messiness of their previous offerings even harder to sit through. Wonder Woman takes a decidedly lighter approach with witty banter and humorous asides that help keep the film moving and break up the exposition heavy first act. Even still, the film can get serious when it needs to and convey the horrors of the first World War and the stakes of Wonder Woman’s mission.
The costumes all look great, from the 20’s era style of New York to the Bronze Age Amazonian garb. The CGI is solid though the film becomes a little over reliant on it for the final showdown at the end. The story has weight and builds Diana’s character into someone we not only root for but can identify with. The finale is memorable and emotionally resonant despite some of the more over the top CGI elements.
The characters were like-able and actually felt like characters with some dimension to them, Gal Gadot and Chris Pine have great chemistry that really helps to carry the film forward and provides the audience something to engage with besides Wonder Woman’s fairly standard mission. The action scenes remind me a lot of Captain America in the way Wonder Woman navigates across room and uses here braces and shield to both defend and attack.
I loved the homages to the original Superman movie; Patty Jenkins really outdid herself. Things to improve: DC has a roster of great villains and it felt like a missed opportunity that the one here felt so generic. Wonder Women versus discount Red Skull is probably the least interesting and memorable part of this movie. I think I might actually be able to sit through Justice League now that they've bothered to fully flesh out one of the characters and give her a personality that's not just a handful of lame quips.
8/10 Wonderful
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