Wonder Woman

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Okay, the Justice League trailer left me feeling rather "meh" but this...the Wonder Woman trailer from SDCC...this is just pure awesomeness. This looks like it is going to be a much better movie than JL, and not just because Gal Gadot is exquisite.

DC is going to beat Marvel in one significant way: they will be the first to have a solo female superhero movie. Marvel's great failure since at least 2010 has been its failure to produce a solo Black Widow movie, a failure DC is more than happy to correct.

The deviation from the comic book lore is both significant and necessary. This story is set during World War I--remember that picture that she obtained from Lex Luthor's servers?--and should give her character a reason to want to remain engaged in the world of mortals.

I have never really had problems with DC movies before, other than the fact that I am sick and tired of Batman. That being said, none of their movies have been really great; of course, in the interest of equity neither have Marvel's movies--no one has yet made any truly Oscar-worthy superhero movie but that day will happen. I hope that this movie winds up being DC's best to date.

[Loredoctor]

Okay, the Justice League trailer left me feeling rather "meh" but this...the Wonder Woman trailer from SDCC...this is just pure awesomeness. This looks like it is going to be a much better movie than JL, and not just because Gal Gadot is exquisite.

DC is going to beat Marvel in one significant way: they will be the first to have a solo female superhero movie. Marvel's great failure since at least 2010 has been its failure to produce a solo Black Widow movie, a failure DC is more than happy to correct.

The deviation from the comic book lore is both significant and necessary. This story is set during World War I--remember that picture that she obtained from Lex Luthor's servers?--and should give her character a reason to want to remain engaged in the world of mortals.

I have never really had problems with DC movies before, other than the fact that I am sick and tired of Batman. That being said, none of their movies have been really great; of course, in the interest of equity neither have Marvel's movies--no one has yet made any truly Oscar-worthy superhero movie but that day will happen. I hope that this movie winds up being DC's best to date.

The fact that it's set during World War One means it's an instant ticket purchase from me.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

The fact that it's set during World War One means it's an instant ticket purchase from me.

It is a very underused time period, in my opinion.

The movie is still almost a year away--2 June 2017--so that gives them plenty of time to get it right. I am serious, DC--if you do any of your movies correctly, please please please make sure this is the one. You are already beating Marvel to the solo-heroine movie and you have the opportunity to tap into the young women's market that movies like Divergent and Hunger Games tried to tap.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

The second trailer has been released. We get a few more details of the plot but we also get to see bullet-blocking bracelet action.

[aTOMiC]

Many of the Wonder Woman reviews have been released and preliminarily the film is being lauded as possibly the best DC superhero film since The Dark Knight. That's enormous praise.

Why is WW so different than Man of Steel, Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad?

One recurring comment appearing in some of the more glowing reviews is that WW is refreshingly fun, almost a throwback in terms of its tone.

It occurred to me that Warner Brothers and DC, in crafting their shared universe, simply got off on the wrong foot. In hiring Zack Snyder it seemed that the producers felt that they had established a dark and brooding world with Nolan's Batman trilogy and they wanted to capitalize it its success, which is understandable. However Nolan's vision for Batman is made possible by the director's superior vision and story telling style and it is not easily copied, as it turns out.
Further, the traditional Superman character is not a good fit for the world Nolan's Batman inhabits so a compromise was made and it didn't pay off. Instead of high quality fun entertainment Snyder brought us a muted world filled with rainy, dark battles, grim subtext and noticeably one dimensional characters playing out their lives in an unnecessarily dismal environment.
Fans of Snyder flocked to his Watchmen visual style but the rank and file masses along with the critics found little genuine entertainment.

So here comes Wonder Woman and Patty Jenkins has apparently shaken off the somber trappings of the Snyder-verse and crafted a faithful, fun and generally entertaining period film that hopefully will be an example to future DCEU film makers.

One wonders how the DCEU would have been like if WB had concentrated their initial efforts on crafting films that appealed to the general public with quality, fun entertainment instead of the direction they chose. I don't really blame them for trying but in this horse race if Secretariat is no longer your mount I wouldn't try to run the race the same way with a lesser horse.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

I normally don't pay attention to critics but the Rotten Tomatoes rating for it right now is 96% with an average rating of 7.8 out of 10.

This weekend is packed--the kids have to go in one direction (presuming Liebeschoen doesn't have to work--she just got her first summer job) and I have to go to my father's--they finally sold their house (never get a reverse mortgage) and they are dividing up all the extra stuff/heirlooms they won't need or won't have the space to keep. We probably won't be able to hit the theater until next Tuesday, or maybe the Sunday after that.

[I'm Murrin]

It's very good.

[dlbpharmd]

It's very good.

Yes indeed.

[Sorus]

I will probably wait a week or two for the crowds to thin out a bit, but I am looking forward to seeing it.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

The movie hit its target--$100 million for opening weekend, making it the biggest opening weekend for a movie with a female director and is the 16th largest opening weekend for any superhero movie (if you don't count sequels then it is the 6th largest opening for a superhero movie). It also broke the $100 million mark for the international market--in China, Wonder Woman's opening weekend was larger that Thor, The Avengers, or Guardians of the Galaxy.

Still uncertain when we will see it, probably this coming Saturday.

[Fist and Faith]

Very good movie! The plot was better than I expected. A good story behind the superheroics!? Even my wife, who I had to (almost literally) drag to it, enjoyed it. My son, a daughter, and I were extremely happy.

[aTOMiC]

Best DCEU film by a huge margin. Really excellent.

[High Lord Tolkien]

Fantastic movie.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

We saw it yesterday and were very satisfied with the movie. Even if you discount the fact that it is a movie in the superhero genre, what remains is a movie with a solid plot and a good cast even if the supporting characters are somewhat underused. Also, it is very refreshing to see a superhero who a) isn't a broken person defined almost entirely by their flaws (looking at you both, Iron Man and Star Lord), b) isn't motivated by revenge or outrage (looking at you, Batman), c) doesn't have the emotional maturity of a teenager (looking at you, CW Arrowverse--come on, how angsty can those characters be?, d) isn't just as bad as the bad guys (looking at both of you, Wolverine and Deadpool), e) doesn't feel sorry for herself (looking at you, Black Widow), and f) isn't half-crippled by self-doubt (looking at you, Scarlet Witch). In this regard, only Evangeline Lilly's Hope van Dyne/Wasp is in the same category--in fact, her characterization could be part of the foundation which built this version of Diana.

My only criticisms are that they supporting cast was underused (of course, fleshing those characters out more by giving them more backstory or main plot action would add 30 minutes to the movie...but would probably be worth it) and the boss fight seemed like it went on a little too long. Still, I would readily recommend this movie to anyone looking for a good movie.

Spoiler

In restrospect, looking back at BvS and knowing what we know now of Diana's true power level, Doomsday never stood a chance. In fact, she could have soloed him (it?).

[aTOMiC]

the boss fight seemed like it went on a little too long.

You managed to touch on the one complaint I had with the film.
The final conflict was in fact riveting but after a nearly flawless series of live action and SFX it seemed, for a moment, that the film verged on another totally computer generated climax which I am admittedly quite sensitive about these days. I don't like films that shatter my suspension of disbelief in an attempt to show something...impossible. Wonder Woman didn't quite stoop to that level but there was a shot or two that was very close.

One of the many reasons I disliked Batman v Superman was its climax primarily featured computer generated likenesses of actors fighting a computer generated villain which is an unforgivable sin to me. In quick, small doses I have no problem at all but when a film maker gets too greedy I notice it every time.

Thankfully Wonder Woman dodged that particular bullet and was, in my mind, a spectacular triumph.

[SoulBiter]

I was not expecting much of this movie but was pleasantly surprised by it. Very good indeed.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

This movie does not have one variable which the other recent DC movies have had--Zack Snyder. I think DC might want to reconsider making him their go-to guy for their movies--his vision does not really coincide with the fans' visions.

[sgt.null]

Best DCEU film by a huge margin. Really excellent.

what competition does it have though?

[Cail]

Finally saw this, and can't figure out why everyone loved it so much. The pacing is just bad. Too much talking to create exposition. Way too much table-setting, talking, and traveling. The action sequences rely on too much (bad) cgi. And for all the big fights that contain people with edged weapons, there's no blood. Yes, I know that's a consequence of the rating, but that's as jarring as the bad cgi. "Oh look, her sword hit another rifle.

And sorry, Gal Gadot just isn't much of an actress.

[Sorus]

I liked it. And I liked Gal Gadot. But I was always a big Xena fan, so it's possible that I have a soft spot for Amazons unrealistically (and bloodlessly) kicking ass. Agreed about the CGI, though. It did detract from it a bit wondering how much of it was 'real'. But I'm good at suspending disbelief, and it was enjoyable overall.