Originally posted 2017-06-06 12:00:50.
First off, I’m a Marvel woman for life.
Rogue is perfection to me in her imperfect, awkwardly busted beautiful awesomeness, and I’ve never been much of a TV watcher. I never did see the television show of Wonder Woman (yes, even though I’m older than some dinosaurs according to anyone under 30) – Linda Carter was probably a fantastic Wonder Woman.
That being said, I do know a bit about the DCU (more than I like to let on), and I am aware of Princess Diana’s roots.
I’m glad I got to see it in 3d, as those are rare movies for me, and I loved the way the story clips along happily on the screen in more than just a flat dimensional view!
This is gonna be an incredibly spoiler-free review, aside from one little thing.
cough I LOVE DAVID THEWLIS cough
Anytime he walks onto the screen; that voice. He is a scene stealer, and I was giddy with delight that he was there. I’ve adored him PRE-Remus Lupin, so I’ll have you know, when he stepped into the role of the best DAtDA professor in HP and the Whomping Willow (no no no, I’m not gonna ruin PoA for you, go read those damn books!), I squealed that he was going to be portraying one of my favourite characters in the series. I contained my joy, though internally, I was screaming YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY or something a little less subdued to be honest.
Secondly, I’m gonna state for the record, I have as yet to see SvB.
I had to just delete an entire 400 word micro-essay on what I’d rather do than watch that movie, but rest assured, after WW, I’ll roll my eyes, sigh heavily, and groan as the movie starts. (I’m Marvel first and always!)
This movie is a perfect entrance for the DCU.
If you ever wanted to get into the DCU (that stands for DC – comics – Universe, and includes but is not limited to the DCxU as in the Extended Universe – which includes things like Ryan Reynolds in a bad CGI costume, every joke used in the trailers Suicide Squad, Aquaman, the Flash, etc.), this is the best way to start.
As with all superhero/heroine movies, a good origin story can and often WILL make or break the potential for a franchise, sequels, spinoffs, crossovers, and even prequels. Yes, even origin stories get prequels.
In order to show the transition properly, there always (99.9% of the time) is some sort of montage that helps the character(s) get into the role, show their growing skillset over hours, months, years of practice, as they “age” the character while still holding everyone else in a funky time bubble where no one not only doesn’t age, they never have to worry about reapplying makeup or have any injuries/maladies that would show the passing of time. I’m not trouncing on this, I’m just saying that it’s usually a factor, and this one didn’t seem rushed or forced. It flowed nicely, and I do love the fact that they held true at least to some of the basics before wandering off into “Artistic License” territory.
The cast is deliciously perfect for their roles, and I have loved Robin Wright since she first stepped into the screen in Princess Bride as Buttercup. She has aged extraordinarily, and I’m delighted that you can still see the Forrest Gump level of Jenny when the camera steals a glance her way, and she smirks for no one in particular. I LOVED her in this movie.
Let’s just say, Gal Gadot is phenomenal. Yes, I realise there are a ton of people shouting negativities in her direction, but we don’t walk in her shoes. We don’t know what she HAS to do as service to her country, and this isn’t the time or place to judge her for personal things. As the Amazonian Princess Diana, aka Diana Prince, she is never once out of character, nor is she anything but spectacular. Her precociousness and innocence translate amazingly well, and there’s a depth to Gal’s performance that would have been utterly lost in the wake of a current huge name from Hollywood.
Simply put: Gal is Wonder Woman. Believably, and genuinely. There is real pain she emotes, there is real anger, and she is honestly convincing.
She has a smile that can catch anyone’s attention, and it’s really hard to steal the screen from Chris Pine’s intoxicatingly beautiful baby blues. Seriously, I could easily write a horrible chain of silly stories all about Chris Pine’s eyes, but the fact is, these two had believable chemistry together on screen, and they make you forget you’re watching a movie, instead of just an oddly summed up meet and greet between them and what transpires over the course of the movie-run time.
have a chat with yourself, please, Mr. Pine. Your eyes are too distracting. Kthxbai
There are some pretty deep stories inside the words, and the script writers chose so wisely, they respected the source material and decided to give a proper start to Wonder Woman’s walk through the land of mere mortals.
If DC is smart, they will sign Gal for the entire franchise, any cameos that need doing, etc. Do this right, and she will be loved and cherished by all who love the Amazonian Princess.
Okay, so now you’re getting around 850 words, and you’re like WTF, are we getting any details about whether it’s a “chic flick” or if there is actually some explosions.
Let me stop you right there. Yes, I am female. And yes, I love a good PEW PEW PEW kinda movie; but I’m a GEEK. And my heart lies with an incredible story. This movie delivers the goods.
There have been a lot of shouts in the last few weeks leading up to this movie’s release, and I’ll say this to you naysayers: this is OUR FIRST MOVIE. The first one that moms can take little girls to see and show them that an incredible story CAN and WILL be possible with a female lead heroine. The one that not only saves the day, doesn’t need to emasculate anyone to do so. Diana is complex in her innocence; what she doesn’t understand of the human condition, isn’t arrogance-laden. She is pure, honest, and decent. She doesn’t understand hatred or greed or selfishness, because she’s never HAD TO understand them, until she’s in the world, outside of her protective homeland.
I realise that a lot of people have noted that there was an incredibly shortened press-tour pre-release of the film. I saw one trailer, and I’m not sure that there were multiples made.
I know that many people saw it as a negative slam, but I’m gonna change the perspective a bit. Yes, I’m sure that there was a bit (lot) of sexist reasoning behind not showing it, but shove that aside for a moment and just hear me out.
Suicide Squad had eight? Fifty-two? Ninety-four? I don’t even know how many (yes, I’m being hyperbolic for a reason) trailers and remixes it had. I do know that as I said earlier, almost all of the jokes in the movie are in the trailers, so if you watched them the way I did (clearly too often/much), you were gonna be in for a world of sadness when it wasn’t new material for you.
Having a fresh (read: virtually non-existent) view of Wonder Woman (movie), having only seen one trailer, I was excited to see what this origin story was going to do. It did not disappoint at all. I wasn’t underwhelmed by having seen too much; I wasn’t even sad about the fact that – being DCU – it was never going to be Guardians of the Galaxy jokes and dancing, nor was it gonna be my lover’s (DEADPOOL, please keep up folks) level of snarky awesomeness. It was however, strongly played, well driven, and did not lag in any place for me at all. And I KNOW about lag. Everyone on Some Awesome Minecraft knows about my knowledge of lag!
You should know by now, you come to read a review from me, you’re not getting spoilers, but you are gonna get a word sandwich that is a full bag of bread and excellent goodies on it.
As I’ve said before in previous reviews, the ability for me to emote during a movie – to truly have a moment or more than one that I completely connect with the scene – is essential for the likeability. There are three such scenes that were guhhhh kinds of moments, and I left that Antiguan Caribbean Cinemas Theatre #4 KNOWING I will buy this movie, not just for myself, but likely as a present to others in the future. I WILL watch Justice League, going off of this movie alone. (We are currently ignoring Jason Momoa’s incredible… hair, okay?) I can’t wait to see what else Gal Gadot steps into next.
Jason Momoa as Aquaman
9.2/10 from me, with the only “flaw” being that there was no end credit scenes. I could pick the movie apart, but there are going to be plenty of others who will go nasty on it. I loved the way the characters worked with one another, I love that they didn’t whitewash the characters to any notable extreme, and I am delighted that I got to see so many fantastic performances in one cinematic viewing.
DCU, I think you just redeemed yourself. Hold onto that momentum, do not shove WW into the shadows, and let her be the incredible force to contend with as she is meant to be. DO HER PROPER JUSTICE.
I will recommend this to strangers on the street. And I’m a Marvel woman. FOR LIFE. #LongLiveWonderWoman
