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Movies WONDER WOMAN v.2 (Dragonlord's Review)

If you have seen WONDER WOMAN, how would you rate it?

  • Total voters
    212
Damn. Dragon gave it an 8. That's pretty legit.
 
Glad DC finally hit one out of the park. As a Marvel fan boy, I want our Distinguished Competition to push us to bring our A Game. The MCU has been killing it every season, and I don't want Marvel to get complacent.

I called this as a success a long time ago. Unless the writing was BvS bad, it was pretty much a lock. Low expectations after BvS and SS, the first major female superhero movie, and the fact that a lot of male critics would be hesitant to dwell on whatever flaws it did have all combine to make it as close to a sure thing as possible.

Although Gadot would never have been my first choice as WW, I'm the first to admit she nailed the role in BvS, for her limited time on screen. And though she's a little on the skinny side, she also possess the almost ridiculous beauty required to play a Goddess. Her bone structure and skin tone are breathtaking.

Well played, DC. Now for the love of Zeus, do the same with a Batman movie!:)
 
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Anung Un Rama said:
Awesome! I felt this was going to be great at the beginning and my confidence had faultered; nice to see a trusted source give it a positive review. I'll check it out this weekend.
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umm, did you lose in an av bet or something lol
 
been trying to convince the wife to watch this as she wasnt sold on it lolz.
 
Ares? Ok I'll probably see it.
 
Dragonlordxxxxx said:
Warning: Major Spoilers below.

The final battle is between Wonder Woman and Ares. Sir Patrick Morgan (played by David Thewlis) is revealed to be the god of war. What takes me out of the moment a little is that the movie, although fantastical in nature, was sort of relatively grounded in the way they portrayed super powers. Diana's super strong, fast, tough, has quick reflexes. These are all tangibles. But during the final battle, it becomes like an episode of Dragonball Z with Diana leveling up to Super Saiyan levels and with unexplained new powers and Ares teleporting, shooting lightning bolts and displaying telekinesis on a massive scale. Although they foreshadowed Diana's potential early in the movie where she accidentally zapped Antiope, it's still jarring to see the sudden introduction of high levels of super powers in an otherwise mostly grounded scenario. Many will probably enjoy this powerful version of Wonder Woman and there's nothing wrong with that. I just prefer the version with the sensible powers more.

Ludendorff and Dr. Maru didn't live up to their full potential because of the last-minute revelation that Sir Patrick Morgan was Ares, the big bad of the movie. Although Ares was mentioned many times in the movie, there was no build-up. I understand that they intended Ares to be a surprise but it was a bit erratic when he suddenly appeared and started doing Magneto stuff (even though I already knew Thewlis was playing Ares).

These are not major complaints. And maybe on future viewings I'll learn to accept it. We'll see.

I'll post more after I process the movie a bit.
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She is a demi-god fighting a god. I'm not sure why you would want that grounded in reality. Personally I can't stand when they nerf super heroes. She should be on par with Superman power level wise, and will be facing a New God in Darksied in the future who is going to be blasting Omega beams at her.

Just my thoughts.
 
Dragonlordxxxxx said:
Update: May 31, 2017

Dragonlord's Review of WONDER WOMAN (No Spoilers)

Bottom Line: Arguably DCEU's best film yet and the first legit good female superhero movie, Wonder Woman delivers thanks to its enthralling lead character/actress and sleek action sequences.

Wonder-Woman-053117e-Dragonlord.png


For decades there has been a misconception that a good female superhero movie is impossible to make with detractors always citing Supergirl (1984), Elektra (2005) and Catwoman (2004) as proof. Hogwash. The truth is those movies unfortunately just have bad casting, bad story and/or bad direction. Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman shatters those misapprehensions by being the first legit good female superhero movie in a major Hollywood motion picture.

Wonder Woman tells the story of Princess Diana (Gal Gadot) from Themyscira, an enchanted island comprised of battle-hardened Amazons. When Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crash lands nearby the island, Diana learns about World War I and vows to stop the conflict by journeying to man's world by killing the god of war Ares whom she believes is the cause of the chaos.

Gal Gadot is simply captivating as Princess Diana/Wonder Woman, her charm is a delight and her beauty so radiant. They play the fish-out-of-water segments to humorous results and just the right dash as not to overshadow everything. Diana's innocence and naivete are endearing but not to the point of putting her down. When she goes into action mode, she's just a bad-ass. Speaking of badasses, the Amazons, though they only appear for a short time, were amazing to see in action especially Antiope (Robin Wright).

Wonder-Woman-053117b-Dragonlords-Review.jpg


Themysicra is bright, striking and filled with vibrant colors. But when Diana goes to man's world, everything is bleaker and drained of color. In other words, they've entered Zack Snyder's world. Snyder might only be the writer and producer in this film, but his fingerprints are all over this, from the color grading to the impressive Snyder-esque action sequences. Thankfully he didn't infect Wonder Woman with a case of brooding and morose as he did with Superman.

Chris Pine is affable as Steve Trevor, the leading man and potential love interest for Diana. Danny Huston as General Ludendorff was a pretty good villain. Elena Anaya as Dr. Maru was a decent secondary villain. But due to the story's last act, the villains were a bit shortchanged and didn't live up to their full potential (more on that in the spoiler box below).

At times, Wonder Woman feels like a cross between Thor (2011) and Captain America: The First Avenger. Not a criticism, just an observation. These admittedly flimsy comparisons to Thor is due to the mythological background, regal ancestry and fish-out-of-water element while The First Avenger due to the period war setting and the enlisting of a special unit to assist the protagonist.

Wonder-Woman-053117d-Dragonlord.png


One of the best things about the film is the sensational action. The impressive fight choreography smoothly blends stylistic slow mo with fast-paced, kinetically-charged panache while maintaining motion clarity. The extended battle sequence that started in the Belgium trenches was stirring and simply outstanding. The rousing score by Rupert Gregson-Williams deserves a mention. The now-famous Wonder Woman guitar riff theme by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL is also present.

The finale battle brings about a jarring tonal shift that takes me out of the moment a little and the lack of build up for the sudden last-minute revelation was unfortunate (more on this in the spoiler box below).

For almost 10 years now, I've been saying to denigrators that a live-action Wonder Woman movie can be good if they just follow George Perez's 1987 seminal origin story or the 2009 Wonder Woman animated movie. And I was right. The 2017 movie's framework is clearly based on the two examples I presented.

Overall, Wonder Woman is an enjoyable viewing thanks to its captivating lead character/actress, engaging story, and outstanding action. There is no post-credits scene.

Rating: 8/10

Warning: Major Spoilers below.

Wonder-Woman-053117b-Dragonlord.png


The final battle is between Wonder Woman and Ares. Sir Patrick Morgan (played by David Thewlis) is revealed to be the god of war. What takes me out of the moment a little is that the movie, although fantastical in nature, was sort of relatively grounded in the way they portrayed super powers. Diana's super strong, fast, tough, has quick reflexes. These are all tangibles. But during the final battle, it becomes like an episode of Dragonball Z with Diana leveling up to Super Saiyan levels and with unexplained new powers and Ares teleporting, shooting lightning bolts and displaying telekinesis on a massive scale. Although they foreshadowed Diana's potential early in the movie where she accidentally zapped Antiope, it's still jarring to see the sudden introduction of high levels of super powers in an otherwise mostly grounded scenario. Many will probably enjoy this powerful version of Wonder Woman and there's nothing wrong with that. I just prefer the version with the sensible powers more.

Ludendorff and Dr. Maru didn't live up to their full potential because of the last-minute revelation that Sir Patrick Morgan was Ares, the big bad of the movie. Although Ares was mentioned many times in the movie, there was no build-up. I understand that they intended Ares to be a surprise but it was a bit erratic when he suddenly appeared and started doing Magneto stuff (even though I already knew Thewlis was playing Ares).

These are not major complaints. And maybe on future viewings I'll learn to accept it. We'll see.

I'll post more after I process the movie a bit.

This will be merged with the official thread after a while.
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The soldier on the far right looks like he's wearing the headgear of a Scottish regiment. Is he a Jock or a Canadian?
 
loyalyolayal said:
Was it because the bar was set so low for dcu movies that making a mediocre one made it seemed outstanding?

No, I've never clicked the spoilers. And my wife hates me for being a misogynist. She blames Bill Burr.
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I loved Man of Steel personally.
 
KnightTemplar said:
The soldier on the far right looks like he's wearing the headgear of a Scottish regiment. Is he a Jock or a Canadian?
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Scottish.... putting to rest the no true Scotsman theory.

Edit

The headdress is known as a glengarry. They also wear balmoral headdresses
 
Horse Style said:
You had me at..

..Dragon Ball Z and Super Saiyan Amazon. You tell me right now she fired a Kamehameha and I'll be out the door within minutes to buy tickets
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Don't take my Dragonball Z analogy literally. There's no Kamehameha Wave. Well, there is, sort of. ;)
 
pinkybrief said:
how come batman didn't know about WW, I mean didn't they teach that in school that WW saved the world war?
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Seemed like an isolated event and the mission was classified, so that may be why it's not public knowledge what Wonder Woman did. Plus most or all of the villagers died from the gas and I presume some or most of the soldiers also. As for the remaining soldiers that were present at the airfield, I don't have an excuse for now (I'm very sleepy).
 
loyalyolayal said:
Was it because the bar was set so low for dcu movies that making a mediocre one made it seemed outstanding?
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Wonder Woman is legit good. The lowest I can possibly give the movie is a 7.5/10.
 
Big Brown Clown said:
2 of the 7 or 8 negative reviews say the movie is not "feminist" enough for them. One flat out says she was hoping for more misandry.

These are "negative" reviews in RT but most people would consider these ringing endorsements for the movie. Me included.

Finally a female led movie, with a female director, with a 100m+ budget, and it's GOOD, yet for these people it's still not enough. All they can do is REEEEEEEE
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I've avoided reading the critics reviews before watching this. But I did glance at a negative review after I wrote my review and her complaint was due to "mansplaining." I thought it was just a silly feminist complaint.
 
Dragonlordxxxxx said:
Don't take my Dragonball Z analogy literally. There's no Kamehameha Wave. Well, there is, sort of. ;)
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There is absolutely no reason for them not to be able to put out a good DBZ live-action movie now. We have years of superhero movies to go on and Dragon Ball is rising in popularity again due to Dragon Ball Super.

I'd like to see a "Perfect Casting For a DBZ Movie" thread from you in the near future, sir
 
SammyPops said:
@Dragonlordxxxxx when you state arguably best DC movie, does that include The Dark Knight?
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What I wrote was DCEU, meaning DC Extended Universe which comprises of:

Green Lantern
Man of Steel
Batman v Superman
Suicide Squad

Any movie before those are not considered part of the DCEU.
 
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