Post by seahawksraawk00 on Jun 20, 2017 2:33:42 GMT
Never really been big on doing full-on film reviews, but why not. A friend of mine wanted to go see it so I figured might as well go see it again, because it is worth the price of admission to see it a second time. And lately, I think so at least, I think there has been some superhero fatigue, and Wonder Woman was a bit of fresh air. Tho walking out the second time, my thoughts on the film did change. Like with any film you see a second time, since you already know what's going to happen, it allows you to pay attention more to the details of the film and how it's made.
First off, Gal Gadot nailed it. She was perfect for the role. I follow her on FB and Twitter, and it does give you a peak into their personal lives and thoughts on films when they share posts and pictures, and she has shown nothing but passion and commitment for the role which I really love. She has charisma and there's a charm to her that really elevates the role. I particularly like her argument with Trevor in the trenches about why she couldn't save the other people in the village. You can feel the emotional punch to it of her wanting to help people.
Chris Pine. Not really a fan and wouldn't have been my first choice for Steve Trevor, but hey, he was great too and made it work and he has great chemistry with Gadot that didn't feel entirely force, and they have a lot of good small moments together. I was particularly impressed before they slept together. You can see all the words and emotions through their eyes and body language.
The story was simple and easy to follow, and doesn't try to be this deep and philosophical film like BvS did and come off as pretentious. Because of Gadot's and Pine's acting and their chemistry, this film has a lot of heart to it. I keep saying this because it's true, but this film is really what the First Avenger should have been. I didn't really care too much about them, but the Wonder Woman-version of the Howling Commandos were fun characters and given a bit more personality than the Howling Commandos in the First Avengers. I liked their interactions. It's really a charming film actually. The tone isn't inconsistent. It knows what it is for a film, but given the subject of World War 1, it's able to go into a more serious and grim tone, but doesn't dwell on it and allows for levity so it works well and doesn't feel out of place. This was a huge problem with BvS. It tries to be a deep philosophical film about different methods of Justice and vigilantism and higher power between Superman and Batman, then all of sudden there's Doomsday and became generic and cartoonish.
The film generally follows all the common tropes of an origin film to the beat, but it still worked as Jenkins and Gadot put their own unique spin to it. Part of it that really worked was that the first 20mins was only devoted to Diana's childhood and Themyscira and the Amazons, and then immediately jumped into the main action and story after. Sure they could have done more, but we'll probably see more about the Amazons in future films. I have no problem with World War 1 being the setting as it does set it apart from Captain America, but also from a narrative point regarding Ares, it really doesn't make sense that he'd ignore the first World War anyways like he kinda does in the comics. Generally speaking, the first two acts of the film were great. The score was amazing and I actually found it refreshing from Han Zimmer's usual bombastic kind of score. It was definitely better than most MCU's scores as well. I'd even put it past the Avenger's theme. My favorite part of the score was with Steve's death and Diana screams in agony, there was great tempo build up, then Diana just goes beast mode against the Germans. The score was simply amazing, raging with plenty of emotions in. This was definitely present in the No Man's Land scene, which I think the general consensus is one of the best comic book movie scene ever. Story-wise, is it really original? No, not really, but it still works. Though there were some technical aspects that bug me throughout the first two acts. I thought there was too many slo-mo shots, whether it's Diana leaping or even during the fight scenes, even with the Amazon battle, every other Amazon is getting their own slo-mo shot. I understand it's too show their fighting abilities and powers and possibly how fast they are, but it was beginning to get annoying. And I wasn't a huge fan of the close up shots of Diana's face when she's leaping. There were too many of those, and looked really cringy honestly. Like with the warehouse fight against the Germans, there were a few wobbly shots from the transition to slo-mo to real time. Hope they tone down on those in future films. Other than that, those were my only major nitpicks of the first two acts.
So where does it begin to decline for me? The third act and a bit of Diana and Ares backstory. Lunderdorf and Doctor Poison were't bad. I kinda find them to be expies of Red Skull and Arnim Zola, as they serve a similar function to the story. I know Lunderdorf is a real person, but he does play it up like a generic evil German general you see in action films. Maybe this is just because I've done a little research on him in one of my course before, but he by no means wanted to conquer the world or anything. Minor nitpick on the detail, so it didn't ruin it for me. But I mean, much like Mickey Rourke's Whiplash or Malekith from Dark World, they were just there, felt like wallpaper really, nothing really memorable about them. They served their part the story to motivate Diana. Danny Houston looked like he was having fun, which is always good. But then there was Ares. I think David Thewlis was really miscasted as Ares. Originally I thought, okay, he's just disguised as an elder crippled British guy, but then we see a quick flashback of Thewlis as Ares on Olympus, and I don't know, he just doesn't look like a God. Maybe a minor nitpick, but he was also extremely underwhelming, partly because they decided to conceal his character till the final act of the film. He didn't give a bad performance by any means, and I can forgive the usual CGI-laden battlefield of fire and debris and heroes and villain fighting, like the other DCEU films can't seem to get away from (there was no beam in the sky, thank god, but as someone else mentioned, it did feel like it though), Thewlis tried the best he could, but he just didn't sell me as Ares. And this is why people are essentially calling him a Marvel villain, because he was "weak" and unmemorable really, which is a fair assessment. Michael Shannon's perfomance as Zod was memorable because he had personality, he had presence, he created stakes and presented a threat to Superman. Part of the reason why Ares didn't work for me was because of his backstory given. The DCEU is clearly taking liberties with Greek Mythology, fair enough, it's kinda wobbly narratively-speaking in its own right, but this film implies Ares was able to kill every Olympus God (12 of them I believe if I remembered correctly) including Zeus himself. While I don't think he'd really be able to do that, it does create a threat for Diana since he's powerful enough to even kill Zeus, and I'd be able forgive that, except the first half of the fight is just Ares, as his human form, looking kinda like a wannabe-Emperor Palpatine, throwing debris at Diana, and it didn't really strike me as someone who could defeat 12 Gods. When he was in his armored form (which was cool-looking, though I wished we'd seen the Toy-line version, as it looked much more menacing), he was powerful, but again, it didn't really strike a cord for me as this all powerful God who defeated Zeus, and this was really apparent, after all that effort of trying to hit Ares, all she had to do was deflect some lightening with her bracelets, absorb the power and then fire it back. It felt like Yoda versus the Emperor, but again, it just seems like all that effort for nothing as all it took was some lightening to defeat him. So yeah, Ares was a huge letdown for me, and there were so many ways they could improve him. And the DCEU need to really get away from the big CGI-laden battleground fight with fire and debris surrounding them, which unfortunately, looks like we'll be seeing plenty of in Justice League probably.
But overall, I'd give it a 7.5 out of 10. Small technical aspects bugged me on second viewing, but even though the final act was a let down, I'm forgiving on it because the film as a whole did feel like a breath of fresh air in terms of superhero films, and superhero origin films.
First off, Gal Gadot nailed it. She was perfect for the role. I follow her on FB and Twitter, and it does give you a peak into their personal lives and thoughts on films when they share posts and pictures, and she has shown nothing but passion and commitment for the role which I really love. She has charisma and there's a charm to her that really elevates the role. I particularly like her argument with Trevor in the trenches about why she couldn't save the other people in the village. You can feel the emotional punch to it of her wanting to help people.
Chris Pine. Not really a fan and wouldn't have been my first choice for Steve Trevor, but hey, he was great too and made it work and he has great chemistry with Gadot that didn't feel entirely force, and they have a lot of good small moments together. I was particularly impressed before they slept together. You can see all the words and emotions through their eyes and body language.
The story was simple and easy to follow, and doesn't try to be this deep and philosophical film like BvS did and come off as pretentious. Because of Gadot's and Pine's acting and their chemistry, this film has a lot of heart to it. I keep saying this because it's true, but this film is really what the First Avenger should have been. I didn't really care too much about them, but the Wonder Woman-version of the Howling Commandos were fun characters and given a bit more personality than the Howling Commandos in the First Avengers. I liked their interactions. It's really a charming film actually. The tone isn't inconsistent. It knows what it is for a film, but given the subject of World War 1, it's able to go into a more serious and grim tone, but doesn't dwell on it and allows for levity so it works well and doesn't feel out of place. This was a huge problem with BvS. It tries to be a deep philosophical film about different methods of Justice and vigilantism and higher power between Superman and Batman, then all of sudden there's Doomsday and became generic and cartoonish.
The film generally follows all the common tropes of an origin film to the beat, but it still worked as Jenkins and Gadot put their own unique spin to it. Part of it that really worked was that the first 20mins was only devoted to Diana's childhood and Themyscira and the Amazons, and then immediately jumped into the main action and story after. Sure they could have done more, but we'll probably see more about the Amazons in future films. I have no problem with World War 1 being the setting as it does set it apart from Captain America, but also from a narrative point regarding Ares, it really doesn't make sense that he'd ignore the first World War anyways like he kinda does in the comics. Generally speaking, the first two acts of the film were great. The score was amazing and I actually found it refreshing from Han Zimmer's usual bombastic kind of score. It was definitely better than most MCU's scores as well. I'd even put it past the Avenger's theme. My favorite part of the score was with Steve's death and Diana screams in agony, there was great tempo build up, then Diana just goes beast mode against the Germans. The score was simply amazing, raging with plenty of emotions in. This was definitely present in the No Man's Land scene, which I think the general consensus is one of the best comic book movie scene ever. Story-wise, is it really original? No, not really, but it still works. Though there were some technical aspects that bug me throughout the first two acts. I thought there was too many slo-mo shots, whether it's Diana leaping or even during the fight scenes, even with the Amazon battle, every other Amazon is getting their own slo-mo shot. I understand it's too show their fighting abilities and powers and possibly how fast they are, but it was beginning to get annoying. And I wasn't a huge fan of the close up shots of Diana's face when she's leaping. There were too many of those, and looked really cringy honestly. Like with the warehouse fight against the Germans, there were a few wobbly shots from the transition to slo-mo to real time. Hope they tone down on those in future films. Other than that, those were my only major nitpicks of the first two acts.
So where does it begin to decline for me? The third act and a bit of Diana and Ares backstory. Lunderdorf and Doctor Poison were't bad. I kinda find them to be expies of Red Skull and Arnim Zola, as they serve a similar function to the story. I know Lunderdorf is a real person, but he does play it up like a generic evil German general you see in action films. Maybe this is just because I've done a little research on him in one of my course before, but he by no means wanted to conquer the world or anything. Minor nitpick on the detail, so it didn't ruin it for me. But I mean, much like Mickey Rourke's Whiplash or Malekith from Dark World, they were just there, felt like wallpaper really, nothing really memorable about them. They served their part the story to motivate Diana. Danny Houston looked like he was having fun, which is always good. But then there was Ares. I think David Thewlis was really miscasted as Ares. Originally I thought, okay, he's just disguised as an elder crippled British guy, but then we see a quick flashback of Thewlis as Ares on Olympus, and I don't know, he just doesn't look like a God. Maybe a minor nitpick, but he was also extremely underwhelming, partly because they decided to conceal his character till the final act of the film. He didn't give a bad performance by any means, and I can forgive the usual CGI-laden battlefield of fire and debris and heroes and villain fighting, like the other DCEU films can't seem to get away from (there was no beam in the sky, thank god, but as someone else mentioned, it did feel like it though), Thewlis tried the best he could, but he just didn't sell me as Ares. And this is why people are essentially calling him a Marvel villain, because he was "weak" and unmemorable really, which is a fair assessment. Michael Shannon's perfomance as Zod was memorable because he had personality, he had presence, he created stakes and presented a threat to Superman. Part of the reason why Ares didn't work for me was because of his backstory given. The DCEU is clearly taking liberties with Greek Mythology, fair enough, it's kinda wobbly narratively-speaking in its own right, but this film implies Ares was able to kill every Olympus God (12 of them I believe if I remembered correctly) including Zeus himself. While I don't think he'd really be able to do that, it does create a threat for Diana since he's powerful enough to even kill Zeus, and I'd be able forgive that, except the first half of the fight is just Ares, as his human form, looking kinda like a wannabe-Emperor Palpatine, throwing debris at Diana, and it didn't really strike me as someone who could defeat 12 Gods. When he was in his armored form (which was cool-looking, though I wished we'd seen the Toy-line version, as it looked much more menacing), he was powerful, but again, it didn't really strike a cord for me as this all powerful God who defeated Zeus, and this was really apparent, after all that effort of trying to hit Ares, all she had to do was deflect some lightening with her bracelets, absorb the power and then fire it back. It felt like Yoda versus the Emperor, but again, it just seems like all that effort for nothing as all it took was some lightening to defeat him. So yeah, Ares was a huge letdown for me, and there were so many ways they could improve him. And the DCEU need to really get away from the big CGI-laden battleground fight with fire and debris surrounding them, which unfortunately, looks like we'll be seeing plenty of in Justice League probably.
But overall, I'd give it a 7.5 out of 10. Small technical aspects bugged me on second viewing, but even though the final act was a let down, I'm forgiving on it because the film as a whole did feel like a breath of fresh air in terms of superhero films, and superhero origin films.
