Let me get this out of the way. Girls growing up right now will remember that Wonder Woman is bad-a, that Rey is a Jedi, and that the Ghostbusters are women. Those role models look an awful lot like my childhood, and I think that's pretty cool. That is not the basis under which I am judging the quality of this movie, but it's cool that it's there. Us guys have never had a shortage of role models of that nature, and it makes me happy to see this stuff happening.
Even better is that, totally aside from any discussion of gender or social issues of any form, Wonder Woman is a genuinely excellent movie.
Now, on the flip side of any social impact, I was absolutely ready to judge this movie based on the sins of its elders. Man of Steel and Batman v Superman are, without a doubt, two of my absolute least favorite superhero movies. You have to dip into the realms of Batman & Robin before you find a superhero flick I hate more. I haven't seen Suicide Squad because based on the feedback I've heard I'm not sure I can lower my expectations far enough to actually make it through that one, but suffice it to say I was ready to completely loathe the entirety of the DC Extended Universe for the rest of time before I saw Wonder Woman. Is that unfair? Yeah. Probably.
But finally someone managed to buck that particular trend, and I'm pretty enthused about it. I'm still skeptical concerning the next few entries in the DCEU, but Wonder Woman has done something that only a few other DC heroes have done; starred in a good movie. And, yeah, this is where I'm planting my flag.
Wonder Woman was better than the original Superman. It was better than Batman Begins. It was better than The Dark Knight. This movie is hands down the best DC superhero movie. Ever. This is a hill I will gladly die on.
Now, you may be wondering what made the movie so good. I'd be lying if I didn't say the absence of Zack Snyder's writing and direction helped. The acting didn't feel forced, the pacing was great, shots didn't have a weird tendency to hold for too long on random stuff. The story was engaging, the script was natural, and the characters had, like, legitimately believable and progressive arcs. Was it perfect? No. Of course not. No movie is. But it was such an amazing improvement over Man of Steel and BvS that I was surprised over and over again at how consistently it was blowing my expectations.
Lots of people did very good work on this movie, and it shows. It's better than the other DCEU movies in every metric I can think of. Besides all the stuff I've already said, the music was better. The costumes were better. The casting was better. The cinematography (while still a little more washed out than I like) was better. I can't stress this enough. While the movie wasn't perfect, it was pretty dang close. I didn't lose interest in the story. I didn't grow to hate the characters for making uncharacteristic decisions or saying stupid things. I didn't get action fatigue and start guessing at how many civilians were dying in any given shot.
I loved the movie, and I'm having a hard time imagining any reason why anyone who likes superhero movies in any way wouldn't also love it. You should absolutely go see it, it is completely worth full ticket prices. In fact, I think there's a very distinct possibility that I legitimately enjoyed Wonder Woman more than the vast majority of the MCU movies. It's somewhere between Ant-Man and Age of Ultron, unless I miss my guess. I will definitely be buying it. And going to see it again. But you know what maybe my favorite part of the whole thing is?
Robin Wright. If she was doing all her own stunts in this movie, they were severely under-utilizing her in The Princess Bride.
Even better is that, totally aside from any discussion of gender or social issues of any form, Wonder Woman is a genuinely excellent movie.
Now, on the flip side of any social impact, I was absolutely ready to judge this movie based on the sins of its elders. Man of Steel and Batman v Superman are, without a doubt, two of my absolute least favorite superhero movies. You have to dip into the realms of Batman & Robin before you find a superhero flick I hate more. I haven't seen Suicide Squad because based on the feedback I've heard I'm not sure I can lower my expectations far enough to actually make it through that one, but suffice it to say I was ready to completely loathe the entirety of the DC Extended Universe for the rest of time before I saw Wonder Woman. Is that unfair? Yeah. Probably.
But finally someone managed to buck that particular trend, and I'm pretty enthused about it. I'm still skeptical concerning the next few entries in the DCEU, but Wonder Woman has done something that only a few other DC heroes have done; starred in a good movie. And, yeah, this is where I'm planting my flag.
Wonder Woman was better than the original Superman. It was better than Batman Begins. It was better than The Dark Knight. This movie is hands down the best DC superhero movie. Ever. This is a hill I will gladly die on.
Now, you may be wondering what made the movie so good. I'd be lying if I didn't say the absence of Zack Snyder's writing and direction helped. The acting didn't feel forced, the pacing was great, shots didn't have a weird tendency to hold for too long on random stuff. The story was engaging, the script was natural, and the characters had, like, legitimately believable and progressive arcs. Was it perfect? No. Of course not. No movie is. But it was such an amazing improvement over Man of Steel and BvS that I was surprised over and over again at how consistently it was blowing my expectations.
Lots of people did very good work on this movie, and it shows. It's better than the other DCEU movies in every metric I can think of. Besides all the stuff I've already said, the music was better. The costumes were better. The casting was better. The cinematography (while still a little more washed out than I like) was better. I can't stress this enough. While the movie wasn't perfect, it was pretty dang close. I didn't lose interest in the story. I didn't grow to hate the characters for making uncharacteristic decisions or saying stupid things. I didn't get action fatigue and start guessing at how many civilians were dying in any given shot.
I loved the movie, and I'm having a hard time imagining any reason why anyone who likes superhero movies in any way wouldn't also love it. You should absolutely go see it, it is completely worth full ticket prices. In fact, I think there's a very distinct possibility that I legitimately enjoyed Wonder Woman more than the vast majority of the MCU movies. It's somewhere between Ant-Man and Age of Ultron, unless I miss my guess. I will definitely be buying it. And going to see it again. But you know what maybe my favorite part of the whole thing is?
Robin Wright. If she was doing all her own stunts in this movie, they were severely under-utilizing her in The Princess Bride.
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